This article is from page 9 of the 2012-01-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
PRESIDENT Patrick Hillery became the most potent symbol of Irish government opposition to the South African apartheid regime in 1981, State Papers released this week under the 30-year rule have revealed.
Head of State, Dr Hillery was the expression of a stand off between Taoiseach Charles Haughey and the Irish Rugby Football Union over the controversial tour of South Africa made by the Irish team in 1981.
Opposition to the tour emerged early in the year, with a memo from the Department of Foreign Affairs “I wonder if we should consider an intervention by the Taoiseach at an opportune moment,” adding that while it was “an exceptional step” it might persuade the IRFU against going ahead with the tour or at the very least would show to international opinion that the Irish Government had done all in its power to stop it.
Then it was Haughey that threw down the gauntlet to the IRFU, saying that he did not want to the tour to go ahead “in any way”, with President Hillery emerging as the visible demonstration of this opposition.
As public protests against the rugby tour mounted, then Taoiseach Charles Haughey wrote a strongly worded letter to the IRFU saying he was worried about the growing international reaction to the tour, and its potential repercussions for Ireland and Irish interests overseas.
He wrote that in view of the seriousness of the matter, which directly concerned national interests, he wished personally as head of the government to convey the full implications of the situation. But the IRFU ignored the unprecedented appeal and went ahead with the tour.
However, backing for the Government stance came from President Hillery.
After Haughey was succeeded as Taoiseach by Garret Fitzgerald, the Government advised President Hillery not to attend a subsequent rugby match between Ireland and Australia in November in Lansdowne Road, a decision the President fully supported and he didn’t attend the international.
It represented the only time that a Head of State snubbed an international sporting fixture because of a political disagreement.