Dúirt Siad: The death of Margaret Thatcher

» John Hedges & Mark Moloney

'She hated the Irish freedom fighters and allowed them to die; she hated the English poor and did nothing at all to help them; she hated Greenpeace and environmental protectionists'

WHAT PEOPLE from the worlds of politics, show business and industry are saying about the death of 'The Iron Lady'.

● Kevin Maguire, Associate Editor of the British Daily Mirror:

“Thatcher showed no mercy to anybody who got in her way and ruined the lives of millions of decent Britons. I was there in the 1980s, I know what the reality was like. So I send my condolences to two children who have lost a mother but I shed no crocodile tears for Thatcherism.”

● Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams TD:

“Margaret Thatcher did great hurt to the Irish and British people during her time as British Prime Minister. She will be especially remembered for her shameful role during the epic hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981. Her Irish policy failed miserably.”

● John Hume, former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP):

“Her hardline, belligerent and uncompromising approach during the hunger strikes won her few friends among nationalists. There is no doubt that her actions caused great hurt and harm.”

● Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) noted that her passing signaled the end of the generation of leaders who ruled during the Cold War:

"The ANC was on the receiving end of her policy in terms of refusing to recognise the ANC as the representatives of South Africans and her failure to isolate apartheid after it had been described as a crime against humanity."

● Film director Ken Loach described Thatcher as "an enemy of the working class":

"How should we honour her? Let’s privatise her funeral. Put it out to competitive tender and accept the cheapest bid. It’s what she would have wanted."

● Britain's National Union of Mineworkers said British industry was “crippled” under Thatcher's government:

“Margaret Hilda Thatcher is gone but the damage caused by her fatally flawed politics sadly lingers on. Good riddance.”

● Singer/songwriter Morrissey blasted her as “a terror without an atom of humanity”:

“Every move she made was charged by negativity. She destroyed the British manufacturing industry, she hated the miners, she hated the arts, she hated the Irish freedom fighters and allowed them to die, she hated the English poor and did nothing at all to help them, she hated Greenpeace and environmental protectionists.

"Thatcher will only be fondly remembered by sentimentalists who did not suffer under her leadership."

● Journalist and commentator Eamonn Mallie:

“Interviewed six people in Andersonstown in West Belfast today about death of Mrs Thatcher. The hostility was palpable.”