Causes for peace initiatives that haven't succeeded

The out of control violence has also hindered the peace process as the Paramilitaries bombing campaigns have caused chaos on the streets of Northern Ireland and mainland Britain. Events such as the Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday, the Omagh bombing as well as the tit for tat murders and massacres, have simply created even more mistrust between the sides, as people find it difficult to forget the past. These event have often halted peace processes, for example, when the Downing Street Declaration called for a cease-fire it inevitably was brought to an end when the IRA bombed Canary Wharf, causing massive destruction. This mistrust has also resulted in the paramilitaries reluctance to decommission their weapons, a clause of the Good Friday Agreement. It seems recently that this is the most pressing problem holding back peace. This has been the cause of major political tension as the Unionists have been dissatisfied at the rate of disarmament by the IRA, and criticising the republican parties in the process. The Prime Ministers of Britain and Ireland called for a definitive end to paramilitarism saying it is the most key factor in solving the Irish problem. However, either side is afraid to give up their weapons in case the opposing side carries out more attacks. Conversely, terrorism has lost most of its redeeming features of freedom fighting after the September 11th attacks and subsequent al- queda bombings so people are far more reluctant to support such groups. The IRA also was known to receive funding from other countries including the USA, however this is unlikely to be the case today.

The main reasons for partition were that the Ulster was mainly protestant so would stay with Britain. However this has become a problem during the peace initiatives. Their supremacy has led to more employment benefits for Protestants and thus wealth. The idea of 'gerrymandering' to stay in political power in constituencies has also been a cause for controversy. This was seen in the Sunningdale Power Sharing Executive and the Anglo-Irish Agreement, when the Protestants held strikes and marches which basically brought an end to the agreement. Political corruption was seen during the Downing Street Declaration when John Major favoured the Protestants in the agreement so he could get more votes for the election. Finally, a term of the Good Friday Agreement was that there were to be equal numbers of Protestants and Catholics in the RUC, however this wasn't achieved properly and is still unresolved. So Protestant majority has helped see the prevention of three or possibly four peace initiatives.

Typically the media has a hand in the Northern Ireland problem as it has the power to show certain groups in good light or give them a bad reputation. The IRA seem to have been given the latter and have always been criticised far more than Unionist paramilitaries. Their bombing campaigns are splashed across the front page of newspapers and are well documented and remembered unlike Unionist bombings. This may have affected the Downing Street Declaration and the Good Friday Agreement as the IRA were strongly encouraged to disarm perhaps more so than Unionist paramilitaries so the IRA, or a provision of it, responded by bombing, for example, Canary Wharf and Omagh. This defies the agreement of the peace initiatives and therefore they can be considered as failure.

Politicians are usually disliked at the best of times so predictably in such a fickle situation, as Northern Ireland there is little or no trust between the public and politicians. This results in people not voting which in turn leaves it difficult for the government to reflect public opinion or represent the entire community. Also, many people have had bad experiences so have little confidence left in the government. The British government sent in its troops to attempt to restore peace but ended up sparking off more violence rather than preventing it. Also, there has yet to be a solution so far and thus people have no faith in these new processes, some people perhaps accept there is no real solution. This means people are more suspicious of agreements such as the Good Friday Agreement so may be unwilling to comply with the terms, which lead to the failure of it.

The most recent bid for peace was the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 when the Prime Ministers of Britain and Ireland, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern respectively, were involved as well as Senator George Mitchell of the USA. His role was to chair the discussions and act as a go between for each side if they were unwilling to talk to each other. The main terms of this agreement were: that a new Northern Ireland Assembly would be created to take over from Westminster with proportional representation, human rights and equality among the people of NI was to be guaranteed, political prisoners released on the condition cease-fire was maintained and an investigation and possible reformation of the RUC. David Trimble became the first Minister and Seamus Mallon his deputy. A referendum was held to see if the public was happy with these terms. In the Republic of Ireland there was a huge 90% backing with 70% backing in NI, but both a majority. It seemed there was finally a positive outcome to the talks. There have also been no paramilitary attacks for nearly six years, a promising outcome.

However, since April 1998 many events suggest that peace hasn't been achieved. The IRA are still reluctant to decommission their weapons and we saw continued bombing campaigns by either side notably the 'Real IRA' bomb at Omagh in August 1998. After the IRA refused to decommission in 2001 David Trimble resigned as first minister, refusing to share power with Sinn Fein until the IRA disarmed. A massive blow to the agreement came with the temporary suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly there was political deadlock so Westminster felt it necessary to impose direct rule once more. However devolution was restored in 2003. However, there has been much criticism that the political prisoners have been released and the rejection of the Pattern report on the RUC implies there is still unrest. Furthermore, it is clear there are still sectarian tensions highlighted by the Holy Cross Primary School incident, when there was a 5 month blockade with Protestants taunting Catholic children on their way to school, in the city of Belfast. While this stunned the world, it was major setback in an Ulster that looked on the up. The story has refused to go away as two years on a mother, after receiving death threats, wishes to sue the former chief of the RUC for discrimination. This also demonstrates the reshuffle of the RUC wasn't successful. It seems the Good Friday Agreement is currently torn between success and failure.

In conclusion, all of these factors inter-relate creating a web of causation. For example the division in the community mean people make marches which in turn spark off violence and the divide in the communities lead to division in politics. From my point of view there seems to have been not enough major change or decisions made by the Northern Ireland government, however, finally thanks to the Good Friday Agreement some steps forward are beginning to happen, like the decommissioning of arms by the IRA. On the other hands incidents such as Holy Cross still show secretarian violence and highlight the need for more education of the two communities and an attempt to break down the wall between these groups. Politics can make major changes but until the two groups can live and work aside or even together, peace will be a far cry.

Joe Firth

Northern Ireland Coursework