Disaffection

Hunger strikers lose favor

When he formed his government earlier this month, Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald was bitterly critical of the British government. Reason: Whitehall's unyielding approach to the members of the Irish Republican Army who were conducting hunger strikes in the Maze Prison near Belfast. But last week FitzGerald declared he was much more sympathetic to Whitehall's tactics. That turnabout led the London Times to editorialize: "There has been a remarkable improvement in relations between the British and the Irish governments over the past few days."

One reason for the change was Ireland's indignation about the riots that had exploded in Dublin the previous Saturday when 15,000 demonstrators, organized by I.R.A. supporters, marched on the British Embassy. Some 500 of the protesters engaged in pitched battles with the police. In the melee, the fiercest confrontation in the republic since the 1920s, about 200 civilians and policemen were injured, and the damage to property amounted to more than $2 million.

What was more, the hunger strikers contributed to Irish disenchantment last week by scuttling two overtures toward a possible settlement. First, they dismissed a three-man International Red Cross delegation as "pawns of the British."Then they refused a British offer to "clarify" Whitehall's position on possible steps to ameliorate their treatment unless the I.R.A.'s prison representative could attend the talks. The British could not accept this condition, since it might be seen as recognition of the I.R.A. command structure.

There was also opposition last week to a march by some 3,000 supporters of the hunger strikers from Newry to Dublin, 70 miles away. Reported Justice Minister James Mitchell: "We have received thousands of calls and messages and letters about Saturday's proposed march, and 98% of them have called upon us to ban it." Nonetheless, the Irish government decided to let the march go on, while ordering in troops to guard against any possible violence. As it happened, there was none.

Meanwhile, two more young prisoners were at the point of death in the Maze Prison. Kieran Doherty, 25, and Kevin Lynch, 24, who had been convicted of weapons offenses, had both gone more than 60 days without food. Doherty was elected last month to the Irish Parliament, whose membership is open to all Irishmen, north and south. If Doherty and Lynch die, two other I.R.A. prisoners stand ready to join the hunger strikers.

But for the time being at least, the British government saw less reason than ever last week to give in to the protests.

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