Many years of anger, bad feelings and violence followed. The British continually tried to sort out the troubles that Ireland was having, but had little to no success. In 1972 the British government tried harder than ever to put a stop to the crisis in Northern Ireland. They began a long peace process that contained many different potential solutions to the troubles in Ireland.
In August 1971 the British Government introduced internment (imprisonment without trial) to try and destroy the power of the terrorists of both communities. Both Catholics and Protestants disagreed with this idea. The IRA grew in strength and the Protestant response was to set up the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
On January 30, 1972, fourteen unarmed Catholic civilians were shot dead by British troops when a march organised by the Derry Civil Rights Association against the newly introduced policy of internment without trial turned into violent confrontation between Nationalists and the British state. Seven of them were under the age of 19.
Nationalists regard the shootings that took place along Rossville Street and William Street as a deliberate demonstration of British power to crush Irish resistance. Many Protestants in Derry now admit that those killed may have been civilians rather than IRA activists, but it is also typical to hear them say that the IRA shot at the British army and then hid behind the crowd of protesters they had incited. It is still a live issue for Nationalists. The Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign is campaigning to get the British government to overturn the findings of the Widgery tribunal, declare those killed innocent victims – and prosecute the soldiers involved for murder.
I believe that internment was a total failure right from the start. Neither Nationalists nor Unionists liked the idea and it resulted in a stronger IRA and a great deal of protests. Violence increased tremendously because of internment and the blame for the many deaths was turned on the British.
If an attempt at solving the problems in Ireland, thought of and introduced by the British is then the cause of more violence and hostility towards them then it is certainly not a success in anyway at all.
After the shootings of Bloody Sunday, which caused further troubles in Ireland, it seemed to the Irish people that law and order was breaking down. In response Prime Minister Ted Heath suspended Stormont (the Northern Ireland Parliament) and Direct Rule was begun on the 24th March 1972. Decisions about the running of Northern Ireland would now be made from London.
The Protestant Unionists thought that Direct Rule was a good idea. They wanted to remain a part of Britain and so had no reason to argue. The Catholic Nationalists on the other hand wanted one united Ireland where they could have their own parliament and have nothing to do with the British. They disliked the idea that the decisions about the running of their country would be made from London.
Direct Rule did not seem to improve the situation and despite 21,000 troops in the province, violence on both sides of the religious divide continued. The IRA bombed the mainland and in 1972 19 people were killed and 182 injured in a Birmingham pub bomb. In 1973 Harrods was bombed.
Right from the start Direct Rule could only ever be a partial success, as there was not even a possibility that the Nationalists would cooperate with the new scheme. So therefore all that could be hoped for was the continued support of the Unionists and the hope that by sending in troops to supervise the country, that they may achieve some sort of peace.
Unfortunately even with the presence of British troops, the Nationalists still rebelled with an extremely high level of violence. The IRA’s change of tactics during the 1970s, to start bombing the British mainland, showed that a new strategy would have to be introduced.
Direct Rule, beginning with only the simple hopes of obtaining and maintaining some sort of peace in Ireland, ended as a complete failure. Violence and resentment were turned more and more towards the British and this resulted in many British civilian deaths.
In March 1973 plans for an Assembly in which Unionists and Catholics would share power were put into place. In June elections for the Assembly were held. When the Sunningdale Agreement was announced on 9th December anti-power-sharing Unionists denounced it as a step towards a united Ireland and vowed to destroy it.
At first it looked as though power - sharing offered the prospect of some solution to the troubles in Ireland. It had advantages for both Nationalists and Unionists, giving them equal rights in the running of their country.
But the Nationalists initial views towards power – sharing dramatically changed after the introduction of the Sunningdale Agreement and the Ulster Workers Council called a general strike in Northern Ireland. With power – sharing no longer being a feasible option, direct rule was reintroduced.
Power – sharing was much more successful than any of the past attempts at gaining peace in Ireland. Both communities liked the idea until the Sunningdale agreement was announced. Things went down hill from there until finally the power – sharing executive collapsed.
It was a partial success because for a short period of time there was an agreement and it looked as though there would finally be peace. Also the protesters did not resort to violence, instead they chose peaceful protest, in the form of a workers strike. This certainly was a great achievement, as all of the past agreements seem only to have bought more violence and civilian deaths.
In March 1993 the British Government began secret talks with the IRA. Killings in Ireland continued, with 27 civilians killed on 23rd October. The loyalists, for the first time since the start of the ‘troubles’, killed the same number of people as the IRA.
In December 1993 there seemed to be a breakthrough. John Major and Albert Reynolds (Irish PM) issued the Downing Street Declaration. It stated that the people of Northern Ireland would decide their future and that the IRA should permanently end violence. The loyalists liked the idea, but the Republicans were a little dubious.
The problem with the Downing Street Declaration was that nobody could be sure whether the IRA would keep to their cease-fire. The loyalists also announced a cease-fire on the 13th October that was dependant on the IRA keeping o theirs.
The Downing Street Declaration seemed as though it would be a success, with both communities announcing cease-fires. But there were still problems with the Declaration and if the British weren’t careful then yet another component of the peace process would become a failure.
The main problem was that the IRA had not said that it was a permanent cease-fire. Another major difficulty was the issue of decommissioning or disarmament of the IRA and loyalist stockpiles of weapons. The IRA were only willing to give up their weapons when a final settlement was reached, otherwise they felt that it would look like they were surrendering.
In response to a report that came out in January 1996 saying that democracy and non-violence were the only way forward, the IRA bombed canary Wharf on the 9th February. 2 people were killed, 100 were injured and there was £85 million worth of damage.
The IRA didn’t stop there, but blew up the centre of Manchester in June 1996. 200 people were injured and there was £3100 ponds worth of damage. Violence also flared up in Ulster during the marching season.
The Downing Street Declaration ended as a failure. It had started out looking reasonably promising, with the IRA and loyalists both announcing cease-fires. But after a while it began to show that this like many of the other attempts at peace would also result in more violence and killings.
When Labour won the general elections Sinn Fein was informed that they would be allowed into the all-party talks on the condition that the IRA announced another cease-fire. When the first meeting took place, both the ‘Official’ Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein attended but sat in separate rooms.
On the 10th April 1998 (Good Friday) the representatives of 8 political parties and the British and Irish governments reached an agreement. The arrangement was nicknamed the ‘Good Friday’ agreement.
The future of Northern Ireland was still to be determined by the people of Northern Ireland and for the first time the Republic would no longer claim territorial rights over the North. It also established an assembly in Northern Ireland, closer ties between the North and South, and finally policies would be established to safeguard the civil rights of Catholics in the majority Protestant North.
Both the Protestants and the Catholics liked and agreed with the conditions of the Good Friday agreement because there were gains and advantages for both of them.
In March 1998 the Parades Commission banned the Orange Order from marching down the Gervaghy road in Drumcree because it is a Catholic neighbourhood. If the Orange Order were allowed to march down that road then all of the old anger would flare up again and almost certainly end in violence.
Unfortunately the Unionists did not accept the fact that they were not allowed to march down Gervaghy road. Instead they stood at the barricades and vowed to stay there until they were allowed to march.
The Good Friday agreement was really a success as both communities were willing to go along with the scheme. It broke down due to other factors, (the Orange march). As a result violence flared up again. If it wasn’t for the march bringing all of the resentment back with a vengeance then I certainly think that the Good Friday agreement would have been a total success.
More violence followed. 29 people were killed and 220 were injured when a car bomb exploded in a busy shopping area of Omagh. An IRA splinter group claimed responsibility and then declared a cease-fire.
On the 13th September 1998, the new Northern Ireland Assembly met for the first time in Stormont. This looked as though it could be the year of peace but numerous obstacles such as decommissioning, prisoner releases, continued violence and distrust still stood in the way.
On the 15th July 1999 the Northern Ireland power – sharing executive should have been set up; instead the Ulster Unionists boycotted the session.
On the 1st December 2000 full power was transferred from Westminster to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The next day the Republic of Ireland abandoned its claim to the territory of Northern Ireland. This was a historic moment.
The problems in Ireland still continue today, but the level of violence has decreased by far. The republic of Ireland abandoning its claim to Northern Ireland territory surely shows that we are now slowly working towards a successful peace process.
