b) Republicans/Nationalists/Catholics.
The Battle of the Boyne happened in July 1690, when the deposed King James II of England (replaced by William of Orange) invaded Ireland in order to gather Catholic support for his invasion and repossession of England and her throne. With the siege of Londonderry as its precursor, this gave William of Orange time to gather his troops in Ireland (Incidentally, Williams ‘Protestant’ army had a number of Catholic soldiers and the full support of the Pope). William’s army massacred James’ troops at Boyne. Understandably, the Catholics aren’t very pleased about what happened at Boyne, infact it is considered by many Irish Catholics to be a low point in the Religion’s history. The Orange Order’s marches during the marching season in July frequently if not always cause arguments between Catholics and Protestants, because the Protestants are basically bragging that they beat the Catholics at Boyne. From this we can tell that Protestants are infact very proud of defeating the Catholics. The Battle of the Boyne, even though it happened 314 years ago, still hampers peace processes because the Protestants can't seem to stop bragging about it and provoking conflict by marching annually.
It shaped the views of the Protestants by making them big-headed and turning Catholics into weak seeming figured, leading the Protestants to develop a sort of ‘geno-pathic’ bullying.
It shaped the Catholic viewpoint in the same ways, but to different results. Where the Protestants became bigheaded bullies, the Catholics developed an inferiority complex causing them to strike out at Protestants to try to prove themselves.
In Londonderry on Sunday 30th January 1972, there was a huge protest march against internment, organised by the civil rights movement. Fifteen thousand people defied a ban on marches and gathered in the centre of the city. Troops of the Parachute regiment sealed off the area, and were met with a hail of stones from youths. There is much confusion over the sequence of events that followed. The soldiers claim that they were fired upon and returned fire. The result was that 13 marchers, all apparently unarmed, were killed. Some of them were shot in the back, suggesting they were running away. This was later dubbed ‘Bloody Sunday’.
The inquiry that followed was lead by Lord Widgery. It criticised the shooting by the troops as ‘bordering on the reckless’, but no action was taken against any soldiers. The report accepted the army’s version of events, that the soldiers had been fired upon, that the soldiers had been fired upon first by the IRA. To Nationalists, it was a whitewash, a cover up. The controversy was still raging twenty-six years later when in January 1998, when the British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a new inquiry into the events.
Bloody Sunday was tragic for those involved. Its importance in terms of conflict lay in how it affected views and attitudes. It was a propaganda victory for the Republicans. The reaction outside the United Kingdom was one of outrage. Funding for the IRA from the United States increased. In Dublin, the British Embassy was burned down. These events also strengthened the argument of the hard-line Republicans that defending their communities was no longer enough. They said that the IRA had to go on the attack to get the British out of Ireland.
The Republicans would feel greatly upset and angry with the British, and therefore the Unionists for Bloody Sunday. It is my belief that the main reason behind violent Republican actions, possibly the soul reason, is the slaughter of 13 innocent, peaceful protesters on Sunday 30th January 1972. Indeed, the Nationalists are so sure that Bloody Sunday was a conspiracy and homicide that even Peter Taylor (a journalist known for his work on the problems in Northern Ireland) says that “To this day it is difficult to convince Nationalists [otherwise]”.
The Unionists may believe that it was perfectly acceptable to nullify a possible threat to the people and may get slightly irritated at the Nationalist rants of conspiracy. However, I think they also feel a certain amount of shame or pity for the thirteen protesters.
3: Previous attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland have failed. What problems will need to be overcome if the current peace talks are to succeed?
The late 1980’s and early 1990’s saw a horrific cycle of violence as Loyalists began to match Republicans in the number of killings they carried out. However some positive developments were also taking place. There was also very strong evidence that ordinary people in Northern Ireland were longing for peace more than ever. Sinn Fein lost the West Belfast seat to the SDLP in the general election of 1992, with both Protestants and Catholics voting for the SDLP. Thousands of people marched at peace rallies organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions after the Shankill bombing. Much more activity was on a small scale and went largely unreported. One person who did hit the headlines was the new Irish President, Mary Robinson, elected in 1990. She played a key role in changing attitudes towards Nationalism in the Republic. She argued that peace and justice in Northern Ireland were more important than removing partition. She also had a track record of sympathy for Unionists. The end result of all the talking was the Downing Street Declaration of 15th December 1993. Prime Minister John Major stood outside 10 Downing Street with the Taoiseach Albert Reynolds. In Northern Ireland, the Alliance Party and SDLP welcomed the Declaration. The Ulster Unionists cautiously accepted it. Mitchel McLaughlin of Sinn Fein saw it as very disappointing. Ian Paisley Accused John Major of having ‘sold out Ulster to buy off the fiendish Republican scum’. Despite the opposition, the Declaration had important results. The Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries studied it carefully and clarified details of the Declaration with the British government. (This allowed them to delay a formal acceptance of the Declaration without openly rejecting it.) However, they also continued to kill each other and innocent civilians at an appalling rate. In summer 1994, Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries engaged in a series of tit-for-tat killings, including the Loughinisland incident. Nevertheless, the politicians and some of the paramilitaries were now working towards an end to violence. In the next five years they would come a long way.
The early part of 1998 saw some extraordinary events. There was a crisis in January, when it seemed likely that loyalist paramilitary groups prisoners would withdraw their support for the peace process. This would be a major blow, as they had immense influence within their movement. Both the Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and the Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam visited them in the Maze prison and regained their support. It was now becoming clear that most Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries were prepared to end the conflict. However, some paramilitary groups were still prepared to fight. In February and March, a series of bombings and shootings occurred. There were carried out by Loyalist and Republican splinter groups that had rejected the peace process.
The parties taking part in the talks had agreed a deadline of 9th April to reach an agreement. As the deadline approached, the negotiations gathered pace. President Clinton worked behind the scenes, encouraging various leaders to talk or to compromise. From 6th April onwards, Tony Blair, Bertie Aherne and the Northern Ireland leaders were negotiating non-stop at Stormont.
On the afternoon of Saturday 10th April 1998, the talk’s chairman, Senator Mitchell, made a statement:
“I am pleased to announce than the two governments and the political parties of Northern Ireland have reached an agreement.”
This was called the Good Friday Agreement. However, the Agreement was only the beginning. Crunch time would come along with a referendum to be held in May. The people of both Eire and Ulster were asked whether they accepted the Good Friday Agreement. The people of Eire were also asked whether they would allow Ulster to be removed from the constitution. The result in Eire was overwhelming in favour – 94%. In Ulster, while not so high, was still largely in Favour of the Good Friday Agreement, standing 71% for. This was certainly a breakthrough, and a moment in history for Ireland and her problems. More progress made by the Good Friday Agreement is that since it was passed, there have been no bombings or killings by fundamentalist groups such as the IRA or the UVF.
However, the politicians in Eire, Ulster and England still cannot decide who should own Northern Ireland or indeed what to do with it. This disagreement is a major problem that needs to be rectified before total peace can be achieved. Another problem is the marching season, which still happens today, and is annually a cause of disruption between Catholics and Protestants. For peace to work either the marches should stop, or be moved to a different location, otherwise annual fights will break out between these two groups of people.
