Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland The part of Ireland which remained in the UK following the partition under the Government of Ireland Act (1920). It is composed of the six north-eastern counties of Ireland: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone. It is often referred to as Ulster, although strictly speaking the historic province of Ulster also includes three other counties which are now in the Republic of Ireland. The province was formed as a result of pressure from Unionists led by Edward Carson, who did not wish to be part of a united Ireland independent from the UK. It was governed by a Prime Minister heading a Parliament at Stormont in which the predominantly Protestant population had a built-in majority. The Protestants controlled most of the jobs and housing, and discriminated against the Catholic minority (about one- third of the population), fearing that it wished to undermine Northern Ireland's position as part of the UK.

Moderate reforms were attempted by Prime Minister O'Neill in the 1960s, but in 1968 violence erupted after a series of demonstrations calling for equal civil rights for all. Subsequently, paramilitary organizations, such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), clashed. By the end of 1993, there had been 3,112 deaths as a result of political violence. The largest group to suffer was the civilian population: many of the 2,174 deaths in this group included suspected terrorists. The British army lost 443 personnel; it had been sent to Northern Ireland in 1969, initially to protect Catholics against Loyalist violence, but its presence became resented by the minority and it was thus a target for the IRA. One of the events which provoked hostility was Bloody Sunday (30 January 1972), when troops fired on a Catholic demonstration in Londonderry, killing several civilians. In March 1972, when the Stormont government proved incapable of maintaining order, the British government suspended the Northern Irish Constitution, dissolved Stormont, and imposed direct rule from London.

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, the British government sought to establish assemblies in which the different groups in Northern Ireland would share power. However, one or more groups have always opposed each attempt, most notably in May 1974, when a strike by the Loyalist Ulster Workers' Council brought down the Northern Ireland Assembly. In the 1980s the British government sought closer cooperation in resolving the problem with the government of the Irish Republic. In 1985 this resulted in the Anglo-Irish Accord (Hillsborough Agreement), which gave the Republic a consultative role in Northern Ireland. This angered Unionists, but reassured the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

On 15 December 1993 the British Prime Minister, John Major, and the Irish Taoi seach, Albert Reynolds, made the Downing Street Declaration. This proclaimed the two governments' intention to promote reconciliation ‘leading to a new political framework founded on consent’. They reaffirmed their opposition to political violence, and committed themselves to bringing all democratic groups together in talks. In response, on 31 August 1994 the IRA announced a ‘complete cessation of military operations’. This was followed on 13 October 1994 by a loyalist ceasefire, and from then many British troops were withdrawn from Northern Ireland. The British government and the Unionists then made the surrender of all arms by paramilitary groups a precondition of all-party talks. This was rejected by Adams. On 9 February 1996, the IRA ceasefire was broken when it bombed Canary Wharf in the London Docklands. Sinn Féin refused to condemn the incident, whereupon the British and Irish governments broke off direct negotiations. Nevertheless, elections for representatives at all-party negotiations were held on 30 May 1996. They provided a victory for the more extremist parties, as the Democratic Unionist Party gained 18.8 per cent and Sinn Féin 15.47 per cent. By contrast, the performance of the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party (24.17 per cent) and the SDLP (21.4 per cent) was relatively disappointing.

It was not until the IRA finally declared a ceasefire on 9 Sept. 1997 that negotiations could resume, headed by Clinton's envoy, George Mitchell. After an ultimatum presented by the British and Irish governments, the parties consented to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Elections to the new Northern Irish Assembly were won by the Ulster Unionist Party with 28 seats, followed by the moderate Catholic SDLP with 24. The UUP's leader, David Trimble, became First Minister, with the SDLP's Seamus Mallon as his deputy. The government was based on a broad coalition of Protestant and Catholic parties, including Sinn Féin but excluding the Democratic Unionists. While the administration of day-to-day matters proved surprisingly smooth, the issue of decommissioning of weapons held by the IRA and the reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary continued to be extremely contentious. As the IRA refused to honour its original promise to decommission its arms within two years of the Good Friday Agreement, David Trimble resigned in summer 2001. This led to the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly. David Trimble briefly returned as First Minister, but he resigned again in October 2002 over the slow progress of Sinn Féin's decommissioning of weapons. Self-rule was suspended once more. After Gerry Adams announced the provisional IRA's intention to disband, elections on 26 November 2003 produced a further stalemate: the largest party was now Ian Paisley's DUP, which refused any contact with Sinn Féin.