The Brighton bomber

It could be argued that any murderer should not be released early especially one that killed 5 people and injured 34. Patrick Magee's target was Margaret Thatcher who managed to escape unharmed. He was also plotting to blow up 16 other hotels around the coast of Britain. He is still a dangerous man because he is willing to kill people. He is also dangerous because he has knowledge about bombs and explosions. Another reason he is dangerous is that he planned to kill many more people but failed in his first attempt. The last reason he is dangerous is that he managed to obtain so called classified information about the whereabouts of the Prime Minister. This could quite easily be used to plan another attack on the current Prime Minister.

The Good Friday agreement involves all IRA prisoners being released for the decommissioning of all IRA weapons and the IRA holding a cease fire. If this agreement is kept then it will finally mean peace in Ireland. The IRA ceasefire is the IRA not attacking or killing anyone if their prisoners are released. All of this comes under the Good Friday agreement which establishes human rights such as people in Ireland can choose whether to be British or Irish or both. Devolved government was attempted and stopped in Northern Ireland because the parties couldn't get on with each other. Devolved government is some power being transferred from London to the politicians in Northern Ireland letting the Irish rule themselves in some ways. It wasn't possible to change attitudes in Northern Ireland because both sides wanted exactly the opposite things. Some disagreed with decisions while others wanted them to go ahead such as the Conservative party and the unionist parties were against the release of the Brighton bomber while Sinn Fein and the IRA were for it.

Different groups would especially hate the early release of Patrick Magee. One of these groups is the Conservative Party. The former Home Secretary, Michael Howard said 'If we're not careful we're going to end up with every terrorist back on the streets, no weapons handed in whatsoever and no progress being made' (shown in source 1). This shows the Conservative party are against the early release scheme because they believe that the IRA will not hand in its weapons after the releases. The Conservative party do not like the early releases because it was the Conservative party that was caught in the Brighton bombing. Another group that do not like the early release scheme are the families of the victims. They would not like it because they feel that the person that killed their relatives is getting away after serving only a few years in prison. They would feel betrayed by the government. Another group that would not like the early releases are the police and courts that brought Magee to justice. They would not like it because they would feel that all their work was for nothing. They would think that they worked all that time bringing a murderer to justice and now he is just being released and allowed to continue his activities. The last group that would be against the release of Magee is the unionist parties such as the Ulster Unionist Party. They would not like the release because Magee was part of the IRA who are republicans. The UUP hate the IRA and Sinn Fein because they want the opposite to what the IRA want. The

IRA wants a united Ireland while the UUP want Northern Ireland to stay part of the UK.

Critics of the early release scheme may argue that the only people suffering are the victim's families. This view was put forward by David Trimble. The Conservative party argued that the releases should be stopped until the weapons were handed in. The former Home Secretary argued that this way no weapons would be handed in and all the terrorists would be released. This scheme is not fair on the other people in prison because they may have committed less serious crimes and are having to serve longer sentences. There are going to be further releases, another 500 were released before July 2000 and 276 had been released before Magee. The IRA handed in weapons but they did not hand all of them in. They also couldn't prove how many they handed in and how many they needed to hand in. Magee was still dangerous because he had knowledge about explosives but was unlikely to re-offend because the IRA had called a cease fire and he knew that if he did the police would easily identify him and would have to serve a long time in prison. The peace process would still continue because the IRA and the government have stuck to what they have said. The IRA have stuck to their cease fire and handed in weapons while the government have released prisoners.

There has never been total agreement over political decisions in Ireland because both sides are exact opposites of each other. The republicans are Catholics and want a united Ireland while the Unionist are Protestants and want Northern Ireland to stay part of the UK. This decision was bound to be challenged because the different groups have different opinions. This all links in with question 2 because that is about the problems in the way of peace in Ireland and this is about a certain problem that has nearly been resolved with the Good Friday agreement. No attempt to stop the conflict in Ireland has been accepted by all parties except for the Good Friday Agreement. This is the current agreement and up till now the IRA and the government have stuck to the terms of it which may finally lead to peace in Ireland.

Section 2- Obstacles to Peace

The community in Ireland is divided. There are four major problems preventing peace: religion, power politics, economics and social life. Since the partition of Ireland in the 1920's there has not been long term peace. To try to solve this many agreements have been tried but failed. When Ireland was partitioned in 1921 the Catholics wanted a whole united Ireland while the Protestants wanted separate Irelands. This created problems because they disagreed and used force to put their point of view across. In 1967 some Catholics set up the Civil Rights Association which often protested violently. To try to keep peace the British army were sent into Northern Ireland in 1969 to stop the violent conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. This led to the problem getting out of control. The Catholics and Protestants hated each other and this often led to violence. The British army was hated by both Catholics and Protestants. The violence in Northern Ireland got so bad the British government suspended the Northern Ireland devolved government in 1972. This meant it was ruled from Britain. In 1974 power sharing was stopped. This was a system set up to give Catholics and Protestants power in Northern Ireland but failed because the Protestants protested against it. In 1985 the Anglo-Irish agreement was set up. This gave the republicans a say but the unionists saw this as the first step towards a united Ireland and protested against it. Another agreement that tried to achieve peace was the IRA cease fire. The IRA declared a cease fire in September 1994 but it broke down on 9th February 1996 when a bomb exploded in London's Canary Wharf. The Good Friday agreement of 1998 tried to achieve long term peace. It establishes human rights and equality e.g. it lets people in Northern Ireland choose whether to be British, Irish or both.

Religion gets in the way of peace because historically both groups have treated each other badly. There is no tolerance between the two. An example of this is source 8 where a Catholic woman tries to stop Protestants from marching down a road. The Protestants ignore her and carry on. Another example is that both groups refused to work together in power sharing. The Anglo-Irish agreement was protested against by Protestants who didn't want Catholics to have a say in the running of Ireland. Both groups regularly clash together and cause violence. In Belfast Catholics and Protestants hardly ever meet without violence. There are separate schools for Protestants and Catholics and separate areas e.g. a Catholic couldn't walk down a Protestant street.

Both Republicans and Unionists are prepared to use violence to get their way. They have their own terrorist groups such as the IRA. These groups have their own weapons and regularly use them. Source 9 shows that the IRA has weapons. Source 10 shows that both sides clash with each other leading to violence. Source 17 shows that the IRA is prepared to kill people to get their views across. It shows that just because they are dissatisfied they will break a cease fire instead of negotiating. Source 19 also shows an example of Republicans using force to get their point of view across. Due to the conflict going on for nearly 500 years a tradition of violent politics and militant groups has emerged. It is accepted that violence is the only means of achieving revenge which then leads to further violence. Violence begets violence.

Due to Northern Ireland being separated into Protestant and Catholic areas there is no chance for the two to mix. There is no communication between them meaning it leads to bad feelings towards each other. Even the children are forced to go to different schools and therefore can't mix. This all leads to a lack of understanding between them. Source 8 shows that a Catholic woman is trying to stop Protestants marching down a road. This shows they don't tolerate each other and don't want to mix. Source 20 shows that the lack of understanding often leads to violence. It also leads to Catholics and Protestants to live in separate areas and go to separate schools.

Catholics live in poorer quality housing than the Protestants. Catholics find it difficult to get highly educated. The Catholics are treated like second class citizens in Northern Ireland. This makes them feel mistreated and makes them resent the Protestants. This resentment leads to hatred and violence between the two groups. Source 4 shows the low quality housing that Catholics live in. It shows very small, overcrowded homes while the Protestants have better homes. The only way this problem can be resolved is to create equality between Catholics and Protestants

These problems will be very difficult to resolve due to the fact that they are deeply rooted in their history. To solve the problems the young need to be educated against violence and discrimination. The problems need to be overcome using negotiations between Catholics and Protestants. Source 20 shows the current peace process will not end the conflict because the source is from 2003 after the peace process was agreed. Further negotiations are needed to resolve these problems.

Section 3-The American connection

There is a connection between Ireland and the USA. This is due to around 40 million Americans having Irish roots. This motivates the US presidents to get involved in Irish affairs to win votes. If a president is seen to be helping in the Northern Ireland peace process the Irish-Americans would vote for them. Ex president Bill Clinton also had Irish roots further motivating him to help in the peace process.

A reason for so many Irish people living in America is the Irish potato famine from 1846-1850. A blight of the potato crop over many years led to a large famine. This was because potatoes were the main crop in Ireland. The people died of starvation and diseases such as Cholera and Typhus. The Irish subsistence level farmers couldn't pay the rent to the British landlords. This meant that thousands were evicted from their homes and usually ended up in a workhouse which was full of diseases. Some of the landlords paid for the tenants to emigrate to countries such as America and Australia. The ships that they went on were overcrowded and called Coffin ships. This was due to the high death rate of one in three dying on the journey. Britain provided some aid to the Irish but were criticised because of the delay and the failure to take away the Corn Laws. In between 1846 and 1850 around one million people died from hunger or disease. A combination of famine, emigration and disease saw the population of Ireland fall from 8 million to 5 million. The hatred felt towards the British from these events still affect Americans today who are descendants of the Irish. Emigration meant that over 40 million people have Irish ancestors in America today.

When President Clinton visited Omagh, shown in source 21, this reinforced the idea that he had an interest in the peace process and that he understood the nature of the conflict. This would also have shown the Irish Americans he was acting democratically. Both President Clinton and Bush want to gain publicity for themselves showing that they have an influence on democratic debates in other countries. They also have to consider the strong alliance and relationship with Britain so cannot be completely one sided. Both Presidents Bush and Clinton did not want to risk upsetting the British because Britain is vital ally in fighting the war on terror. They would want to make up for mistakes made by Noraid, an American group that support the IRA. Source 21 shows both the US president and the British Prime Minister walking through Omagh together. Both of the Presidents responded to ongoing developments. As shown in source 21 President Clinton was consoling the victims of the Omagh bombing. As shown in source 22 President Bush encouraged the IRA's decommissioning of weapons. President Bush also urged Sinn Fein leaders to continue the peace process. This is shown in source 23.

Due to America's history they may sympathise with the Republicans in Ireland. America fought a war for Independence in the 1770's which eventually led to the Declaration of Independence. This led to the end British rule in America. Many people still feel that it was a war to stop British Imperialism and empathise with the people in Ireland who believe that the British have taken over their country.

Due to all these reasons American Presidents need to take interest in Northern Ireland. If they didn't take an interest the Irish-Americans would criticize them and they would not be acting in the interest of peace around the world. The President's need to act neutrally to resolve the historical issue of Northern Ireland because they have close ties with both the British and the Irish.