Te Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was formed in February 1967. A whole range of people joined it, from people from trade unions to members of political parties, not jut disgruntled Catholics. Catholic students from Northern Irelands Universities and colleges were heavily involved, including both socialists and conservatives.
The aims of NICRA were:
- to defend the basic freedoms of Catholics
- to protect the rights of the individual
- to highlight all possible abuses of power
- to demand guarantees for freedom of speech
- to inform the public of their lawful rights
NICRA immediately raised awareness of discrimination many middle class Protestants had not previously been aware of discrimination and were dismayed about it when they found out.
An opinion poll in December which showed 45 percent of the population favoured new laws outlawing discrimination.
The year 1968 saw student demonstrations against governments and their parties in many parts of the world. Student members of the NICRA attempted to hold their own protests however the Northern Ireland Government Banned NICRA to hold meetings or demonstrations. By the summer of 1968 frustration was setting in.
In October RUC officers broke up a march to the centre of Londonderry. The media reported the event widely. Between November and December there were further civil rights marches, the British government pushed the Northern Ireland prime minister to pass anti discrimination measures in Northern Ireland, they were passed but the tension continued to rise.
Many working class Protestants resented the fact that the media only portrayed the Catholics as the people who were suffering in poverty and destitution.
O’Neill the Northern Ireland prime minister described Ulster at being at a crossroads, needing to choose between becoming a modern democratic state or remaining a backward place of unawareness and unfairness.
The problems in 1968 later caused O’Neill to resign.
History essay
Q2. To what extent was the Anglo-Irish agreement a turning point?
In 1973 in an attempt for peace between Northern Ireland and the UK there was power sharing, this was proposed by Northern Ireland secretary William Whitelaw in discussion with the main Northern Ireland parties.
A new assembly was elected to govern Northern Ireland; the three main parties in the assembly were represented on a power sharing executive which is a government who would promise to distribute power between nationalist and unionist communities.
A council for Northern Ireland was set up which would bond Belfast, Dublin and London over issues of distress to all of them. Information of this council was worked out between the Northern Ireland parties and the British and Irish governments.
Although power sharing sounded good it failed miserably as in may 1974 a group called the Ulster Workers Council declared a strike to protest about the council of Northern Ireland, at first there was little support for the strike but loyalist paramilitaries used intimidation to force people to join it and over the next two weeks support increased among the unionist population bringing Northern Ireland to a halt. Power sharing had been defeated and Northern Ireland was back under direct rule. Now the governments needed a new way to try and keep the peace.
The second attempt by the parties was the Anglo-Irish Agreement, this was created in 1985, 9 years after power sharing failed, this was agreed between Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald, the Northern Ireland secretary would meet regularly and there would be cross-border co-operation on security, legal and political issues.
The agreement set up its own civil service with staff from both sides of the border. The government accepted that one day they might be a united Ireland but only with the agreement of the majority of people in Northern Ireland.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was a big turning point because both governments were concerned about continuing IRA violence.
By 1984, Mrs Thatcher was convinced that any solution to the problems in Northern Ireland would have to involve the Irish republic in some way.
In November 1985 she signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement with Garret Fitzgerald.
The agreement was well received inmost of mainland Britain and the republic. Sinn Fein rejected it because it effectively confirmed the division of Ireland.
The Anglo-Irish agreement was a big turning point because the agreement helped to combat the IRA and many nationalists could see the way ahead was moderation and the agreement gave the public some say, however small in Northern Ireland’s affairs.
History Essay
Q3. From present signs are there prospects for lasting peace in Northern Ireland?
By the look of Northern Irelands history and what it is like today there is definitely hope for lasting peace in Northern Ireland.
After the Anglo-Irish Agreement failed in 1993
The United Kingdom Prime Minister John Major and the Taoiseach Albert Reynolds set up The Downing Street Declaration.
Talks were set up to decide a new form of government for Northern Ireland, the new Northern Ireland government would respect all traditions in Northern Ireland and only parties which rejected violence would be allowed any say in the talks.
The British government said it had no selfish, political or economic interest in Northern Ireland but was concerned only for the welfare of all the people of Northern Ireland.
The British government accepted that the Irish unity was an issue for some Irish people but said it could only happen with the consent of those in the north and the Irish government accepted the principal consent of an Irish unity, The Irish Government also accepted that it might have to drop parts of its constitution which claimed the North as part of its territory.
The Irish government would set up a forum for peace and reconciliation to promote trust and understanding between the traditions. Only those who rejected violence could be a part of this.
This seems to have calmed both sides down, since this agreement there has been less violence between the areas since the Downing Street Declaration and the peace has really increased, but just a year after the Downing Street Declaration was created there was trouble, the Republic and loyalist paramilitaries studied it carefully and clarified the details 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 the summer of 1994, republican and loyalist paramilitaries engaged in a series of tit-for-tat killings, including the Loughinisland incident.
The paramilitaries were now working towards the end of the violence, in the next five years northern Ireland would come along way and still in today’s society there is still a great deal of good deed between them.
I believe the way things are going between the three niebours that the peace will continue, but all of them are still treading on a very thin line where if there are any major mishaps there will be trouble again.
