The Anglo-Irish agreement, 1985, this was agreed between Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald

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The Anglo-Irish agreement, 1985, this was agreed between Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald. Between 1980 and 1984, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher held regular meetings with Taoiseach Charles Haughey and then Garrett Fitzgerald. Both governments were concerned about continuing the violence with the IRA and about the increasing support for the IRA’S political wing, Sinn Fein. By 1984, Mrs Thatcher was convinced that any solution would have to involve the Irish republicans. Unionists in Northern Ireland became increasingly concerned during these discussions, but Thatcher ignored their fears. In November 1985, she signed the Anglo-Irish agreement with Garrett Fitzgerald. The agreement was well received in most of mainland Britain and the republic. In Northern Ireland, the alliance and SDLP felt that it had possibilities. Sinn Fein rejected this because it confirmed the partition of Ireland.   The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922 established the Irish Free State. Unionist objections to a united Ireland had resulted in the establishment of Northern Ireland through the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Relations between Dublin and London soured shortly after the arrival to power of Eamonn de Valera in 1932. The 1930s were dominated by a trade war, instigated by de Valera's Fianna Fail Government. Ireland ratified a new constitution in 1937 and declared itself a Republic in 1948. Britain responded with the Ireland Act 1949, which claimed exclusive British jurisdiction over the administration of Northern Ireland.    The emergence of the civil rights movement and subsequent political violence in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s strained relations between Dublin and London. Jack Lynch, the then Taoiseach asserted:

The Irish Government can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured and, perhaps, worse. The Irish Government have ... requested the British Government to apply immediately to the United Nations for the urgent dispatch of a peace-keeping force to the six counties of Northern Ireland

The British Government responded that 'Northern Ireland had long been an integral part of the United Kingdom and that events there were an internal matter for the United Kingdom Government' The Stormont Government was prorogued and direct rule from Westminster was established in March 1972. Direct rule was seen as a temporary measure but has continued to this day.

Taken from http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/aia/sum.htm "I had come to the conclusion that I must now give priority to heading off the growth of support for the IRA in Northern Ireland by seeking a new understanding with the British Government, even at the expense of my cherished, but for the time being at least clearly unachievable, objective of seeking a solution through negotiations with the Unionists."
Garret Fitzgerald in his autobiography
All in a Life (Fitzgerald, 1991).

"I started from the need for greater security, which was imperative. If this meant making limited political concession to the South, much as I disliked this kind of bargaining, I had to contemplate it."
Margaret Thatcher in her autobiography
The Downing Street Years (Thatcher, 1993).

The primary objective of the Agreement was to foster peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. With regard to this objective, the Agreement has failed. The two communities in Northern Ireland are as polarised in the 1990s as they ever have been. However, in terms of co-operation between the Irish and British Governments in relation to security and legal affairs, cross-border co-operation, and political matters, the Agreement has had some success. The desire to head off the rise of Sinn Fein and isolate the Irish Republican Army also succeeded, at least in the short-term.

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The downing street Declaration, 1993, the Taoiseach, Mr. Albert Reynolds, TD and the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. John Major MP, acknowledge that the most urgent and important issue facing the people of Ireland, North and South, and the British and Irish Governments together, is to remove the conflict, to overcome the legacy of history and to heal the divisions which have resulted, recognising the absence of a lasting and satisfactory settlement of relationships between the peoples of both islands has contributed to continuing tragedy and suffering. They believe that the development of an agreed framework ...

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