Just like previous attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement has been a failure and the problems are still impossible to overcome Do you agree?

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Just like previous attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement has been a failure and the problems are still impossible to overcome Do you agree?

In this piece of coursework I will be analysing to what extent the Good Friday Agreement has brought peace. I will be analysing two previous attempts at peace and why they failed also the breakthrough s which led up to the Good Friday Agreement and what was the aims of  the Good Friday Agreement, the development since the Good Friday Agreement. Also what problems still exist.

There have been many attempts of peace I will be analysing 2. Firstly I will be analysing the Anglo-Irish agreement, which happened in 1985. The Anglo-Irish agreement was agreed between Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. The agreement meant that there would be cross-border co-operation on security, legal and political issues. The British government accepted that there might one day be a ’United Ireland’, but only with the consent of the majority in Northern Ireland. The Irish government accepted the existence of partition , and also the principle of consent. There was many reactions to the initiative, the Loyalists hated the agreement, Ian Paisley  a spokesman for extreme Unionists, tried to create a spirit of hatred towards the agreement. Moderate Unionists were totally outraged that the republic had a say in in the governing of Northern Ireland. Moderate Nationalists were happy with the agreement, they felt it had possibilities but they didn’t agree with interment. Extreme Nationalists groups like Sinn Fein rejected the agreement because it effectively confirmed the Partition of Ireland. Less people supported Ira and moved to SDLP because they agreed with the peace treaty. The Anglo-Irish agreement overall was a failure because the violence continued with tit for tat killings but there still was little success with people moving from extreme groups like Ira to SDLP because they agreed with the treaty.

Secondly, I will be analysing the Downing Street Declaration. The agreement was agreed between Prime Minister John Major and the Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds. Talks were to be set up to decide on a new form of government for Northern Ireland which would respect all traditions. Also the British government accepted that Irish unity was an issue for Irish people , but they said that it could only happen with consent of those in the North. The Irish government accepted the principle of consent  for Irish Unity also the Irish government  accepted that it might have to drop the parts of its constitution which claimed the North as a part of its territory also the Irish government would set up a  for peace and Reconciliation to promote trust and understanding between the traditions. Only those whom rejected violence could be part of this. There were many reactions to Initiative for example the loyalists didn’t support this, Ian Paisley said that John Major ’sold out Ulster to buy off the fiendish republican scum’. The Ulster unionists caustically accepted the declaration because they didn’t want the republic to have much power but they were happy with the moves towards peace. The Moderate Nationalists welcomed the declaration and the Republican groups like Sinn Fein didn’t think the declaration went as far as they wanted. The Downing Street Declaration was overall a failure as the violence still continued with tit for tat killings but discussions continued however there was some success came from the Downing Street Declaration with the new culture to discuss with ceasefire to start or talk.

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In this paragraph I will briefly describing the breakthroughs which led up to the Good Friday Agreement. Firstly in march 1995, Sir Patrick Maghew, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, set out three conditions for decommissioning, and if these were met, Sinn Fein could be allowed to all party talks if the IRA had to be willing in principle to disarm progressively. Also it had to agree on how in practise decommissioning would be carried out. Also it had to decommission some of its weaponry at the beginning of the talks as a obvious gesture of faith. This is a ...

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