Northern Ireland

C

Civil Rights Movement

After partition, Catholics in Northern Ireland were a disadvantaged minority in matters of employment, housing, education, and effective cultural and political participation—a situation which the British government failed significantly to address. In 1968 an active and articulate civil rights movement emerged to protest against this discrimination, often provoking violent reactions within the Protestant community. Moderate Protestants recognized a need for governmental reform, but were strongly opposed by a right-wing faction of the ruling Ulster Unionist Party (see The Troubles).

D

British Army Presence

British troops, sent to Northern Ireland in 1969 partly to help the beleaguered local police, and partly to offer protection to the Catholic communities, became a permanent presence. They maintained British authority but also became the focus of terrorist attacks and growing resentment. In 1971 internment (imprisonment without trial) was introduced in Northern Ireland as a measure to counter terrorism. The following year the British government suspended the Northern Ireland parliament and imposed direct rule. The move followed the incident that became known as “Bloody Sunday”, when on January 30, 1972, British troops fired on civil rights protestors in Londonderry (Derry), killing 13.

In a 1973 referendum, largely boycotted by Roman Catholics, the voters of Northern Ireland again chose to remain part of the United Kingdom rather than join the Republic of Ireland. In 1974 a 15-member Northern Ireland power-sharing executive, made up of both Protestants and Roman Catholics, was quickly abandoned when it provoked a general strike led by Protestant extremists. IRA bombs killed 21 and injured 120 in two Birmingham pubs in the same year. Two Belfast women, Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for working to reconcile Northern Ireland’s religious communities. Their work, however, foundered in the face of the failure of attempts to bring the two factions together.

E

The IRA Campaign

Violence in Northern Ireland and terrorist attacks in England increased in intensity, reaching a peak in 1973 and 1974.

The Provisional IRA (the hard-line faction that broke away from the official IRA in 1969) maintained steady terrorist pressure, which included bombing campaigns on the British mainland. Protestant extremists matched them outrage for outrage. In one day in July 1974 more than 20 IRA bombs, many of them car bombs, were detonated in Belfast. In August 1979 the Provisional IRA assassinated Earl Mountbatten of Burma and, on the same day, ambushed a party of British soldiers at Warrenpoint, killing 18 of them.

In 1981 a number of Provisional IRA prisoners in Long Kesh (the Maze) prison began a hunger strike; the first of 11 to die was Bobby Sands, who had been elected as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, on May 5.

The division between the Northern Irish communities remained as sharp as ever, with no solution in sight. The intergovernmental conference established in 1985 was welcomed by many as an important step towards cross-border cooperation on security, economic, and social issues, and eventual peace. Protestant Unionists and some Irish nationalists, however, denounced the accord.

As the 1990s began, British troops were still patrolling the streets of Londonderry/Derry and Belfast, and the IRA continued to launch sporadic terrorist attacks on British civilians and military personnel in the British Isles and continental Europe. In all, more than 3,000 people had been killed and at least 36,000 injured since the start of the Troubles in 1969.

F

Moves Towards Talks

Efforts begun in the mid-1980s (see Anglo-Irish Agreement) to achieve a peaceful settlement gained new momentum in the early 1990s. Between 1991 and 1992 four of the five main parties met to see if they could reach agreement on the political future of the province. Sinn Féin was excluded because of its support for the terrorist acts of the IRA. The talks ended in November 1992 without agreement. In September 1993 the British government began bilateral talks with three of the four parties. The Democratic Unionists refused to join.

G

Downing Street Declaration

Three months later, on December 15, 1993, the British and Irish prime ministers signed the Downing Street Declaration, a statement of fundamental principles with regard to the future of the province—notably that any constitutional change required the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland. The statement also provided that only democratically mandated parties with an established commitment to exclusively peaceful methods could participate in the dialogue. In the event of a permanent cessation of violence by the IRA, Sinn Féin could join that process.