Keesing's World News Archives » Breaking History  »  Europe  »  Northern Ireland: Peace process (pub. April 2, 2007)

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During an historic first meeting held on March 26, 2007, in the National Assembly (the devolved Northern Irish legislature) at Stormont Castle, Belfast (the provincial capital), Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Féin (the political wing of the Irish Republican Army--IRA), and Rev. Ian Paisley, the leader of the hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), agreed to resume (on May 8) a power sharing agreement in the province.  The UK bicameral legislature on March 27 approved emergency legislation ("the St Andrews Agreement (Number 2) Bill"), preserving the status of the provincial legislature until May 8 and requiring the two sides to begin negotiations immediately over the composition of a 12-member provincial government.  

Immediate Context

Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland Bertie Ahern and UK Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain had warned in February that the National Assembly would be dissolved unless devolution was restored to the province by March 26 (a deadline set out in the October 2006 St Andrews Agreement).  In January 2007 Sinn Féin met a key condition of the 2006 St Andrews Agreement, requiring all parties to endorse the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) before the restoration of devolution, when its members voted overwhelmingly to support the PSNI.  In elections to the 108-member Northern Irish legislature in March, Paisley’s DUP secured 36 seats, whilst Sinn Fein won 28.The UK government had suspended the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive and reinstated direct rule over the province in October 2002 (the fourth such occasion since power had been devolved in 1999), after an alleged IRA spy-ring inside the Stormont building was revealed.  Subsequent attempts to restore the devolution process, including a series of endeavours  in 2004, had failed.  Some hope was restored in April 2005 when Adams urged the IRA to abandon its "armed struggle" and "fully embrace and accept" the political route to a united Ireland, precipitating an IRA announcement in September 2005 in which it claimed to have put its "arms verifiably beyond use".  Paisley denounced the decommissioning process as a "cover-up" and declared that he would not form a power-sharing government with Sinn Féin, whilst Gen. (retd) John de Chastelain, the Canadian official responsible for co-ordinating the IRA weapons decommissioning process, confirmed that the "arms decommissioned" had represented "the totality of the IRA's arsenal".

Reaction and Outlook

Announcing the historic March 2007 agreement, Paisley stated his belief that the DUP and Sinn Féin could "lay the foundations for a better, peaceful and prosperous future for all the people of Northern Ireland", whilst Adams welcomed the agreement as "the beginning of a new era of politics on this island".  Peter Hain said that "we all saw something today that people never, ever thought would happen", adding that "many victims" of the conflict would have deemed "this moment especially painful".  Jim Allister, a DUP legislator at the European Parliament, on March 27 resigned from the party (but retained his seat in the legislature) in protest against the agreement with Sinn Féin.  Most analysts believed that the agreement to resume power-sharing had removed the last remaining obstacle to achieving the principal objectives of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (see below).

Historical Context

When the UK authorities partitioned Ireland in the early 1920s, six of the nine counties in the Irish province of Ulster became Northern Ireland, which was granted provincial government status as part of the UK.  The rest of Ireland achieved independence and was renamed the Irish Free State (later renamed as Eire and now known as the Republic of Ireland).  However, the partition failed to subdue protracted tensions in Northern Ireland between the minority Catholic Republicans, who wanted a united Ireland, and the majority Protestant Unionists, who wished to remain part of the UK.   Successive provincial governments in Northern Ireland, led by Unionists, subjected the province’s minority Catholic communities to "discriminatory"  social, political, and economic policies, increasing already tense sectarian relations.

By 1969, a series of protests by Catholics against discrimination and counter-protests by Protestant "Loyalists", who opposed a United Ireland, erupted into a period of violent unrest, leading to the deployment of UK troops in Belfast and other Northern Irish cities.  The presence of UK troops eventually ignited a vicious armed conflict between the British army and the IRA, whilst "Loyalist" paramilitary groups stepped up their violent campaign of sectarian attacks against the Catholic community.  Tensions reached a peak in January 1972 after 14 unarmed civilians were killed by UK troops in Londonderry, an infamous event later dubbed "Bloody Sunday"  .

The UK government first imposed direct rule on Northern Ireland in 1972, sparking an upsurge in attacks against the authorities and sectarian violence which killed some 470 people, the largest annual death toll in the conflict’s history.  Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, paramilitary groups continued to launch violent attacks in pursuit of their objectives.  Several factions of the IRA (the Official IRA, the Provisional IRA, the Continuity IRA, and the Real IRA) conducted deadly bomb and gun attacks against military, political, and civilian targets on the UK mainland and in Northern Ireland, whilst Loyalist paramilitaries targeted Catholics in "tit-for-tat" sectarian murders.

The prospects of a peaceful settlement appeared to increase in the early 1990s, when talks began between rival political factions in Northern Ireland and government officials from the UK and the Republic of Ireland.  The talks eventually led in April 1998 to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, establishing the provincial legislature in such a way as to ensure that the Catholic minority had a real voice, whilst a new power-sharing executive raised the possibility of an eventual alliance between the main pro-Catholic and pro-Protestant parties.  Voters on both sides of the Irish border endorsed the Good Friday Agreement in simultaneous referendums held in May 1998, the first all-Ireland ballot since 1918.

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Timeline Links

• December 2006 The national executive of Sinn Féin (the political wing of the Irish Republican Army--IRA) support a motion by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams to hold a special party conference (ard fheis) in January 2007 on the issue of policing.   
• November 2006 The St Andrews Agreement bill, designed to restore devolution to the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly by March 26, 2007, is approved by both houses of the UK bicameral legislature.   
• October 2006 UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland, publish an outline agreement designed to restore devolution to the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly by March 26, 2007.  
• August 2006 The Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA) claims responsibility for a wave of firebomb attacks which caused serious damage in the city of Newry, Co. Down, close to the Irish border.    
• July 2006 Rev. Ian Paisley, leader of the hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), rejects the prospect of a cross-community power-sharing executive with Sinn Féin.   
• May 2006 The Northern Ireland Assembly, suspended since 2002, reconvenes without power, as a first step towards restoring a new cross-party power-sharing executive.
• December 2005 Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain rejects calls for an inquiry after the controversial withdrawal of allegations that the IRA had established a "spy ring" at Stormont Castle government buildings in Belfast.   
• November 2005 Controversial legislation allowing paramilitary fugitives to return to Northern Ireland without facing arrest or imprisonment is approved by the House of Commons.   
• September 2005 The IRA formally declares that "the process of putting our arms verifiably beyond use has been completed".   
• June 2005 Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern renew pressure on the IRA to help restore the Good Friday peace process.   
• May 2005 In a general election to the House of Commons David Trimble's once-dominant moderate Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) suffers a collapse in support and is reduced to only one seat.   
• April 2005 Gerry Adams urges the IRA to abandon its "armed struggle" and "fully embrace and accept" the political route to a united Ireland.   
• January 2005 Attempts to restore devolution to Northern Ireland suffer a major setback after the IRA is blamed for an armed robbery on the Northern Bank in Belfast in December 2004, in which £26.5 million in cash was stolen.   
• December 2004 Hopes of an historic breakthrough in the peace process collapse when a landmark agreement founders over the issue of photographic evidence of arms decommissioning.   
• November 2004 A deadline of Nov. 30 for agreement on the restoration of the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly (the devolved legislature) is extended into December as multi-party talks reach an intense and delicate phase.   
• September 2004 Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern host a three-day multiparty summit aimed at restoring the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly, but no consensus on power-sharing is reached.   
• August 2004 Gerry Adams says that the IRA should be disbanded as a paramilitary force, thus removing its existence as an excuse for the unionist parties' refusal to resume power-sharing with Sinn Féin, which had become the leading nationalist party.   
• June 2004 Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair announce that a final set of talks will be held in September with the aim of restoring devolution to the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly.
• November 2003 Elections to the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly reveal a polarisation of the political landscape, causing concern that the continuation of the peace process will not be possible.   
• October 2002 The UK government suspends the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive and reinstates direct rule over the province after the revelation of an alleged IRA spy-ring inside the offices of Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid.   
• October 2001 The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) withdraws from the power-sharing executive of the Northern Ireland Assembly;  John Reid adjudicates that the ceasefire of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is at an end; the IRA announces that it has begun decommissioning some of its weapons in an historic move that appears to pull the peace process back from collapse.  
• July 2001 David Trimble formally resigns as Northern Ireland’s first minister in protest over the failure of the IRA to begin decommissioning its weapons.  
• June 2001 Concern over the future of the stalled peace process in Northern Ireland mounts in the wake of poor election results for the more moderate parties in the general and local elections.  
• May 2000 Power is again devolved from the UK to the Northern Ireland Assembly; the IRA announces that it will allow international inspectors to monitor its hidden weapons' arsenals and says that it will "completely and verifiably put IRA arms beyond use".
• February 2000 The UK government suspends the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive and reinstates direct rule over the province only 72 days after devolution had been hailed as a major breakthrough in the search for a lasting settlement to the conflict.  
• December 1999 The Irish Republic drops its historic territorial claim to Northern Ireland; Unionists and Republicans sit together in a power-sharing cabinet; power is devolved from the UK to the Northern Ireland Assembly; new north-south and British-Irish agreements come into force.   
• August 1998 A car bomb planted by a republican splinter group explodes in Omagh, in Co. Tyrone, killing 28 civilians and injuring 220 others, making it the worst single incident in Northern Ireland since the beginning of the conflict in 1969.   
• June 1998 Elections are held to the 108-member Assembly which had been established under the historic Good Friday agreement.   
• May 1998 In simultaneous referendums Irish voters on both sides of the border give their resounding support to the so-called Good Friday agreement.   
• October 1997 Tony Blair holds a historic meeting with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams at Stormont Castle, Belfast.  
• September 1997 Sinn Féin joins the peace process in Northern Ireland when the party formally adopts the Mitchell principles of peace and democracy.   
• July 1997 The IRA announces the "unequivocal restoration" of its August 1994 ceasefire, which was broken in February 1996.
• June 1996 UK Prime Minister John Major and his Irish counterpart John Bruton open all-party negotiations at Stormont Castle, Belfast; a bomb explodes in Manchester, injuring hundreds of shoppers and office workers.  
• February 1996 The IRA ends its 17-month ceasefire and signals the resumption of mainland bombing by exploding a large device in London's docklands.   
• January 1996 Publication of a report by the Mitchell Commission, a three-member international panel established to seek a compromise on weapons decommissioning.   
• September 1995 The Irish government postpones an Anglo-Irish summit; David Trimble is elected leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (OUP).   
• May 1995 Ministerial-level talks, the first in 23 years, are held between members of the UK government and leaders of the militant Irish republican movement in Northern Ireland.  
• February 1995 John Major and John Bruton present their joint framework document for all-party constitutional talks on a durable settlement for Northern Ireland.   
• December 1994 The UK government and Sinn Féin hold their first public talks at the Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast, 100 days after the IRA announced a complete cessation of military operations.  
• August 1994 The IRA announces a complete cessation of its military operations.   
• December 1993 John Major and Albert Reynolds, the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland, sign in London a 12-point "Downing Street Declaration", setting out general principles for holding peace talks on Northern Ireland.   
• March 1993 The IRA admits responsibility for bomb attacks in Warrington which kills two young boys.    
• October 1992 The IRA admits responsibility for 15 bomb explosions in London.  
• September 1992 The Rev. Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), walks out of a session of the so-called "strand two" of the inter-party round-table talks on the future of Northern Ireland.   
• April 1992 The IRA admit responsibility for a bomb explosion in London’s financial district which killed three people and injured more than 90 others.  
• July 1991 Inter-party talks on the future of Northern Ireland collapse without agreement having been reached on any substantial issue.  
• April 1991 All-party talks begin on the future of Northern Ireland, the first such meetings since a 1975 Constitutional Convention.
• February 1991 The IRA claims responsibility for a mortar attack against 10 Downing Street, London.    
• November 1990 In a renewed attempt to revive the so-called "Brooke initiative" to reopen talks on the political future of Northern Ireland, Peter Brooke, the UK Northern Ireland secretary, meets Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey.    
• March 1988 Three IRA members are shot dead by UK security forces in Gibraltar.   
• November 1985 The Anglo-Irish agreement comes into effect.  
• October 1984 The IRA admits responsibility for a bomb attack against the Grand Hotel, Brighton, where Margaret Thatcher, the UK prime minister, and other UK government members are staying.  
• November 1981 At talks held in London Margaret Thatcher and Garret FitzGerald agree to establish an Anglo-Irish Inter-Governmental Council.   
• May 1981 Irish Republican prisoner Robert ("Bobby") Sands dies after a hunger strike to protest against the government's refusal to grant political status to Republican prisoners.   
• July 1976 The House of Commons approves the Northern Ireland Act 1974 (Interim Period Extension) Order 1976, renewing direct rule for a further year.   
• February 1975 The Provisional IRA ceasefire is resumed indefinitely.   
• October/November 1974 A series of IRA bombs explode in public houses in Guildford, Woolwich, and Birmingham, killing 28 people.  
• April 1974 Progress is made towards ratification of the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973.   
• December 1973 Agreement on the establishment of a Council of Ireland and changes in the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic are reached at a tripartite conference.
• January 1973 It is revealed that 467 people had been killed during the conflict in Ulster in 1972.  
• July 1972 The resumption of large-scale terrorist activities is marked by the so-called "Bloody Friday" attacks.  
• March 1972 The UK imposes direct rule on Northern Ireland.    
• May 1970 Civil disturbances, involving Roman Catholics and Protestants, continue in various parts of Northern Ireland.   
• August 1969 Troops are deployed to the cities of Londonderry and Belfast after violent clashes break out.  
• November 1968 Violence erupts in Armagh.   
• December 1957 The IRA launches a series of attacks against targets in Northern Ireland.   
• December 1954 Eight IRA members are imprisoned by a court in Belfast after being convicted of treason.   
• May 1949 The Ireland Bill is approved by the House of Commons.   
• February 1949 The Unionists win a comfortable majority in a general election.   
• November 1948 Eire is renamed the Republic of Ireland.   
• July 1947 The UK bicameral federal legislature approves the Northern Ireland Bill.   
• January 1947 The Northern Ireland House of Commons rejects a motion to introduce proportional representation.   
• September/October 1942 IRA attacks against the police are launched in Belfast.   
• September 1942 Six IRA members are sentenced to death after being convicted of the murder of a police officer.   
• April 1938 Anglo-Irish agreements are signed.        
• February 1938 The Unionists, led by Lord Craigavon, win a comfortable majority in a general election.  
• December 1937 The UK government says that Northern Ireland's position as an integral part of the UK is unaffected by a new constitution in the South.   
• September 1936 The Irish Union Association is formed.   
• August 1934 Viscount Craigavon, the prime minister of Northern Ireland, tells members of the Grand Black Institution (a grade of the Orange Order) that "a united Ireland is not only impossible but unthinkable".