What made the Good Friday Agreement possible in 1998?

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Natasha Furness 11He             Northern Ireland Question 1                                   Page 1

What made the Good Friday Agreement possible in 1998?

     There were many factors which made the Agreement in 1998 possible, incorporating different groups.  These groups were the IRA, Sinn Fein, lead by Gerry Adams, SDLP headed by John Hume, Irish Government, the British Government who were primarily directed by the Conservatives and then the Labour Party in 1997.  Also, the USA, with Bill Clinton as the president and both him and George Mitchell playing a major role in the peace talks, UUP, with David Trimble being the leader and Loyalists Paramilitary Groups for example the LVF and UVF.  Also, the Catholic Church was a big pat of it as well.  The DUP can also be linked in with all of these groups however did not want to be a part of the peace talks.

     There had been a lot of previous attempts at peace but they had failed.  This was because with each, at least one group had disagreed to it and not everyone could get on because of different views and opinions.    For example The Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.  This was unsuccessful however because Sinn Fein discarded of it saying it established the partition in Northern Ireland.  So for peace to be likely, an agreement would have to be brought up which linked every group together and so they found a common ground.  A state of affairs came about in Easter 1998 where there was a chance that peace could be possible.  This then led to talks leading to the Good Friday Agreement.  This essay will investigate the factors which helped make the agreement possible and how they all link together in a chain.

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     The Catholic Church had wanted peace all along and these were the people who were trying to get Sinn Fein to join the peace processes.  The Church recognized that Sinn Fein had an essential role to play if peace was to come about.  This was because Sinn Fein could contact the IRA, who would listen to them, because they were on their side and understood them.  Consequently, the Church put major pressures on the Sinn Fein party to take on a more peaceful approach to resolve the Northern Ireland situation.  At this time, Sinn Fein was also ...

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