In 1966 the Ulster Volunteer force mobilised and murdered a number of Catholics. In response to the Irish Republican army mobilised and since then their has been widespread conflict in Northern Ireland. This period in Irish history has been known as the troubles.
In recent years there have been a number of attempts by both the British and Irish governments to put an end to the conflict and establish government structures in Northern Ireland. Throughout this process the two governments have been met with a number of stumbling blocks most notably paramilitary decommissioning and police reform and the particular discourses of the two main parties Nationalists and Unionists towards this conflict.
On the 10th of April 1998 a compromise was reached and agreed upon by both sides in the Good Friday Agreement. In this document plans were outlined for decommissioning and police reform as well as early release for paramilitary prisoners and the reform of criminal justice. It also consisted of a change in the constitution of Ireland to remove their claim to the territory of Northern Ireland subject to a referendum. A majority of the people in the whole Island of Ireland voted in favour of the Good Friday agreement.
Northern Ireland would remain part of the U.K unless the majority of people in Northern Ireland wanted otherwise. The new Northern Ireland assembly would take control of the state of Northern Ireland. The new assembly was to have 108 members with an equal representation from both protestant and catholic communities. There was to be ten separate ministries and also a council of the Isles with representatives from Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. All parties including The Irish, English and American governments, all nationalist parties and the unionists with the exception of the Dup (who are led by Ian Paisley and are strongly opposed to any form of compromise.) were in favour of the agreement.
The Good Friday Agreement was a watershed in the politics of Northern Ireland an agreement that many doubted would ever be possible but even though the agreement has been agreed and signed implementation has proved to be an altogether different task and has been met with a number of stumbling blocks along the way most notably police reform and the issue of decommissioning. “Within the UUP, policing reforms and the early release of paramilitary prisoners are measures seen as politically and morally wrong particularly given the reluctance of the IRA to fully abandon its weaponry” (Tonge, Jonathon and Evans Jocelyn 2002 pg 63)
Paramilitary decommissioning is a major stumbling block on the road to the re-establishment of government structures in Northern Ireland. There are problems with hard-line nationalists and Unionists in relation to this. The two different branches of paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland feel threatened by each other and feel if they gave up their arms they would be in fact increasing their vulnerability. Nationalists and Unionists feel that their violent actions are justified by their beliefs and that they have a right to use armed forces to protect their beliefs.
The Ira have constantly refused to decommission their weapons in February 2002 the Northern Ireland assembly was suspended because the IRA had refused to decommission their weapons. In May 2000 they agreed to put some of their weapons beyond use and after inspection they parliament reconvened. Once again in August 2001 the IRA refused to decommission fully and parliament was suspended but in the following November they put more of their weapons beyond use and once again the parliament reconvened. In 2002 the Assembly was suspended for a third and final time because of the uncovering of the passing of information from Sinn Fein members of the assembly to IRA members. To this date the IRA refuse to fully decommission and declare the hostilities over and the Assembly remains suspended. This is a major issue in the re-establishment of government in Northern Ireland and until the IRA agrees to decommission their will be mistrust within the two communities over the nationalists commitment to the peace process.
The IRA sees the decommissioning of their weapons as in fact surrendering to the British and they have refuses to do this regardless of countless battle which includes great victories and indeed many defeats for centuries. One major defeat that they are constantly reminded of in the murals around Northern Ireland is the Battle of The Boyne, the Unionists celebrate this victory every year with their orange men marches a constant reminder of defeat to the nationalist communities, the IRA feels that giving into the British and decommissioning their arms would be just another defeat that they could be reminded of time and time again.
The reformation of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was another big stumbling block in the re-establishment of government in Northern Ireland. It has been suggested that police reform is one of the most fundamental elements of a successful peace process because “policing goes to the core of civic stability and is perhaps the most fundamental relationship between citizens and the state” ()
The Patten commission was set up by The Good Friday agreement to introduce reforms to the RUC. These reforms included recruiting Catholics to the force and changing the name of the force to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).The aim of the reforms was to create a police force in Northern Ireland that both sides of the divide were happy with Peter Mandelson said that the introduction of a new police force would mean that “all sections of community would have faith in a new policing force” () but in fact neither side of the conflict was happy with the proposed reforms. The Unionists felt that these changes were too radical and on the other hand that nationalists felt that not enough was to be done to solve their problems. A recommendation of the report was to recruit more Catholics but despite the changes in the force most Catholics saw the police force as a source of their persecution in the past and saw them as their enemy. Catholics in Northern Ireland were not inclined to become a member of the PSNI because it reminded them too much of the persecution that they and their ancestors suffered at the hands of its predecessors the RUC. Sinn Fein remained vehemently opposed to the new police service and refused to sit on any policing boards.
A number of Key recommendations of the Patten report were not implemented in the new police force of Northern Ireland. The control of the force still came from Britain and officers were not giving enough powers. A number of members of the RUC who were responsible for serious crimes against civil rights have risen to top positions within the PSNI. In general the nationalist community have not been happy with the reforms in the police force in Northern Ireland.
