The Minister for Justice has criticised Sinn Fein for comments made in the wake of the death of Margaret Thatcher.

The former British Prime Minister died yesterday following a stroke. Her funeral is expected to take place some time next week.

The Iron Lady has fiercely divided opinion over the years particularly in Northern Ireland. Yesterday the Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said she did great hurt to the Irish during her time as Prime Minister.

He said working-class communities were devastated in Britain because of her policies and her role in international affairs was equally belligerent.

The statement also said that Margaret Thatcher will be especially remembered for her shameful role during the hunger strikes of 1980 and '81 and that her Irish policy failed miserably.

Thatcher & Northern Ireland

In 1980 and 1981 on-going protests by paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland culminated in a series of hunger strikes.

Prisoners of the Maze Prison, including MP Bobby Sands, refused food to try and gain improved living conditions and a return to 'political prisoner' status. Thatcher was unwavering in her refusal to negotiate, issuing her infamous declaration that "crime is crime is crime; it is not political". The major hunger strike that began in 1981 led to the death of ten of the strikers, including Sands.

The impact of the hunger strikes saw increased levels of violence in Northern Ireland. Over 100,000 people lined Sands' funeral route.

Thatcher said of Sands that he "was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of its victims." In 1982, Sinn Féin's Danny Morrisson referred to Thatcher as "the biggest bastard we have ever known."

In 1984 there was an assassination attempt on Thatcher when an IRA bomb exploded at a Conservative Party conference in the Grand Hotel Brighton. 4 delegates were killed and many others injured but Thatcher survived the attack.

But speaking at an event in Dublin this morning Minister Alan Shatter said Sinn Fein and the IRA were responsible for a great deal of hurt too.