Northern Ireland peace process

Process leading to peace, the establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the decommissioning of paramilitary arms in Northern Ireland, generally considered as beginning in 1993 when London and Dublin issued the Downing Street Declaration. Ceasefire declarations by the Provisional IRA followed in August 1994 and again in May 1997. Multiparty talks began in January 1998 culminating in the ‘Good Friday agreement’ on 10th April. In November 1999, agreement was reached on the power-sharing executive of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and it met for the first time on 2 December 1999 as powers were devolved to the Assembly by the British government.

Since the beginning of the ‘Troubles’ in 1968, there were various attempts to reach a peaceful compromise. The Sunningdale agreement in 1973 was brought down by a massive strike of Protestant workers. In 1985 the Anglo-Irish Agreement was also rejected by Protestant Unionists.

The Downing Street Declaration In September 1993, it emerged that John Hume, the leader of the moderate Catholic republican Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) and Gerry Adams, the president of the less moderate Sinn Fein had held talks aimed at achieving a political settlement. In response, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Patrick Mayhew, began bilateral talks with the main Northern Ireland parties. In December 1993, London and Dublin issued a joint proposal, the Downing Street Declaration, setting out general principles for holding all-party talks on securing peace.

The first IRA ceasefire In August 1994, the Provisional IRA announced a unilateral ceasefire. Six months later, a framework document, intended to form a basis for peace negotiations, was issued jointly by UK prime minister John Major and Irish prime minister John Bruton. The UK government gave its support to a separate Northern Ireland Assembly, while the Irish government rescinded its constitutional claim to Northern Ireland. In May 1995, Sinn Fein engaged in the first public talks with British government officials since 1973. However, Sinn Fein continued to refuse the demand, made by the British government and Unionists, that the IRA begin decommissioning their weapons before talks continued. The deadlock persisted, and the IRA broke the ceasefire with a renewed campaign of violence in England in early 1996. Efforts to find a solution intensified, and by the end of February 1996 a firm date for the start of all-party talks had been announced.

The second IRA ceasefire In a changed political climate after the Labour victory in the UK general election of May 1997, the IRA renewed its ceasefire in July. However, in December 1997, the conflict once again increased, and Billy Wright, Northern Ireland's most notorious loyalist terrorist, was assassinated inside the Maze prison. The Irish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility for Wright's killing. Wright's organization, the Loyalist Volunteer Force, in turn claimed responsibility for two retaliatory attacks. The peace process was saved following a visit in January 1998 to convicted loyalist terrorists in the Maze prison by Mo Mowlam, then secretary of state for Northern Ireland. At the end of their meeting, the prisoners announced that they had dropped their opposition to the talks process. Multiparty talks began, though in February Sinn Fein were barred for two weeks following two killings allegedly by the IRA.

Good Friday Agreement On 10 April 1998, the talks were concluded, and the Northern Ireland Political Talks Document was released. The agreement, reached on Good Friday, was heralded as a historic breakthrough. Among the principal elements of the agreement were the devolution of a wide range of executive and legislative powers to a Northern Ireland Assembly, in which executive posts would be shared by political parties on a proportional basis; the establishment of a North/South Ministerial Council, accountable to the Assembly and the Irish Parliament; and a British-Irish Council to bring together the two governments and representatives of devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

The agreement also included a range of measures to enhance the proper protection of basic human rights, to reduce the profile of security measures and emergency legislation, and to consider an appropriate policing service. It established a clear process for the decommissioning of illegal weapons and the means to do this within two years, and committed both governments to put in place mechanisms to provide for an accelerated programme for the release of prisoners.

In May, Sinn Fein decided to support the ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum to be held on the agreement. The IRA, on the other hand, remained opposed to the decommissioning of weapons. Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party and the Orange Order strongly opposed the deal. David Trimble, leader of the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party, overcame bitter disagreement in the party and accepted it.

On 22 May 1998, the Good Friday agreement was overwhelmingly endorsed by 71% of the vote in Northern Ireland and 94% in the Republic of Ireland. Total turnout in Northern Ireland reached 81%. Exit polls suggested that 55% of Northern Ireland's Protestant community voted ‘Yes’ and that in only Ian Paisley's North Antrim seat was there a majority against the agreement.

The elections to the new Northern Ireland Assembly in June resulted in the return of a large pro-agreement majority. David Trimble was elected by the Assembly as Northern Ireland's First Minister, with Seamus Mallon, deputy leader of the SDLP, as his deputy. However, there were disputes over the release of paramilitary prisoners, the decommissioning of weapons by paramilitaries, and Protestant Orange Order marches, notably in Drumcree. These led to disagreement on nominating ministers to the Executive Committee, and the Assembly was adjourned until the process was reviewed September- November 1999.

In August 1998, 28 people were killed in the shopping centre of Omagh by a car bomb attack by the Real IRA, an extremist splinter group. It was the worst single atrocity in Ireland during the 30 years of the Troubles, and was condemned by all sides, including Sinn Fein. In October 1998, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Unionist leader David Trimble and SDLP leader John Hume.

Devolution In November 1999, Unionists and Sinn Fein came to agreement over nominating ministers to the executive on the condition that the IRA appoint a go-between to work with the International Decommissioning Commission. This the IRA did, and the executive met for the first time on 2 December 1999 as powers were devolved to the Assembly by the British government. A target date for the decommissioning of IRA weapons was set for May 2000.

However, in February 2000 the Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended after a report on decommissioning revealed that there had been no arms handover. The crisis deepened as the IRA followed a new initiative on decommissioning by pulling out of disarmament talks and withdrawing all decommissioning propositions. On 17 March, St Patrick's Day, Gerry Adams declared that the May deadline for IRA decommissioning no longer existed.

Following an IRA announcement that it would put its weapons out of use, David Trimble persuaded his Ulster Unionist party to re-enter the coalition with Sinn Fein, and the power-sharing executive resumed operations at the end of May 2000. In June the IRA opened its arms dumps to inspection by independent international overseers. The inspectors were satisfied that the arms were secured and could not be moved without knowledge, and said that they would re-inspect them regularly.

In August 2000, feuding between rival loyalist paramilitary groups lead to the re-imprisonment of Johnny Adair, leader of the Ulster Freedom Fighters. He had been released as part of an amnesty provided by the Good Friday agreement.

In November 2000, a Northern Ireland Police Bill, implementing the reforms of the RUC recommended in the Patten Report of September 1999, was passed.

Trimble resigns Fresh clashes broke out on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, in June 2001 as fears grew that the government might be forced to suspend the Northern Ireland Assembly to prevent David Trimble stepping down as First Minister. Trimble had threatened to resign on 1 July if the IRA made no further steps towards decommissioning its weapons. Trimble in fact resigned at the end of June, a move that automatically triggered the resignation of his nationalist deputy Seamus Mallon, and left the Good Friday Agreement institutions in a state of limbo. Rioting erupted on the streets of Northern Ireland 11-12 July, when the government imposed a 24-hour deadline for parties in the deadlocked peace talks to reach an agreement.

Devolution suspended On 6 August 2001, the IRA proposed a scheme for putting its weapons completely and verifiably beyond further use. However, the timing of the arms disposal was not specified. Sinn Fein and both the British and Irish governments described it as a breakthrough after months of deadlock, but the Ulster Unionists rejected the plan, insisting actual decommissioning was required. The widening gap between Republican and Unionist positions led to a suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly and executive on 10 August. However, devolution was restored the following night, giving Republicans and Unionists six more weeks to negotiate on decommissioning and other issues.

Martin O'Hagan, a Northern Ireland journalist, was killed in September in a drive-by shooting carried out by renegade loyalists. The assassination was widely condemned by politicians in Belfast and Dublin, while the Northern Ireland Assembly was expected to close again in the absence of any last-minute act of arms decommissioning by the IRA.

Decommissioning begins Under heavy pressure from the USA and Sinn Fein, the IRA began putting some of its weapons beyond use on 23 October 2001. No details or numbers were given, but First Minister David Trimble welcomed the news. Trimble reacted the following day by renominating the three Ulster Unionist ministers he had withdrawn from the Northern Ireland administration three weeks earlier, and they returned to office the same day. All ten departmental ministers in the cross-community administration were back at work on 25 October.

In July 2002, the IRA issued an unprecedented apology for the deaths of ‘non-combatants’ in IRA terrorist violence over 30 years in Northern Ireland. The apology was rejected by Ulster Unionists but received a muted welcome from the British and Irish governments.