On 9 December 1973 after talks in Sunningdale, the Ulster Unionist Party, SDLP and Alliance Party of Northern Ireland reached the Sunningdale Agreement on a cross-community government for Northern Ireland, which took to full effect on 1 January 1974. The Provisional IRA was unimpressed, therefore resulting in an increase of its violence, while many Unionists were outraged at the participation of Nationalists in the government of Northern Ireland and at the cross-border Council of Ireland. Although the Pro-Sunningdale parties had a clear majority in the new Northern Ireland Assembly, the failure of the Pro-Agreement parties to co-ordinate their efforts in the general election of 28 February, combined with an IRA-sponsored boycott by dedicated Republicans, allowed Anti-Sunningdale Unionists to take over half o the percentage of the vote and 11 of Northern Ireland's 12 seats in the UK House of Commons. This led to the end of the Sunningdale Agreement, however in 1985 there came another conference named the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland, which aimed to bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish Government an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government while confirming that there would be no change in the constitutional position of Northern Ireland unless a majority of its people agreed to join the Republic. It also set out conditions for the establishment of a devolved consensus government in the region. However the Agreement failed to bring an immediate end to political violence in Northern Ireland; neither did it reconcile the two communities. The devolved power-sharing government envisaged by the agreement would not become a reality for many years, and then in quite a different form. However, it did improve co-operation between the British and Irish governments, which was key to the creation of the Good Friday Agreement 12 years later. As such, it can be seen as a major stepping-stone in the Peace Process, of which the inter-governmental component was crucial. Yet Republicans rejected the agreement because it confirmed Northern Ireland's status as a part of the UK. The Provisional Irish Republican Army continued their violent campaign and did not endorse the agreement. Also Unionists organised mass protests but by 1987 the campaign had collapsed. Despite the numerous agreements failing over the years, it was clear that progress was being made and that something was being done to try and prevent the strong divide in Ireland.
The Good Friday Agreement was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. It was signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998 by the British and Irish governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. On 23 May 1998 the voters of Northern Ireland in a referendum endorsed the Agreement. On the same day, voters in the Republic voted separately to change their constitution in line with the Agreement. The Democratic Unionist Party was the only large party that opposed the Agreement. The Agreement entered into agreement on 2 December 1999. The provisions that came about included anew Northern Ireland Assembly, which was set up with 108 members, with all key decisions requiring consent of both communities. There was also confirmation that the right to hold both British and Irish citizenship was accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement has so far been the best solution to the problems in Ireland, due to the fact it involved members from both communities being able to have a fairer say over the affairs in Ireland. It also meant that Northern Ireland was free from having to become one with Ireland, which happened after Irish Government was told to remove all articles which claimed the North as part of its territory. Another declaration that proved to be quite effective was the Downing Street Declaration, which was a joint declaration issued on December 15 1993 by John Major (Prime Minister of the UK at the time) and Albert Reynolds, the Taoiseach of Republic of Ireland. It gave the right of the people of Northern Ireland to self-determination, and that the province would be transferred to the Republic of Ireland from the United Kingdom if and only if a majority of its population was in favour of such a move. It included for the first time in the history of Anglo-Irish relationships, the principle that the people of Ireland, North and South had the exclusive right to solve the issues between North and South by mutual consent. The Second statement was key to produce a positive change of attitude by the Republicans towards a negotiated settlement. The joint declaration also pledged the governments to seek a peaceful constitutional settlement, and promised that parties linked with paramilitaries, such as Sinn Féin could take part in the talks, so long as they abandoned violence.
Despite the numerous conferences, troubles in Northern Ireland still remain. These consist of feelings of distrust amongst the two main communities, as they feel that although Ireland is working its way back to peace, tensions still linger. Memories of such events like the Corporals Killings, which is the name commonly given to the deaths of two of the Royal Corps of Signals in the British Army, who were killed on March 19, 1988 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, still bring back bad memories of how Northern Ireland used to be. The soldiers were abducted and beaten by Irish republicans, after they drove into the funeral of a Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer killed in a loyalist attack. Amidst the confusion, the soldiers' car was attacked by dozens of men, during which Corporal Wood produced a firearm and fired a warning shot in the air. The official version from the Army was that the men were technicians engaged in routine communications and radio work at bases in west Belfast. The IRA instead believes that they were involved in undercover surveillance activity on that day. Because it was fully captured by television cameras, the incident has been described as one of the "most dramatic and harrowing images of the conflict”. Even to this day people still recognise one fateful image, which was taken at the time and shows a priest named Father Alec Reid giving the man who had been shot his Last Rites. The violence portrayed in this image and the situation as a whole led to increased conflict between the British Army and the IRA, whose different sides of events still cause controversy even to this very day.
The Omagh bombing is another example of how differences between the communities led to extreme violence. These particular bombings however were one of the most violent attacks, and was a paramilitary car bomb attack carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), a splinter group of former Provisional Irish Republican Army members opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. This shows that despite a large majority of the communities supporting the Good Friday Agreement, there would have always been people opposed to it, and in this case they were extremists who prepared to use brutal violence in a protest to get what they want. However because of the Omagh bombings, it made people realise even more that if they want to prevent this from ever happening again, then strives towards peace must be made. This led to the IRA Ceasefire, which involved all of the IRA committing to laying down their weapons, and since then there hasn’t been any violence, proving that Northern Ireland is slowly being restored to peace.
To prove even further that Northern Ireland is working towards peace, the DUP and Sinn Fein have formed a government together, however there are still some protests from the Nationalists and Loyalists who still disagree with the agreements in place. In my opinion if peace is to be restored to Northern Ireland, I would ask for all of the communities to lay down their weapons, following on the success this move has had with the IRA, where there has been no violence since. I would also let everybody’s voice be heard, so that their opinions are actually considered and only by taking them into account, can Northern Ireland be a place for everyone.