Northern Ireland Question 3

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Louis Austin                                                                                     History Coursework

3. Previous attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland have failed. What problems will need to be overcome if the peace talks are to succeed?

In your answer you should consider:

  • Two previous attempts at peace in your lifetime;
  • The breakthroughs that have been made;
  • The problems that still exist.

The current situation in Ireland is one of hostility, although there is a form of agreed peace. The Provisional IRA is in ceasefire, but some dissident Republican groups are continuing the violence. The Good Friday Agreement is the active peace initiative at present, but there are still many problems Irish Republicans and Unionist have to overcome before there can truly be peace in Ireland. There are still many past grievances that need to be amended and major problems such as the decommissioning of the Provisional IRA still stands in the way of peace. Although Ireland is still working towards peaceful resolution, there is still a long way to go before peace can be fully restored to the country. This can be seen in the way that some Republican extremists still do not agree that Northern Ireland should still be part of the UK, which can be seen through the message they spread through the use of violent protests. This is evidence that peace has not been fully restored, yet there is strong evidence to suggest that things have gotten better since Bloody Sunday in 1972. The British government held talks with various parties, including the Provisional IRA, during 1972 and 1973. (The Official IRA declared a ceasefire in 1972, and eventually ended violence altogether, although a breakaway group, the Irish National Liberation Army, continued with a campaign of violence. The Provisional IRA, however, remained the largest and most effective nationalist paramilitary group.) This is due to the Good Friday Agreement that took place in 1998, as well as the IRA ceasefire, which involved the IRA committing to laying down all their weapons. There has been next to no violence since.

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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 ...

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