With the 1980 and 1981 hunger strikes it became increasingly clear that a criminalisation approach was ineffective in the face of the IRA's determination. Nevertheless, it was impossible for the government to abandon the criminalisation policy without any impacts on security. Had the criminalisation policy been withdrawn, it could be argued that there would no longer be a safety net left to restore order and security in Northern Ireland. Endurance became the test of criminalisation. Despite the election results in favour of the IRA, there was still nothing the government could do, or willing to do, to solve the deadlock. The concessions made following the strikes clearly demonstrated that with it came a, maybe unconscious, recognition that the problem had to be moved to the political sphere.
Leslie Wilmart Angelo
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