Describe the efforts that have been made to reach a political solution to the problem of Northern Ireland since 1969.
Describe the efforts that have been made to reach a political solution to the problem of Northern Ireland since 1969.
For over 300 years the consequences of the argument considering Ireland's past and future has affected many. The people apart of this violent argument, have been not just those of the army and police, but innocent citizens, many of whom haven't had the opportunity to appreciate the concept of peace throughout their entire lifetime.
The recent violence in Ireland is all about one simple question:
"Should the North stay a part of the UK or should it join the south as part of a united and independent Ireland?"
Due to disagreements between the people in the north in answering this question, private armies willing to use the bullet rather than the ballot and the governments of the UK and Irish Republic being unable to agree on an answer, this question has resulted in much conflict.
There has been numerous attempts made to reach a political solution to the problem since 1969. These attempts have not only been made by the people on both sides of the boarder, but because the conflict has been so intense at times that governments outside of Ireland and Northern Ireland have felt the need to contribute towards a solution.
By 1972, the British Government was still faced with the task of governing the province of Northern Ireland, where two communities lived in fear and hatred among each other. To this day there have been four main attempts to reach a reasonable solution.
There was a conference held at Sunningdale on the 6, 7, 8 and 9 of December of 1973, between the British and Irish Governments and the parties involved in the Northern Ireland Executive. The results of these conferences were summarised in the "Sunningdale Agreement"; it aimed to introduce power sharing between the nationalist and unionist communities in Northern Ireland.
A new assembly was elected involving four main parties, those of which represented various nationalist and unionist views and opinions, with safeguards for the British Government's financial and other interests. The chairmanship would rotate on an agreed basis between representatives of the Irish Government and of the Northern Ireland Executive.
The Council linked Belfast, Dublin and London and would consider issues connected with all of them, for instance, the impact of EEC membership, exploitation, conservation and development of natural resources, the environment, agricultural matters, ventures into the fields of trade and industry, tourism, sport, culture and art.
By giving the nationalist community a greater say in how Northern Ireland was run it was hoped that support for the IRA would be reduced as this encouraged success through politics rather than violence.
There were mixed opinions of this new agreement, for example the SDLP ministers were unhappy that internment was still practised. (Internment was the law that stated anyone the security forces suspected of terrorism could be arrested and placed in jail without the need of going through trial or being even being charged.) However, the nationalists hoped that this would give the Republic of Ireland a say in how Northern Ireland was run. This is what kept this agreement running and successful, but with this sharing of power, the unionists gradually became worried.
The second attempt came on ...
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There were mixed opinions of this new agreement, for example the SDLP ministers were unhappy that internment was still practised. (Internment was the law that stated anyone the security forces suspected of terrorism could be arrested and placed in jail without the need of going through trial or being even being charged.) However, the nationalists hoped that this would give the Republic of Ireland a say in how Northern Ireland was run. This is what kept this agreement running and successful, but with this sharing of power, the unionists gradually became worried.
The second attempt came on the 15th November 1985, when the Anglo-Irish Agreement was agreed between the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald. Without any attempt of solving the problems since the power sharing agreement, it wasn't until the early 1980's that the British and Irish governments researched another solution. In 1984, Margaret Thatcher was almost killed in an IRA bombing at a Brighton hotel. This encouraged a fast solution. Hunger strikes signified protest against the British "justice" as IRA prisoners thought that they weren't political prisoners and so should be free. After 10 prisoners died as a result of the strike, it turned out to be successful in inspiring support for the political wing of the IRA, Sinn Fein.
Mrs Thatcher believed that the only way in which to reach a successful solution would be to involve the Republic of Ireland, and despite the concerns about this trail of thought, she signed the agreement.
In the 1970's the violence in Northern Ireland worsened increasingly. The agreement created extradition co-operation in order to tackle one of its main aims, peace and stability and co-operation from both sides, against terrorism. This focal point of the agreement, cross border co-operation, used its own civil service with staff originating from both sides of the border.
Within the agreement, the British Government stated that there was the possibility of a united Ireland, but only with the consent from the majority of Northern Ireland. The agreement also included the Irish Government recognising Northern Ireland (accepting the existence of a state). After this formal recognition of the legitimacy of Northern Ireland, London agreed to confer with the Republic's Government on all matters relating to the rights of Northern Ireland's nationalist minority. The principle of consent was a key theme to development.
The violence unfortunately did not end here. The paramilitaries continued their horrific brutality against their opposing forces. With IRA bombs killing many loyalists and Protestants, for example the Enniskillen bomb of 1987 at a remembrance day service, killing eleven and injuring over 60, and revenge attacks from loyalists, e.g. the loyalist gunman killing thirteen, in 1993, the need for a solution was as urgent as ever.
The third attempt came about on the 15th December 1993, which was known as the Downing Street Declaration. A new form of government for Northern Ireland was to be decided on through talks. The declaration was agreed between the Prime Minister John Major and the Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, and in the hope for peace, only those parties whom rejected violence were to be given a say in the talks, and all traditions in Northern Ireland were to be respected.
The declaration shared similar points to those which made up the Anglo Irish agreement. These points being: The unity of Northern Ireland and Ireland could only happen with the consent of the majority in Northern Ireland, and the acceptance from the Irish government that they might have to drop the parts of their constitution stating that the North was part of its territory.
It aimed to bring peace and reconciliation and the trust of the traditions were to be promoted through it.
The declaration caused a roller coaster of violence and peace, for many years. Tit for tat killings were popular in the summer of 1994, however, politicians were working hard to find peace, and some paramilitaries were aiming towards an end of violence. This was clear in August 1994, when the IRA held a complete cease-fire. This followed the Republican agreement in June-July of '94, which was a result of talks between john Hume and Gerry Adams and Adam's talks with Irish Americans.
On October 13th of that year, the loyalist paramilitaries also joined the cease-fire, and
peace was held for a while.
The British and Irish governments followed up these cease-fires with the Joint Framework Document, in 1995. They began to set out a plan for a peace process in Northern Ireland. There was to be a new assembly of Northern Ireland, and a council of ministers from both the North and South, whom would influence a wide range of issues. Although there were many that liked it, and since the troubles began, the year it was introduced held the lowest death toll, there were still problems. Unionists saw it as a step closer to united Ireland, and were suspicious. Through lack of trust for the British Government, there was no decommissioning of IRA weapons. The former US senator, George Mitchell was set up to work out a settlement agreed on by everyone, and the process towards the decommissioning of the weapons. In '96 Sinn Fein agreed to the principles Mitchell had set out, however, the leadership of the IRA would not accept and did not hand over their arms.
The Prime Minister, John major demanded new elections in Northern Ireland as a result of the IRA's decision. On realising this meant delays in the peace process, nationalists paramilitaries continued their violence and set off bombs in England, and further violence in Ulster, the loyalists still stuck to their cease-fire. The elections that took place formed a new Northern Ireland forum, (Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue.) One of its aims was to work out all issues to be tackled in order for the peace process to bring success.
All these steps I have mentioned, lead to the most recent attempt in 1998, when The Good Friday Agreement was settled. 108 members would be included in a new Northern Ireland Assembly.
The consent of both communities in the province was required in all key decisions. The relationship to be developed between the communities in Northern Ireland was one of three main aims in the agreement, which led to the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly, its Executive and the consultative Civic Forum. The second main aim was to create relationships between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. A North-South council of Ministers was to be set up, made up of people from the new Northern Ireland Assembly, and the ministers of the Republic. A North-South Ministerial Council would bring together members of the Northern Ireland Executive and the Irish Government. The third dealt with the desire to improve the East-West relationships within the British Isles.
Articles two and three of the Irish constitution were to be removed. These claimed the North was part of the Republic's territory, subject to a referendum of the people of the Republic.
The Agreement also includes other measures. For example, Equality and Human Rights Commissions were set up, there were to be comprehensive reviews of Criminal Justice and Policing in the North, including the removal of the word "Royal" from their name, a term associated with the British Queen. The early release of terrorist prisoners from both sides of the community was a certainty and money was also to be allocated to help the victims of violence.
These were the four main attempts to reach a solution to the problems, however, there have been several others.
Although it may seem that everyone in Northern Ireland was an extremist, on one side of the conflict or another, the truth is that most of the people there lived normal lives for most of the time. Even when these people were affected by the troubles, they didn't suddenly become extremists, nor did they always nurse a grievance. However, they did not hold their heads down during the troubles; they wanted to defeat the violence and took several steps in doing so. For example, they would vote for political parties that opposed violence, or take part in some of the many peace movements throughout the province.
In 1976, Northern Ireland and Belfast, in particular saw huge rallies calling for peace. Betty Williams was a witness to the death of 3 children as an IRA getaway car, being chased by soldiers, ploughed into them and their mother. Soon after Williams joined together with the sister of the mother of the victims, Mairead Corrigan and together they launched the Peace People. Thousands supported the movement and money poured in, especially from abroad. The organisers were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977. However, despite their incredible success and progress, other peace groups and community workers felt as though the Peace People were taking away the appreciation they also deserved. Some paramilitaries also held a negative attitude towards the Peace People, as it was thought they felt they were a threat to their own interests. Cessation of the troubles would result in cessation of funds raised by extortion and protection rackets.
Nevertheless, with the likes of Gordon Wilson, whose daughter was a victim of the Enniskillen bombing atrocity, a unionist originally, and who played an important part in many peace groups, the 1980's showed hope. The education in Northern Ireland developed in relation to teaching the students a mutual understanding of the Northern Irish history. This programme was called the Education for Mutual Understanding (EMU). Progress was slow but steady, and was helped by the majority of Northern Ireland's churches.
Irish America played an important role in the peace process in the 1990's. By 1993, there was much interest in Northern Ireland, Bill Clinton was elected President this year and a year later gave the Sinn Fein Leader, Gerry Adams a Visa to visit the USA, even though Britain opposed. Clinton also communicated with the Unionists, and in April 1994 he welcomed DUP and UUP delegations to Washington.
Clinton, along with the Irish-American business community made it clear that if peace could be achieved then the USA would make mass investments in Northern Ireland. This inspired them even further to reach a settlement.
In conclusion, there have been four main attempts to reach a political solution to the problem of Northern Ireland since 1969, as described above. Along with these attempts, especially after several failures, there were fringe developments made, like the Peace Movement, where ordinary citizens felt the need to take matters into their own hands in bringing peace to the province.
Jenny Nevin, 11BTR History Assignment
