The Northern Irish Peace Process

The period of riots, protests and terrorism that began in the late 1960s in Northern Ireland and went on for three decades was known as ‘The Troubles’. They came to a much-needed end after a long series of covert discussions in the background and occasional public statements, together forming the Northern Irish Peace Process. The politicians involved made their contributions bravely, since any concessions to one side or the other were bound to be criticised. Thankfully, the para-military leadership eventually realised that negotiations were the only way forward and they could never ‘win’ through violence.

The most important agreements were the Downing Street Declaration of 1993 and the Belfast (or  ‘Good Friday’) Agreement of 1998, the former opening up the possibility for the latter. The 5-year gap between them is evidence of the myriad of hurdles that had to be cleared. The 1993 Declaration stated that unification of N.Ireland with the Republic of Ireland could only be made with the people’s majority consent and the 1998 Agreement established institutions for co-operation between those two countries and between the UK and the Republic.

After sporadic terrorist bombings, the ceasefire finally held and the N.Ireland Assembly, the North-South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Council all began operations.

(Image: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)