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Northern Ireland Peace Process

When discussing the history of Northern Ireland, the "peace process" is generally considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Belfast (or Good Friday) Agreement, and subsequent political developments.

Timeline

Towards a ceasefire

In 1993, the talks intensified between John Hume of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin (SF), the party associated with the Provisional IRA. These talks led to a series of joint statements on how violence might be brought to an end. The talks had been ongoing since the late 1980s and had secured the backing of the Irish Government through an intermediary, Father Alec Reid.

In November it was revealed that the British government had also been in talks with the Provisional IRA, although they had long denied it.

On Wednesday 15 December 1993, the Joint Declaration on Peace (more commonly known as the Downing Street Declaration) was issued by John Major, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Albert Reynolds, then Taoiseach (Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland), on behalf of the British and Irish governments. This included statements that: Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) opposed the Declaration, James Molyneaux of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) argued that it was not a "sell-out" of unionists, and Gerry Adams of Provisional Sinn Féin requested dialogue with the governments and clarification of the Declaration.

Towards negotiations

On Wednesday 31 August 1994, the Provisional IRA announced a "cessation of military operations" from midnight. Albert Reynolds, the Irish Taoiseach, said that he accepted the PIRA statement as implying a permanent ceasefire. Many unionists were sceptical. UUP leader James Molyneaux, in a rare slip, declared "This (the ceasefire) is the worst thing that has ever happened to us."

In the following period there were disputes about the permanence of the ceasefire, whether parties linked to paramilitaries should be included in talks, and the rate of "normalisation" in Northern Ireland. Loyalist bombings and shootings, and punishment beatings from both sides, continued.

This is an abbreviated list of events of significance in the lead-up to all-party negotiations:

Towards another ceasefire

Towards agreement

The agreement, which included a devolved, inclusive government, prisoner release, troop reductions, targets for paramilitary decommissioning, provisions for polls on Irish reunification, and civil rights measures and "parity of esteem" for the two communities in Northern Ireland is the subject of a separate article.

The referendum campaign

The agreement was to be approved by a referendum in Northern Ireland, and a separate referendum was to be held in the Republic to approve the necessary change to Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution. The people of the Republic overwhelmingly endorsed the agreement, but the campaign in Northern Ireland was more controversial, and the result less predictable.

The pro-agreement campaign framed the question as progress versus stalemate, as a struggle between intolerant bigots with no solutions on the one hand, and moderates with a constructive way forward on the other. The agreement was promoted to the nationalist community as delivering civil rights, inclusive government, recognition of their Irishness, and a peaceful route to Irish reunification. To the unionist community, it was presented as bringing an end to the troubles, a guaranteed end to paramilitaries and their weapons, and a guarantee of the Union for the foreseeable future. There was a massive government-funded campaign for the "Yes" vote, with large posters posted across Northern Ireland. One such poster featured five handwritten "pledges" by Prime Minister Tony Blair in an attempt to obtain the unionist "Yes" vote - this is despite the fact that none of the wording from these "pledges" was actually contained within the agreement that was being put to the electorate. These "pledges" were: On the republican side, the "No" campaign seemed to concentrate on the purity of the republican ideal of complete and absolute independence from Britain. In this view any compromise, however temporary, on the goal of Irish unity (or the right to pursue the armed struggle) was depicted as a betrayal of those who had fought and died for Ireland. Decommissioning of weapons and an end to paramilitary activity was portrayed as surrender to the British. The principle of consent was represented as a unionist veto, as it meant political progress would be almost impossible without unionist participation. It was pointed out that the agreement accepted partition. The state and its institutions would remain hostile to the republican community, claimed the critics. Despite these misgivings, the vast majority of republicans voted yes, with only some tiny unrepresentative parties (such as Republican Sinn Féin) on the nationalist side advocating a No vote.

On the unionist side, the "No" campaign was much stronger and stressed what were represented as concessions to republicanism and terrorism, particularly the release of convicted paramilitaries from prison (often those who had killed friends and relatives of unionist politicians and were serving "life" sentences), the presence of "terrorists" (by which they meant Sinn Féin) in government, the lack of guarantees on decommissioning, the perceived one-way nature of the process in moving towards a united Ireland, the lack of trust in all those who would be implementing the agreement, the erosion of British identity, the destruction of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the vague language of the agreement, and the rushed nature in which the agreement was written.

It was widely expected that the nationalist community would endorse the agreement. As the vote approached, unionist opinion appeared divided into those who supported the agreement, those who opposed the agreement on principle, and those who welcomed agreement, but still had major misgivings about aspects like prisoner release and the role of paramilitaries and parties associated with them (particularly Sinn Féin). The fear among the Agreement's supporters was that there would not be a majority (or only a slim majority) of the unionist community in favour of the agreement, and that its credibility would be thereby undermined.

The votes

In the Republic, the results of the vote to change the constitution in line with the agreement were:

Electorate:2,753,127
Turnout:1,545,395 (56%)
Valid votes:1,528,331
Votes in favour:1,442,583 (94.4%)
Votes against:85,748 (5.6%)
Spoiled votes:17,064


In Northern Ireland, the results of the vote on the agreement were:

Electorate:1,175,403
Turnout:953,583 (81%)
Valid votes:951,845
Votes in favour:676,966 (71.1%)
Votes against:274,879 (28.9%)
Spoiled votes1,738


There is no official breakdown of how the nationalist and unionist communities voted, but CAIN, the Conflict Archive on the Internet, estimated that the overwhelming majority (up to 97%) of members of the largely Catholic nationalist community in Northern Ireland voted 'Yes'. Their estimate of the largely Protestant unionist community's support for the agreement was between 51 and 53 per cent.

Complicating matters for the calculation was the turnout, with a substantial increase over elections in many traditionally unionist areas, whilst the turnout was close to that for elections in staunch nationalist areas. Approximately 147,000 more people voted in the referendum than in the subsequent Assembly elections, though it is estimated that there was also some deliberate abstentions by hardline republican voters.

The referendum was calculated centrally so it is not clear what the geographic spread of voting was, but an exit poll found that out of all eighteen constituencies, only Ian Paisley's North Antrim stronghold voted against the Agreement.

The pro-agreement result was greeted at the time with relief by supporters of the agreement. However, the scale of sceptical and anti-agreement sentiment in the unionist community, their continued misgivings over aspects of the agreement, and differing expectations from the Agreement on the part of the two communities were to cause difficulties in the following years.

Implementation

Endgame

In January 2005, Robert McCartney was murdered after a pub brawl, by IRA members. After a high-profile campaign by his sisters and fiancée, the IRA admitted its members were responsible and offered to shoot them. The McCartney sisters turned down their offer, but the episode badly damaged the standing of the IRA in Belfast.

In April 2005, Gerry Adams called for the IRA to lay down its weapons. It agreed [1] on 28 July 2005 calling for its volunteers to use "exclusively peaceful means". It would not disband, but simply use peaceful means to achieve its aims. On July 28 2005, the IRA announced the end of its campaign, and promised complete decommissioning of all its weapons, to be witnessed by clergymen from Catholic and Protestant churches. The statement read:

''"The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign. This will take effect from 4pm this afternoon.


''All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever.


''The IRA leadership has also authorised our representative to engage with the IICD to complete the process to verifiably put its arms beyond use in a way which will further enhance public confidence and to conclude this as quickly as possible.


''We have invited two independent witnesses, from the Protestant and Catholic churches, to testify to this.


''The Army Council took these decisions following an unprecedented internal discussion and consultation process with IRA units and Volunteers.


''We appreciate the honest and forthright way in which the consultation process was carried out and the depth and content of the submissions. We are proud of the comradely way in which this truly historic discussion was conducted.


''The outcome of our consultations show very strong support among IRA Volunteers for the Sinn Féin peace strategy.


''There is also widespread concern about the failure of the two governments and the unionists to fully engage in the peace process. This has created real difficulties.


''The overwhelming majority of people in Ireland fully support this process.


''They and friends of Irish unity throughout the world want to see the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.


''Notwithstanding these difficulties our decisions have been taken to advance our republican and democratic objectives, including our goal of a united Ireland. We believe there is now an alternative way to achieve this and to end British rule in our country.


''It is the responsibility of all Volunteers to show leadership, determination and courage. We are very mindful of the sacrifices of our patriot dead, those who went to jail, Volunteers, their families and the wider republican base. We reiterate our view that the armed struggle was entirely legitimate.


''We are conscious that many people suffered in the conflict. There is a compelling imperative on all sides to build a just and lasting peace.


''The issue of the defence of nationalist and republican communities has been raised with us. There is a responsibility on society to ensure that there is no re-occurrence of the pogroms of 1969 and the early 1970s.


''There is also a universal responsibility to tackle sectarianism in all its forms.


''The IRA is fully committed to the goals of Irish unity and independence and to building the Republic outlined in the 1916 Proclamation.


''We call for maximum unity and effort by Irish republicans everywhere.


''We are confident that by working together Irish republicans can achieve our objectives.


''Every Volunteer is aware of the import of the decisions we have taken and all Óglaigh are compelled to fully comply with these orders.


''There is now an unprecedented opportunity to utilise the considerable energy and goodwill which there is for the peace process. This comprehensive series of unparalleled initiatives is our contribution to this and to the continued endeavours to bring about independence and unity for the people of Ireland."


The IICD confirmed in its final report of September 2005 that the IRA had decommissioned all of it weapons.

The definitive end of The Troubles and thus of the Peace Process came in 2007. Following the St Andrews Agreement of October 2006, and March 2007 elections, the DUP and Sinn Féin formed a government in May 2007. In July 2007, the British Army formally ended Operation Banner, their mission in Northern Ireland which began 38 years earlier, in 1969.

References

1. ^ The British government agree that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively, to exercise their right of self- determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish. See the following link to the parliamentary debate:
  • http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199394/cmhansrd/1993-12-15/Debate-1.html

    • See also

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