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Saturday 9 December 2023 Dublin: 10°C

# 1985 state papers

All time
The IRA bombing of two ships led to an Irish/British dispute over territorial waters
The border in Lough Foyle caused some serious debate.
44
24.0k
Jan 3rd 2016, 6:15 AM
How a notorious Nazi war criminal was banned from his picturesque Waterford hideaway
Rumours about looted art in the Kilmacthomas estate persisted for years.
46
45.1k
Jan 2nd 2016, 5:00 PM
The government was very concerned with bike tyres in 1985
Important business…
16
20.5k
Jan 2nd 2016, 8:30 AM
Ireland was terrified that exercise could be the end of us all in the early 1980s...
Aerobics in particular. And not just because of the 80s legwarmers.
28
54.0k
Jan 1st 2016, 10:00 PM
Does St Patrick deserve his own flag? An enterprising Kerryman thought he did
The government wouldn’t support the idea.
55
12.8k
Jan 1st 2016, 7:30 PM
An English car enthusiast made a play for Eamon de Valera's Rolls Royce in 1985
Ten years after his death Ireland still wasn’t at all sure what was to be done with Dev’s classic car.
31
20.5k
Jan 1st 2016, 3:00 PM
The great Donegal postal voting scam of 1985
An enormous scam to rig postal voting in the north-western county took place. Fortunately, the scammers weren’t all that subtle…
20
18.2k
Jan 1st 2016, 7:30 AM
This letter is most blatant Big Tobacco threat to a Taoiseach you're likely to see
Carroll Industries threatened to stop investing in businesses if new laws come in
38
16.5k
Jan 1st 2016, 7:00 AM
The man who let the Taoiseach know exactly what he thought about Jack the Ripper being Irish
Talk about tarring us all with the same brush.
13
15.6k
Jan 1st 2016, 6:10 AM
That time an Irish minister got the UK's Northern Secretary so hammered he had to be walked around a park
Douglas Hurd struggled to keep up with our own Peter Barry it seems.
11
38.6k
Dec 31st 2015, 9:30 PM
Garret FitzGerald really, really did not like Sinn Féin in 1985
The then Taoiseach even reached out to his nemesis Charles Haughey in an attempt to stymie Gerry Adams’ party.
115
15.8k
Dec 31st 2015, 8:15 PM
Irish prisons ran out of overtime cash in 1984 - so they started letting prisoners go early
The process was known as ‘shedding’.
8
10.0k
Dec 31st 2015, 6:00 PM
30 years ago, Dublin was a crime-riddled joyrider's paradise
The damage being done with stolen cars in particular had the population terrified.
36
22.7k
Dec 31st 2015, 7:15 AM
'Say the daily rosary': This is the kind of fan mail you get when you're Taoiseach
Garret Fitzgerald got quite a bit when he signed the Anglo-Irish agreement.
11
14.3k
Dec 30th 2015, 10:00 PM
Irish people really didn't like paying for their TV licence 30 years ago
The government needed to make savings in 1985, and RTE was very much in the firing line.
65
15.4k
Dec 30th 2015, 6:30 PM
The government wanted to launch a phone-tapping bill in 1985...
And they were very worried about the legal ramifications of it.
23
8.3k
Dec 30th 2015, 11:30 AM
30 years ago Dunnes Stores was involved in ANOTHER workers' dispute... one that shook the world
The protest of Dunnes workers against South Africa’s apartheid regime was one of the most compelling stories of 1985.
13
15.2k
Dec 30th 2015, 7:30 AM
When Maggie dropped some epic shade on Garret FitzGerald...
Mrs Thatcher was not a fan of Ministers for Foreign Affairs.
29
9.7k
Dec 30th 2015, 6:30 AM
Pornography being shown in pubs had the government in a fluster 30 years ago
The government of the time was not one bit happy at the thought of sex shops coming to these shores either.
25
25.6k
Dec 30th 2015, 6:05 AM