Northern Ireland

In May 2000 the IRA pledged to put its weapons “completely and verifiably beyond use” in return for the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The IRA also agreed to permit regular inspections of its weapons stockpiles by an international panel supervising disarmament. In June the inspectors made their first report: former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari and ex-secretary-general of the African National Congress, Cyril Ramaphosa, stated that they were “satisfied with the cooperation extended to us by the IRA to ensure a credible and verifiable inspection”.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement the final prisoners held in connection with sectarian violence were freed in September 2000. In total over 400 prisoners were freed early; the final releases led to the closure of the Maze prison (Long Kesh).

In May 2001, David Trimble again announced his intention to resign, on July 1, over the issue of weapons decommissioning. Talks to avert this move, including the participation of Blair and Ahern, failed to resolve the issue and Trimble resigned on the appointed date, nominating fellow UUP minister Reg Empey as caretaker first minister in his place. General John de Chastelain said in early August that the IRA had put forward a plan to put weapons beyond use; the statement was confirmed by the IRA shortly afterwards. However, less than a week later the IRA withdrew the plan, again resulting in stalemate.

Two world events then had an extraordinary effect on putting pressure on the IRA to reconsider. First, it was announced that three suspected members of the IRA had been arrested in Colombia, accused of providing military training for the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) Marxist guerrillas, who the US government suspects of major drug dealing. The capture of the men was a major public relations blow to the IRA. The men were originally acquitted but in December 2004 the ruling was overturned and they were sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment. Secondly, the September 11 attacks on the US cities of New York and Washington, hardened the resolve of nations, especially the United States, to fight all forms of terrorism worldwide. In such a climate, the return to discussion over arms decommissioning in Northern Ireland seemed inevitable.

On September 19 the IRA issued yet another positive statement, but the Unionists continued to fight to exclude Sinn Féin from the executive and, on October 18, Trimble and UUP and DUP ministers resigned from the assembly because of a lack of progress over decommissioning. A mere four days later Gerry Adams issued a statement in which he announced that he and Martin McGuinness had called for the IRA to make a “ground-breaking move” on arms and, amid great expectations, the IRA stated that it had indeed begun to decommission arms in order to “save the peace process” and to “persuade others of our genuine intentions”. De Chastelain confirmed that the process had begun and Trimble welcomed it as a positive move, to which he responded by returning to the assembly. The UK government, also welcoming the move, set about dismantling British army watchtowers in the province.

Trimble’s attempt to regain his first minister post was frustrated by two members of his party who, being suspicious of the IRA claim to decommission arms, voted against him in an effort to have the assembly dissolved. Instead of taking this option, Secretary of State John Reid allowed the parties to broker a deal, whereby members of the Alliance party voted for Trimble in the second round of voting on November 6. Mark Durkan of the SDLP became the new deputy in place of Seamus Mallon. Durkan became leader of the SDLP the same month.

Despite, and alongside, the political manoeuvring, violence continued in the province throughout the summer and autumn months. John Reid repeatedly warned the loyalist paramilitary UDA (Ulster Defence Association) to refrain from violence. The UDA was linked to rioting in north Belfast in the late summer and also was suspected of the blast bomb attack on police who were protecting Catholic schoolgirls making their way to the Holy Cross School in north Belfast through a staunchly Protestant area. The long-running violent protests had started in June. On October 12, Reid declared that the UDA-pledged ceasefire, nominally in effect since 1994, was ended. He took similar action against the LVF (Loyalist Volunteer Force), suspected of involvement in the murder of a journalist.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was dissolved on November 4, 2001, and its personnel transferred to a new body, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The change came about as part of the recommendations of the Good Friday Agreement for a police force that embraced Catholics as well as Protestants.

John Reid was replaced by Paul Murphy, the former Welsh Secretary, in October 2002 and devolved government in the province was once again suspended (for the fourth time) in the same month. Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were also postponed but were finally rescheduled for late 2003. In the elections the DUP overtook the UUP as the party with the largest number of seats, winning 30 against the UUP's 27. Other major gains were made by Sinn Féin, winning 24 seats at the election, at the expense of losses for the SDLP.

The Bloody Sunday inquiry ended in November 2004 after sitting and hearing evidence from more than 900 witnesses over seven years. Lord Saville, who chaired the inquiry, expects to produce a final report some time in 2005. More than £26 million was stolen from the Northern Bank in Belfast in December 2004. The police blamed the IRA for the raid, though the organization denied culpability. Weeks later members of the organization were implicated in the murder of Robert McCartney, a Sinn Féin supporter. The issue escalated after the IRA threatened to shoot those responsible for his murder, a statement that played poorly in comparison to the dignified behaviour of McCartney's family. The issue spread to the United States after the family was symbolically invited to talks with US president George Bush on St Patrick's Day, while Gerry Adams was denied his traditional warm welcome in the US.

On July 28, 2005, more than seven years after the Good Friday Agreement, and after an internal debate of several months, the IRA formally ordered an end to its armed campaign by announcing its intention to both fully decommission and to pursue exclusively peaceful and democratic means. The move was welcomed by the UK, Irish, and US governments, but greeted only with cautious optimism by Unionist politicians. Two months later, on September 26, a report by General John de Chastelain, head of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD), was given to the UK and Irish governments, confirming IRA decommissioning as complete.

Adams persuaded Sinn Féin to take a further step towards the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland when he won a vote giving recognition to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) at a specially convened party conference in Dublin in January 2007. At elections to the (still suspended) Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2007 Sinn Féin increased its representation by 4 seats to 28, again making it the second largest party behind the DUP, which took 36 seats. Discussions then began on the terms by which self-rule could be re-established, culminating in an unprecedented joint press conference at Stormont on March 26, at which Adams and Ian Paisley announced that they had agreed to participate in a restored Executive from May. In April the four major parties began the division of ministerial portfolios between them.