The results of Bloody Sunday were:
- Massive recruitment for the IRA
- Suspension of the Northern Ireland government and imposition of Direct Rule from Westminster
- Made IRA campaign legitimate” – allowed them to justify violence to force Britain out of Ireland.
Once Direct Rule from Westminster began, the British government wanted to try and solve the majority that Protestants had in Ulster. They wanted to try and see if politicians in Ulster and the government in Ireland could work together in order to achieve peace.
A conference was held in Sunningdale in Berkshire. It was agreed that Ulster was to stay part of the UK until a majority voted otherwise. This became known as the “Sunningdale Agreement”.
After this conference had taken place, Direct Rule of Ulster was replaced by a Power Sharing Executive at Stormont in 1974. Finally there was hope for peace.
The Power Sharing Executive eventually failed as the Protestant condemned it. It failed because Unionists formed the United Unionist Council to organise strikes and disruptive activities to bring the government down.
As a result of this the IRA began to bomb mainland Britain to make sure the people of Britain aware of the problems in Northern Ireland and to persuade the British army to withdraw. A coach explosion on the M62 in February 1974 killed 9 soldiers, a woman and 2 children.
In October 1974 an IRA bomb in a Guildford pub killed 5 people and injured 6 others.
The PIRA achieved nothing and suffered a reverse when, after a 138 siege in Balcolme Street in December 1975, 4 men were forced to surrender.
Northern Ireland continued to suffer from the Provisionals’ campaign. On 17th February 1978, 12 people wee killed when the La Mon Hotel near Belfast was bombed. Also in August 1979, 18 soldiers wee killed at Warrenpoint.
In 1979 Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister. She had an uncompromising attitude towards terrorism, which led to a change in IRA tactics.
In 1981 republican prisoners went on hunger strikes in Maze prison. They demanded to be treated a political prisoners and not ordinary prisoners. In the rest of the UK, most people backed Margaret Thatcher’s determination to give no concessions.
In April 1981, the hunger striker, Bobby Sands was elected as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in a by-election following the death of the previous incumbent, Independent MP Frank Maguire. Sands was a senior IRA commander. By 1980 he was the most senior IRA prisoner.
Against the wishes of the IRA leaders outside the Maze, he initiated the second set if hunger strikes in 1981.
The hunger strikes showed how non-violent action could generate enormous public attention rather than bombs that created negative publicity.
Sands died a few months after the election and 20% of the Catholic population (10, 000 people) attended his funeral. Ten more hunger strikers died and their funerals were similarly as spectacular.
Results of the hunger strikes were:
- Huge worldwide propaganda victory for the IRA
- Emergence of Sinn Fein as a serious political force
- Change of republican tactics – use of political tactics as well as violence
- More IRA violence
As a consequence of this, there was a closer co-operation between the British and Irish governments, which led to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.
In October 1984 the IRA bombed the Conservative Party Conference at Brighton killing members of the Conservative Party and almost killing Margaret Thatcher. After this bombing happened, secret meetings were held between the British and Irish governments. A year later the Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed by Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald on 15th November 1985.
The Agreement stated:
- The British government recognised the Republic’s right to make proposals on matters relating to Northern Ireland
- The Republic recognised a United Ireland was a long term aim which would only take place with the approval of the majority in Northern Ireland
- Both governments agreed to try to make Northern Ireland a place where everyone could live in peace, free from discrimination and intolerance
All the main political parties in England supported the Agreement, but neither Unionists nor Nationalists were pleased with it.
Nationalists didn’t like it because it reinforced partition. Unionists didn’t like it because it allowed the Republic to have a say in Northern Ireland affairs. They felt that they had been abandoned by the British government. They were left wondering who was looking after their interests.
In response, 15 Unionist members of parliament and one Conservative MP resigned their sears at Westminster. This caused a series of by-elections, which were accompanied in Northern Ireland by mass demonstration and violent protests during 1985-1986.
These protests got no response from Margaret Thatcher and the government. The Protestant paramilitaries were against the RUC because they saw them as traitors and therefore there was an increase in violence.
In 1987 Margaret Thatcher was re-elected and in 1988 the Agreement was reviewed. This left Protestants with no hope of changing the Agreement. Their campaign against the Agreement failed.
The general election also showed that the Agreement was achieving one of its objectives: the Sinn Fein vote fell to 11.4% and in the Republic’s general election in the same year Sinn Fein failed to win a single seat.
The IRA continued its violence. They concentrated more on engaging the security forces and planting fewer but larger bombs. On 8th November 1987 a bomb on the war memorial in Enniskillen killed 11 people.
After this, a strong mood of disgust was felt towards the IRA. However, violence continued to intensify in the early 1990’s. Murders were carried out by loyalist paramilitaries and the detonation of a series of large bombs by the IRA. Premiers in London and Dublin realised that a new political initiative was needed.
Between 1988 and 1992 there were many attempts to bring political parties in Northern Ireland together to talk. In 1991 it was agreed that there would be talks in three stages:
- Dealing with the internal government of Northern Ireland
- Dealing with North-South relations
- Dealing with British-Irish relations
There was little progress made in the first of the above stages because of the deep-rooted differences regarding Ulster.
In 1992 a breakthrough occurred with the Hume-Adams Initiative. The Deputy President of Sinn Fein, Martin McGuiness stated that Sinn Fein would make it as easy as possible for talks to take place between them and the British government. The British reply was that they could only begin talks if Sinn Fein agreed to a “complete cessation of violence”.
John Hume was a Northern Ireland Catholic politician, and leader of the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) from 1979. He was a founder member of the Credit Union Party, which later became the SDLP.
Gerry Adams was a Northern Ireland politician, and president of Sinn Fein (the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, IRA) from 1978. He was interned bewtween1973-76 on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activity.
These 2 politicians had had secret talks. As a results of these talks, document known as the Hume-Adams Initiative was shown to both governments.
This led to the Downing Street Declaration three months later. The British and Irish governments negotiated and agreed a joint declaration on their mutual position on Northern Ireland. They both hoped that this would create a basis for trust and future agreement between all parties. The Downing Street Declaration was announced on the 15trh December 1993. The two leaders that were involved in this agreement were John Major and Albert Reynolds (PM of Eire.)
The Declaration stated that both governments:
- Should be aware that only political parties with a commitment to exclusively peaceful methods would be allowed to join talks
- Accepted that Irish unity could be achieved peacefully without coercion and violence
It stated that the British government:
- Accepted the possibility of a United Ireland achieved by peaceful means. This point was crucial to progress
It stated that the Irish government:
- Would be wrong to attempt to impose a United Ireland in the absence of the freely given consent of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland
The initial reactions of the Unionists were that the Downing Street Declaration was a failure. They saw it as a step towards a Unite Ireland. However, Nationalists saw it as reinforcing partition. Yet later events suggest some measures of success.
In August 1994, the IRA declared a cease-fire, followed by loyalist paramilitary groups. The hope was that all terrorist organisations would give up their weapons in the future.
There has been a reduction in British army presence in Northern Ireland. ‘Peace’ ha brought an increase in tourism and investment and a reduction in unemployment
In 1995, the Joint Framework Document was drawn up by the British and Irish governments. It set out a plan for a peace process in Northern Ireland.
It was generally welcomed, but there were still problems:
- Unionists were worried it would lead towards a United Ireland
- Unionists and the British government wanted to see decommissioning of IRA weapons, but Sinn Fein and the IRA would not give up weapons because they did not trust the British government
- Many members of paramilitary groups were in prison. Would they be released early? If so, how would the families of the victims feel about this?
Despite these major difficulties, peace now looked possible. In January 1996, Senator George Mitchell set out the “Mitchell Principles” this was a plan for achieving decommissioning of paramilitary weapons. Sinn Fein agreed to the Principles but IRA leaders did not and the refused to hand over any arms.
As a result the British government demanded elections in Northern Ireland. John Major wanted to see how much support the paramilitaries had. The IRA had decided to renew its armed campaign and break the cease-fire. A vehicle was on its way to bomb London. That bomb was detonated on 9 February 1996 at Canary Wharf.
In May 1997 Tony Blair was elected as PM in the UK. Talks with all sections of the Irish society and the republic culminated in 1998 wit the Good Friday Agreement.
The main points of the agreement were:
- Northern Ireland assembly to replace Direct Rule
- Republic to give up its claim to Northern Ireland
- Early release of terrorist prisoners
People of Northern Ireland and Eire gave the agreement overwhelming support. Yet there were still problems:
- Difficulty of getting the IRA to decommission their weapons
- Republican “splinter” groups (Real IRA and the Continuity IRA) continue violence e.g. Omagh bomb in August 1998
In January 2000 the Northern Ireland assembly began. It consisted of both protestant and catholic ministers.
Throughout 2000 there wasn’t any signs of the IRA giving up their weapons. David Trimble, first minister, threatened to suspend the Northern Ireland assembly in February 2001 if there was no attempt by the IRA to dismantle their weapons.
In March 2001 the assembly was suspended, which was followed by direct rule from Westminster. After weeks of negotiation, the IRA said it would move towards making their weapons useless.
In August 2001 David Trimble resigned as first minister as the IRA made no real attempt to make their weapons useless. It looked like Direct Rule might be brought back and the peace process was in doubt.
In October/November 2001 the PIRA agreed to had over some of their weapons. As a gesture of goodwill the British government withdrew some of the troops from Ulster.
The current situation in Northern Ireland is that the Northern Ireland assembly is “working” but there still are some problems. The IRA are still being a problem because they won’t hand over their weapons. Also “splinter” groups like the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA do not act under the cease-fire and continue with violent means.