Prior to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, all attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland had failed. If the Good Friday Agreement is to succeed, what problems will have to be overcome?

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12/11/2002

Coursework Assignment 3 – Prior to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, all attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland had failed. If the Good Friday Agreement is to succeed, what problems will have to be overcome?

    In Northern Ireland, there has been a large conflict in opinion over should be in control of the country for many years. Some people believe that Ireland should be united as one and should have no control or influence from Britain. These, Catholics in the majority, are known as ‘Republicans’ or ‘Nationalists’. Others, Protestants, known as ‘loyalists’ or ‘unionists’ believe that Northern Ireland should be separate, at least politically, from the Republic and be part of Britain, possibly ruled from London like it is now in the wake of the suspension of the Good Friday Agreement, or that Northern Ireland should be part of Britain but have its own Government. Religion, Patriotism and political belief have caused a great amount of conflict between the groups. In each group, many parties, sub-parties and splinter groups have been formed, each one having slightly different views based around the same idea and using different methods than others. An example of conflicting groups on the same ‘side’ would be the range of Nationalist groups that exist. The SDLP (Social Democratic Labour Party), arguably the most peaceful Nationalist organisation, believes in using non-violent, negotiating methods to achieve it aims. The IRA, or Irish Republican Army, on the other hand, is a Catholic paramilitary well known for using violent, intolerant methods to achieve its targets. Obviously, the SDLP does not tolerate the IRA’s methods in any way, even though they share very similar views and want to achieve almost the same thing. The same comparison could be made between Protestant organisations like the Ulster Unionists and the Ulster Defence Force.

   The two main groups in Northern Ireland have not been able to agree or compromise over many things in the past. Negotiations often end in no direct positive result, and the main reason that little had been achieved pre-1998 is because the two sides often failed to communicate. Normal, non-governmental Catholics dismissed Protestant views as unimportant, and the Protestants did the same to the Catholics. Any huge factor to violence, tension and all-round bitterness between the groups is the large amount of discrimination against Catholics in previous years. Protestant policemen have previously been proven to differentiate Catholics and Protestants, often favouring Protestants. The police force is also, in the majority, Protestant. Other countless acts of minor discrimination, like giving Protestants better jobs and housing, have attributed to the build up of tension between the two groups.

   The Good Friday Agreement 1998 followed a huge Labour Party victory in 1997 in Britain. The previous government had failed in creating peace in Northern Ireland, as had the previous Labour Administration back in 1973. The government were determined to create an agreement that would please all parties concerned. It set out to create a new Northern Ireland assembly in which important decisions needed consent from both groups. A council uniting the North and the South was formed, including members of the new assembly and ministers from the Republic of Ireland. The agreement wanted to get the Catholics and Protestants, Northern Ireland and the Republic to communicate and try to resolve matters without deploying violent methods. The Irish government would remove the part of its constitution that claimed Northern Ireland as its own. So, on one hand, the agreement created a bond between the North and the south through the new council, yet the agreement forced the south to stop claiming the north as its own land. As Catholics were, and still are, a small minority of the police force, it was agreed that there would be a review of policing, which also was to investigate the manner in which Protestant policemen treated Catholic suspects, prisoners or even fellow officers. Controversially, Mo Mowlam, then the Minister for Ireland, got the support of paramilitaries by meeting with some prisoners and promising them early release. Basically, the main aims of the agreement wee to negotiate the possibility of peace and to please every group. Normally, in these situations, the hardest group to convince in such an affair with the British Government were the Nationalist paramilitaries, like the IRA, yet Mowlam gained support from even them. This may be a factor that has led to a greater amount of success and peace in this agreement compared to previous attempts.

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   For the last 30 years, many attempts have been made to create a state of peace in Northern Ireland. The main three attempts before the Good Friday Agreement were “The Power Sharing Executive and Sunningdale Agreement”, “The Anglo-Irish Agreement” and “The Downing Street Declaration”

   The Power Sharing Executive and Sunningdale agreement, spanning from 1973 and 1974, just over six months, aimed to undermine IRA support in the Catholic community by giving them a say on how Ireland was run. The agreement aimed to work with Eire to create a new start for Northern Ireland. Despite its very ...

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