The Good Friday agreement is one the most celebrated peace deals ever signed. In April of 1998, its 34 pages helped put an end to a 30-year conflict that killed over 3,500 people.
The deal was a major achievement, but the road to its signing was an arduous one. The 1970s, 1980s and 1990s had seen a number of peace talks and negotiations , but thanks to extremists on both sides these had always broken down. The challenge was maintaining a Paramilitary ceasefire long enough for political talks to bear fruit. Ending a conflict as bitter as this one, would not be easy.
In the previous episode we examined how all sides of the conflict had become exhausted by the violence. Now, in this final episode of our Troubles series we’ll explain the timeline of events that lead to Good Friday, how the deal worked and why Northern Ireland’s peace remains fragile to this day.
Voice over: This is the Good Friday agreement – one the most celebrated peace deals ever signed. In April of 1998, these 34 pages helped put an end to a 30-year conflict that killed over 3,500 people. The deal was a major achievement, but the road to its signing was an arduous one.
In the last episode we examined how all sides of the conflict had become exhausted by violence. Now, in this final episode of our Troubles series we’ll explain the timeline of events that led to Good Friday, how the deal worked and why Northern Ireland’s peace remains fragile to this day.
The 1970s, 80s and 90s had seen a number of peace talks and negotiations, but thanks to extremists on both sides these had always broken down. The challenge was maintaining a Paramilitary ceasefire long enough for political talks to bear fruit. Ending a conflict as bitter as this one, would not be easy. As we covered in our last episode, 1994 was a time of genuine hope for peace. In April, the Provisional IRA – the largest Republican paramilitary – announced a ceasefire. And in October, the three leading loyalist paramilitaries did the same.
Meanwhile, informal talks were taking place with a changing roster of political groups from all sides. However, the political wing of the Provisional IRA ,Sinn Féin, were not invited.
Craig Murray: "There had been ongoing negotiations with the British government and one of the main sticking points was a thing called prior decommissioning. Whereby the government wished for the IRA to decommission its arms before they would allow Sinn Féin to enter into any talks. However this was the main bargaining chip the IRA had. They hadn't been beaten and they hadn't surrendered and they felt no compunction to actually down their weapons."
Voice over: In November of 1995, British Prime Minister John Major announced a plan to launch new ‘all party’ talks at Stormont to end the Troubles once and for all. This was followed in January by a new report authored by US Senator George Mitchell. In it he set out a series of rules for entry to the talks. He also proposed a twin-track approach, whereby arms decommissioning would take place at the same time as the negotiations. It seemed like the perfect solution to get Sinn Féin in the room, but there was a problem. John Major had recently lost his majority in Westminster and relied on votes from the Ulster Unionist Party or UUP. Reservations within the UUP led to a rejection of the twin-track approach and Sinn Féin remained on the outside.
In protest, on February 9th, the Provisional IRA detonated a truck bomb on the Isle of Dogs in London, killing two and wounding over 100. Their two-year ceasefire was over. Nonetheless in May elections were held to determine who would take part in the Stormont Talks and in June they finally began, with Senator Mitchell at the helm. However, with the Provisional IRA still actively on campaign, Sinn Féin were once again excluded. That same month, the Provisional IRA set off another truck bomb, this time in Manchester which injured over 200 and destroyed much of the city centre. That was followed up by a further descent into violence around the town of Drumcree. As violence continued over the following months, it seemed that Northern Ireland might return to the dark days of the 1970s. But everything was about to change.
In 1997 the Republic of Ireland and the UK elected new leaders in Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair. Their efforts would help reinvigorate the peace process.
Craig Murray: "Tony Blair's Labour government has a massive majority in its victory which means it no longer needs to rely on the Ulster Unionist Party to get things through. Blair, along with his new Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam who is the first woman to do the job, move in earnest to get peace talks going. The pre-decommission of IRA weapons is put aside and this twin-track stream is the one they go for. Decommissioning will come back, but for the moment Sinn Féin are in the talks."
Voice over: In July the Provisional IRA restarted their ceasefire and in August Sinn Féin were invited to the talks. However, this prompted a walkout from some hard-line Loyalist parties. With the talks set to restart on September 15th, no-one was sure whether the more moderate loyalist parties would even turn up. But on September 17th, the UUP, PUP and UDP entered the talks together. This was a massive moment in the peace process to have so many of the parties in one room. However, the hard work was only just beginning.
In January of the following year, the Loyalist Ulster Democratic Party was expelled from the talks over killings by its paramilitary wing. And in February, after the Provisional IRA were linked with two killings in Belfast, Sinn Féin were excluded too. Many within the different paramilitary movements did not want to give up the armed struggle which was so important to them. As splinter groups began to emerge it was on the leaders of each faction to keep their movements together.
Craig Murray: "Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness and Jerry Adams were vital for this deal to go through. Both of them ran a very fine line. Martin McGuinness in particular given his standing within the Provisional IRA as the commander had to bring the bulk of the IRA organisation with them and marginalise the dissidents who didn't want peace. This in itself was a huge undertaking and a huge achievement and was so vital to the Belfast Agreement's signing."
Voice over: Likewise, there were problems within the Loyalist camp. Though their ceasefire from 1994 had held, it took a prison visit from Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam to convince UDA members to back the peace talks. After both parties returned to the table, Senator Mitchell set out a deadline for the parties to reach an agreement. It fell on the 9th of April 1998. But with just a few weeks to go, the talks would come down to the wire.
Craig Murray: "The Ulster Unionists will speak to the SDLP, the more moderate National party, but they have no real talks with Sinn Féin at this point. Northern Ireland is holding its breath, Britain is holding this breath, in a sense because nobody's really sure if anybody's going to agree with this. However on the day of the 10th of April, by about five in the evening the momentous signatures are actually endorsed on the document and the Good Friday agreement is passed."
The Belfast Agreement was based three important principles: That the status of Northern Ireland would not change without the consent of its people. That there would be equal rights for republican and loyalist communities and that Northern Irish people would be free to identify as Irish, British or both. Alongside this, new institutions were founded, including a new Northern Irish assembly with compulsory power sharing between loyalist and republican parties. The agreement also addressed the end of the republic’s claim to Northern Ireland, the decommissioning of all paramilitaries by May 2000, the early release of prisoners for all paramilitaries on ceasefire, a new commission on reforming the RUC and gradual withdrawal of British Army
The agreement was essentially a fudge - It passed over many areas which would cause problems later down the line. However, it had to be this way to get parties from all viewpoints to actually sign it. Having done so, the people of Northern Ireland finally had the chance of a peaceful tomorrow.
In May the agreement went out to referendums in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. By an emphatic margin, yes carried the day.
Craig Murray: "In the north 71% of people vote yes for this. If we're looking at the compositions here over 90% of those votes were nationalists and only around 50% were unionists so there's an issue there with unionism and still a strong suspicion of Sinn Féin and of the Provisional IRA. However in the south it's even more overwhelming the yes vote, around 91% of people vote yes. But although peace had been signed there were a number of issues that were still to be dealt with after this point. The conflict in Northern Ireland was far from over."
Three months later, Northern Ireland would see the deadliest single incident of the Troubles. On a busy Saturday, an IRA splinter group set off a bomb in the middle of Omagh, County Tyrone – killing 29 people, including a pregnant mother.
Craig Murray: "The bombing in Omagh was a huge test for peace in Northern Ireland. However, after going through so much to get to this point it galvanised people. People still wanted peace and they didn't want to slip back into the carnage of the 1970s. Nevertheless the dissident republicans who carried this out and other groups are still at large. A report carried out by both the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the security service MI5 just a few years ago concluded that all the paramilitary groups that existed during the Troubles still exist in some form today."
On December 2nd 1998, the new Northern Ireland executive finally took power. But the government would fall apart several times over the following years. Slow progress in decommissioning caused three short suspensions of Stormont during 2000 and 2001. Before, in 2002, power sharing fell apart for longer, this time over an alleged IRA spy ring inside of Stormont.
By 2003, the Northern Irish electorate had polarised around the two most hard-line groups, with the DUP and Sinn Féin becoming the largest representatives of each side. The DUP did not accept the Belfast agreement and refused to share power, meanwhile Sinn Fein chose not to recognise the newly reformed Police Service of Northern Ireland or PSNI. As such, the assembly at Stormont remain closed.
But in 2005, the Provisional IRA was finally adjudged to have fully decommissioned its arsenal and, though it did not disband, announced that its armed struggle was at an end. It would take up to 5 years for some loyalist paramilitaries to do the same. This was a crucial step, which eventually led to the St Andrews Agreement in 2006. In it Sinn Fein recognised PSNI and the DUP agreed to power sharing. After another election in 2007 the Northern Ireland executive finally reformed. The DUP’s Ian Paisley became First Minister, with Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness as his Deputy. They would become the most unlikely of friends.
In July of that year, the British Army announced the end of Operation Banner after 38 years, its longest ever continuous military operation. Today, the conflict known as the Troubles is at an end, but the groups who fought it have not disappeared.
Craig Murray: "The presence of these groups is still there in Northern Ireland, often controlling communities, often policing these communities and carrying out punishments against drug dealers and also engaging in criminal activities such as drugs dealing itself. In addition, the segregation and the sectarianism still remains in Northern Ireland and the walls that separate many communities, particularly in Belfast remain to this day."
More recently Brexit has proven to be a major challenge to the peace process in Northern Ireland. The British Government's Brexit deal led to the DUP’s withdrawal from Stormont, and as of the making this video, Northern Ireland has no parliament – leading to fears the violence could return.
Craig Murray: "One issue is young people who either weren't born during the Troubles or were incredibly young when they ended have no real concept of what it was like and some have been moved towards violence by groups within their communities. Similar on a more positive note, many younger people see no identity issues with having friends on either side of the community and don't associate themselves with the sectarianism of the Troubles. So there is a balance here and it's difficult to know exactly what direction things will go in in the future."
Voice over: The Troubles was a bitter conflict, fought between two sides with little in common other than the loss they suffered. The deal signed in April of 1998 is not perfect. But it helped put an end to violence that had cost over 3,500 lives. The Belfast Agreement is a testament to compromise in the most difficult of circumstances, that peace is possible for those with the courage to seek it.