The bombing led to an outcry among politicians in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said: "It's really desecrating the dead and a blot on mankind". The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Tom King, denounced the "outrage" in the House of Commons, as did the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Lenihan in Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, the Republic's legislature), while in Seanad Éireann Senator Maurice Manning spoke of people's "total revulsion". Many public figures used terms such as "barbarism" and "savagery" to describe the bombing.