Ireland in Schools Blackpool Pilot Scheme Learning & Achievement, CYPD

National Secondary Strategy - Thinking Skills/Leading in Learning

Why are Protestants and Catholics willing

to share power in Northern Ireland
now and not earlier?

An exercise in classifying & summarising

by

Nigel Duckworth, Montgomery High School Language College

Marian McQueen, CYPD
&
Phil Wright, Palatine Community Sports College

Contents

About this unit: Guidance for teachers

About the key question
Lesson plans
L1. Then & now - spot the differences
L2. How did we get from then to now?
L3. Where do we go from here?

Resources
L1. Then & now collages
L2. Cards for sorting
L3. Sources for activity 3
Independent Monitoring Commission: 15th report, April 2007
Trouble in store: sectarianism among the young?
Worksheet for plenary: What & how have we learned?
Notes for teachers
Collages
Attempts at peace
Good Friday Agreement: optimism & pessimism (mindmap)
Good Friday Agreement: meeting the challenges (mindmap)
Timeline
About this unit
Place in Pilot Scheme
This unit of work, which explores the reasons why Protestants and Catholics are willing to share power in
Northern Ireland now and not earlier, brings our suite of materials to a natural conclusion.

The focus throughout has been on exemplifying thinking skills activities from the Secondary National Strategy
through the context of themes and stories which link Ireland with the rest of Britain.

Activities used so far have included:

• Advance organiser • Mystery

• Audience and purpose • Reading images
• Collective memory • Relational diagrams
• Fortune line

In the final unit we will be revisiting ‘Reading images’ and ‘Relational diagrams’, while introducing the use of
‘Classifying’ and ‘Summarising’.

Level of thinking & metacognitive skills

As it comes at the end of a unit of study, it is assumed that students will have developed their thinking and
metacognitive skills to a relatively sophisticated level.

By the end of the third lesson, which is given over to evaluation, students will be expected, through extensive
use of source material, to demonstrate informed speculation and construct an argument.

This is thinking at the upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, and these are the skills which will be required at GCSE.
This unit, therefore, is designed to help prepare for the study of history at Key Stage 4.

The lessons
Many teachers will be familiar with the ‘5W’s’ technique for reading images in the first lesson, while a Venn
Diagram enables comparison of ‘then’ and ‘now.

The sources for Lesson 2 are deliberately chosen to allow for a range of classifying criteria. Students should,
as far as possible, be left to explore their own patterns, but teachers will use their own professional judgement
to decide when, and how frequently, to intervene. As ever, students will be expected to work collaboratively
and justify their thinking through the metacognitive process.

The third lesson provides opportunity to develop extended writing, and prepare for the essay-type questions
which feature in GCSE coursework and examination papers.

Previous units
The other nine units of this Pilot Scheme may be downloaded at:
http://iisresource.org/KS3_Strategy_History.aspx

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About the key question
The key question asks why has it taken so long to restore self-government to Northern Ireland after the original
regime was abolished in 1972 midst the increasing violence.

Suspension of the Northern Ireland government & parliament, 1972

The violence had begun in 1969 when the Northern Ireland government failed to meet demands for a reform of the
state to give more civil right to the catholic and nationalist minority and had escalated after the intervention of British
troops and the resurrection of the IRA as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).

To contain the situation, the British government abolished the regional government and parliament and restored direct
rule over Northern Ireland. After 1972 one of the aims of British policy was to restore devolved government to
province in such a way that the unionist and nationalist communities - and Protestant and Catholic communities -
would work together to restore peace and harmony.

The idea of power-sharing

There would no longer be majority rule. Political parties of all complexions would share power. To re-assure unionists
and Protestants, Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom as long as a majority there wished. At the
same time, to re-assure the nationalist and Catholic minority, there would also be an ‘Irish dimension’, giving the
Republic of Ireland some role in the north.

This suggestion raised hackles on both sides. For most unionists and Protestants, it was the first step on the road to
the re-unification of Ireland, which they had opposed for so long. For many, though not all, nationalists and Catholics,
it meant the continued British occupation of Ireland.

Failure of the first attempt, 1973-74

Such considerations lead to the failure of the first attempt at power-sharing in 1974 as a result of the 1973
Sunningdale Agreement (see Notes for teachers 2). A power-sharing executive as formed in January 1974, with cross-
party and cross-community representation, but it failed in face of continued IRA violence and the opposition of most
Unionists and Protestant workers who organised a strike which finally brought down the Executive in the following
May.

Hopeful signs: the Good Friday Agreement, 1998

Direct rule was then restored and it was not until 1999 that a Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly was restored
to Northern Ireland. This was a result of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement between the British and Irish government
and all the Northern Ireland parties, except Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party.

Although the Good Friday Agreement was approved by a large majority in referenda, north and south, the new regime
struggled to get off the ground. Mutual suspicion and disagreements over weapons, the police and parades, meant
that the Assembly was suspended more often than not.

Discussions in 2006 and new elections in 2007 resulted in the re-establishment of the Executive and Assembly, 8 May
2007, led by the old arch-enemies, the DUP (Ian Paisley, First Minister and Sin Féin (Gerry Adams & Martin
McGuinness, as deputy First Minister).

Why?
In this unit, students are to consider what changed in Northern Ireland between 1974 and now to make people willing
to share power.

• Was it because the level of political violence became too high and intolerable? Was there no longer what used to
be called ‘an acceptable level of violence’?
• Did outside intervention, for example from the United States, help?
• What was the role of leaders?
• How far did the attitude of paramilitaries, republican and loyalist change?
• How far did ‘ordinary people’ play a part?
• How different were the peace protests of the 1990s from those of the 1970s?
• What part did the media play in helping or hindering attempts at a settlement?
• Were the details of later attempts better thought-out, offering more reassurance to all sides that their interests and
wishes would not only be safeguarded but actively promoted?

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Lesson plans

Lesson 1: Then & now

Look at the collages in groups The collages begin on p. 5; notes on the collages on p. 31
1. Ask the ‘5 w’s’: who? what? where? when? why?
2. Spot the differences between then and now.

Lesson 2: How did we get from then to now?

Examine the cards in groups,
1. Categorise the cards. The cards begin on p. 13
2. Give titles to categories.
3. Prioritise.
4. Justify.

Lesson 3: Evaluation: where do we go from here?

In groups,
1. Make a mindmap: Why are Protestants & Catholics willing to share power?
2. Using the two starter statements on paramilitary activity and the attitudes of north Belfast
schoolboys and girls, consider the question ‘How peaceful is Northern Ireland today?’.
The statements are on pp 24-26
3. Where does Northern Ireland go from here - internal and external factors?
4. How far do we, in Britain, have a part to play in the future of Northern Ireland?
Plenary
What & how have we learned? The worksheet and cards are on pp 27-28

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Collages for lesson 1

Lesson 1: Then & now

Look at the collages in groups Notes on the collages, pp 31-32
1. Ask the ‘5 w’s’: who? what? where? when? why?
2. Spot the differences between then and now.

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Collage 1: Politicians

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Pictured at the first meeting of the Northern Ireland
Executive, 10 May 2007, are (clockwise) Work of the Assembly’s committees
First Minister Rt Hon Ian Paisley MP MLA, DUP Committee for the Environment
deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MP MLA SF Taxis Bill
Director of Executive Services Rosalie Flanagan N/A Committee For Education
Junior Minister Gerry Kelly MLA Sinn Féin Hears Directly From Schools
Minister of Education Caitríona Ruane MLA Sinn Féin Assembly & Executive Review Committee
Minister for Regional Development Conor Murphy MP MLA, Briefed On The Transfer Of Policing And Justice Matters
Sinn Féin
Regional Development Committee
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Michelle Gildernew
Minister addresses the Committee
MP MLA Sinn Féin
Public Accounts Committee
Minister for Social Development Margaret Ritchie MLA
Reports On £34 Million Belfast Bangor Rail Fiasco
SDLP
Minister for Employment and Learning Sir Reg Empey MLA Health, Social Services & Public Safety Committee
UUP Hears Concerns About Suicide
Minister of Health Social Services and Public Safety Michael Environment Committee
McGimpsey MLA UUP Climate Change Top Item
Minister of Culture Arts and Lesiure Edwin Poots MLA DUP Finance & Personnel Committee
Minister of the Environment Arlene Foster MLA DUP Inputs to Varney Review
Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment Nigel Dodds MP MLA
DUP Reports on Workplace 2010 and Location of Public Sector Jobs
Minister of Finance and Personnel Rt Hon Peter Robinson MP MLADUP Committee for Enterprise, Trade & Investment
Junior Minister Ian Paisley Jnr MLA DUP Key Step in Road to Better Economy
Secretary to the Executive Nigel Hamilton. N/A Committee for Culture, Arts & Leisure
Minister to update Committee on Multi Sports Stadium

Collage 2: Northern Ireland Executive & Assembly

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 Collage 3:
Police badges -
changed 2001

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Collage 4: South Armagh (‘Bandit country’)

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Collage 5: Children in Belfast

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 Collage 6:
Free Derry Wall

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Collage 7:
Derry/Londonderry
Parades & walls

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Cards for lesson 2

Lesson 2: How did we get from then to now?

Examine the cards in groups,
1. Categorise the cards.
2. Give titles to categories.
3. Prioritise.
4. Justify.

There are 30 cards which fall into three categories of cards:

• statistics - S01-S06;
• pictures - P01-P12 (with alternatives to P05, P07 & P11 on p. 23); and
• texts - T01-T12.

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 Police Police Army UDR/ Civilian Totals
Reserve RIR
1969 1 0 0 0 13 14
1970 2 0 0 0 23 25
1971 11 0 43 5 115 174
1972 14 3 105 26 322 470
1973 10 3 58 8 173 252
1974 12 3 30 7 168 220
1975 7 4 14 6 216 247
1976 13 10 14 15 245 297
1977 8 6 15 14 69 112
1978 4 6 14 7 50 81
1979 9 5 38 10 51 113
1980 3 6 8 9 50 76
1981 13 8 10 13 57 101
1982 8 4 21 7 57 97
1983 9 9 5 10 44 77
1984 7 2 9 10 36 64
1985 14 9 2 4 26 55
1986 10 2 4 8 37 61
1987 9 7 3 8 68 95
1988 4 2 21 12 55 94
1989 7 2 12 2 39 62
1990 7 5 7 8 49 76
1991 5 1 5 8 75 94
1992 2 1 4 2 76 85
1993 3 3 6 2 70 84
1994 3 0 1 2 56 62
1995 1 0 0 0 8 9
1996 0 0 1 0 14 15
1997 3 1 1 0 17 22
1998 1 0 1 0 53 55
1999 0 0 0 0 7 7
2000 0 0 0 0 18 18
2001 0 0 0 0 17 17
2002 0 0 0 0 13 13
2003 0 0 0 0 11 11
2004 0 0 0 0 5 5
2005 0 0 0 0 5 5
2006 0 0 0 0 3 3
S01: Deaths due to the security situation in Northern Ireland, 1969-2007.*
* The dead include 1521 Catholics and 1288 Protestants.
Some 60% of the victims were killed by republicans, 30% by loyalists and 10% by the British, Irish and Northern Irish
security forces.
Republican paramilitaries killed 74% of all Protestants killed, over 25% of all Catholics, and almost 96% of those who were
classified as ‘Non Northern Ireland’.
Loyalist paramilitaries killed 19% of all Protestants killed, almost 50% of all Catholics and just 2% of the ‘Non Northern
Ireland’ category.

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 Shootings Assaults Total
(Beatings) Casualties

(Shootings
Total By By Total By By
and
Loyalist Republican Loyalist Republican
Assaults)
Groups Groups Groups Groups
1990/91 112 61 51 53 18 35 165
1991/92 64 44 20 79 27 52 143
1992/93 139 69 70 56 33 23 195
1993/94 83 59 24 42 37 5 125
1994/95 98 55 43 105 46 59 203
1995/96 6 6 0 246 90 156 252
1996/97 41 37 4 291 125 166 332
1997/98 73 33 40 125 70 55 198
1998/99 73 40 33 172 112 60 245
1999/00 75 53 22 103 70 33 178
2000/01 162 99 63 161 89 72 323
2001/02 190 124 66 112 76 36 302
2002/03 165 110 55 144 94 50 309
2003/04 149 102 47 149 101 48 298
2004/05 93 76 17 116 71 45 209
2005/06 76 70 6 76 57 19 152
2006/07 26 14 12 48 36 12 74
S02: Casualties as a result of paramilitary-style attacks, 1990/91 – 2006/07

S03: The results of a study by the University of Ulster into attitudes towards the police,
published in 1997.

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 S04: Public confidence in the NIPS, 2007

(i) Do you approve or disapprove of power within the Executive being shared?

Approve strongly Protestant % Catholic %

Just approve 28 78
Don’t know 38 16
Just disapprove 09 01
Disapprove strongly 13 01

(ii) Do you think that the Sunningdale proposal for a Council of Ireland is a good or bad idea?

Good idea 26 72
Bad idea 52 04
Have not heard of proposals 03 06
Don’t know 19 18
S05: Results of the opinion poll on the Sunningdale Agreement taken between 31 March and 7 April 1974.

DUP UUP Alliance Others SDLP Sinn Féin

(2007)
Seats won 36 18 7 3 16 28
Vote share 30.1% 14.9% 5.2% 8.0% 15.2% 26.2%

(2003)
Seats won 30 27 6 3 18 24
Vote share 25.6% 22.7% 3.7% 7.5% 17.0% 23.5%

(1998)
Seats won 20 28 6 9 24 18
Vote share 18.14% 21.25% 6.5% 8.67% 21.9% 17.63%
S06: Northern Ireland Assembly elections, 1998-2007 (108 seats).

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P01: A cartoon from the Observer newspaper in November 1973,
commenting on the Power-sharing Executive. The man creeping
away from the house of cards if the British Northern Ireland
Secretary William Whitelaw. Note the labels on the winds which
are about to blow on the Executive.
Problems facing the Executive
• Some members of the Executive found it
difficult to work with politicians from other
parties.
• Supporters of power-sharing feared their
interests would be sacrificed to make the
power-sharing administration work.
• The Executive was heavily criticised by
unionists opposed to the Sunningdale
Agreement.
• Unionist parties opposed to the Sunningdale
Agreement joined forces to disrupt business
in the Assembly.
• Britain was still responsible for Northern
Ireland’s security policy, but the Executive
was blamed for not stopping the high level of
violence.
• The Irish government did not officially
recognise Northern Ireland or introduce
extradition (laws to allow people suspected of
committing violent crime in Northern Ireland
to be returned there to stand trial for the
offences).
• There were also serious differences of
opinion about the role of a Council of Ireland.

P02: Peace marches

Left: Peace People, 1976, led by the founders Betty Williams & Mairead Corrigan.
Right: Peace rally organised by trade unions, business organisations. community groups and the churches, Belfast, 1998.

P03: ‘What are you waiting for? All you have to do is to ignore the others and go for the feller in the trench
coat.’ Newspaper cartoon: ‘SNATCH SQUAD’, c. 1971.

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 P04: Death and funeral of Booby Sands, the first of 10 hunger strikers to die in 1981.
The deaths helped the rise of Sinn Finn at the expense of the SDLP and prompted talks
that led to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, giving the Irish public a role in Northern Ireland.

We are going to be delivered, bound and

trussed like a turkey ready for the oven,
from one nation to another.
James Molyneaux, leader of the Ulster
Unionist Party

This deal does not go anywhere near

bringing peace to this part of Ireland. On
the contrary it reinforces partition because
Dublin is recognising Northern Ireland.
Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein

P05: Opposing the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave the Irish Republic a role in Northern Ireland.
Pictured (left) is the protest of the Protestant shipyard workers. Alternative picture, p. 23.

P06: Signs of hope in the 1990s?

Left: Hands Across the Divide by Maurice Harron, 1992. The bronze statues standing on separate columns with outstretched hands depict a
theme of reconciliation in Londonderry
Right: President Clinton being introduced to a Belfast audience by two children from local Catholic and Protestant schools, November 1995.
Clinton visited Ireland several time and gave consistent support to unionists and nationalists trying to achieve peace. One of his predecessors,
President Carter, had said in 1997 ‘US government policy on the Northern Ireland issue has long been one of impartiality and that is how it will
remain’.

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P07: Catholics stand in silence as an Orange march
passes through their district.
Alternative, p. 23.
P09: John Hume & David Trimble (left) respectively
leaders of the majority nationalist and unionist parties
celebrating the ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum on the Good
Friday Agreement and power-sharing.
In Northern Ireland the ‘Yes’ vote was 71 %; 94% in the Irish Republic.
P11: February 2000: graffiti in a village in south Armagh
seems an expression of the IRA’s refusal to disarm.
Alternative, p. 23.
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P08: A cartoon from the Guardian, January 1998,
referring to Mo Mowlam’s visit to the Maze prison. One
of the prisoners she spoke to was called John ‘Mad
Dog’ Adair.
P10: A still from video footage showing the
devastation in the centre of Omagh, County Tyrone,
in August 1998.
A breakaway republican group called the Real IRA car bomb outside
a children’s clothes shop. An incorrect warning meant people were
gathered near the bomb. The final death toll was 29.
P12: Orange riots in Belfast, 2005.
If Ian Paisley isn’t going to share power with the
rest of us, then we have to move on without him
August 4 2005, after a meeting in Downing Street with
Northern Irish parties
He radicalised me ... It was Ian Paisley who led me
to wonder how a clergyman could stand up and
threaten to go in and tell the RUC to take the flag
out, and if they didn’t, he would.
Guardian, February 5 2004
T01: Old enemies
Gerry Adams on Ian Paisley (left); Ian Paisley on Gerry Adams.
The general approach of the SDLP to the
(Sunningdale) talks was to get all Ireland
institutions established .... which could lead
ultimately to an agreed single state for Ireland.
T02: Nationalist view of Sunningdale Paddy Devlin,
SDLP delegate at Sunningdale, speaking in 1975.
The only way to persuade the IRA to end its
campaign was to demonstrate to them the
existence of, not only of an alternative peaceful
strategy, but also of a coalition of forces sufficiently
powerful as to make this achievement a credible
possibility.
T04: Sinn Fein made a statement as early as 1983 that
made clear that some of its leaders were prepared to
consider an alternative to armed struggle.
All around me bombs and incendiaries destroyed
office blocks, hotels, theatres and shops, city
streets, and eventually whole town centres ... Lots
of people got shot. Roads were dosed. There were
army checkpoints and soldiers everywhere ... whole
towns were cordoned off at night by ‘security
gates’. ‘Civilian searchers’ checked your pockets
each time you went into a shop ... Yet, after a few
years, all this seemed quite unremarkable. I even
began to try to persuade friends and relatives from
outside Ireland to come over and visit. ‘It’s not that
bad,’ I would say ...’
T06: An ‘acceptable level of violence’?
Jeffrey Glenn, a Protestant from the Belfast suburbs, described
getting used to living with the Trouble.
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Mr Adams would have to repent from his evil ways.
I am here tonight by the grace of God, a sinner
saved by grace
April 14 1994, response during a conference in New York as to
whether he would shake Adams’s hand.
I will never sit down with Gerry Adams ... He’d sit
with anyone. He’d sit down with the devil. In fact,
Adams does sit down with the devil.
Independent, February 13 1997
Catholics don’t want a share in the government of
Northern Ireland. They want Northern Ireland to be
destroyed, and to have a united Ireland. Even if
they were to join a government it’s only until such
time as they can destroy the government and the
state.
T03: Ian Paisley. Paisley was one of the leading critics
of power-sharing. Later he explained why he disliked
the idea so much.
If we cannot arrest the IRA and disarm them they
are going to kill us. We have not only the right but
the duty to kill them before they kill me, my family
and others.
The ordinary Ulster man is not going to surrender
to the IRA or be betrayed into a united Ireland or
put his neck under the jackboot of Popery.
Ian Paisley, January 1982.
You either be killed by the IRA or kill them and I
want to see them dead. Something has to be done
to finish this trouble once and for all and the only
way to do this with the IRA is to kill them.
Gregory Campbell, Democratic Unionist Party Councillor, 1985.
T05: DUP leaders & rank and file agree on the IRA
1987 An IRA bomb kills eleven people and injures over 60 at a Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen.
A single loyalist gunman kills three mourners at an IRA activist’s funeral.
1988 Eight soldiers are killed by an IRA landmine.
1991 Loyalists kill 31 people in the course of the year, mostly innocent Catholics and usually as revenge for IRA
attacks.
1992 The UFF kill five Catholic civilians in an attack on a betting shop.
A huge IRA bomb in central London causes up to £1 billion worth of damage.
1993 The IRA kill two young boys in Warrington with a bomb placed in a rubbish bin.
An IRA bomb goes off prematurely in a Shankill fish shop. The bomber and nine innocent Protestant
civilians are killed.
Loyalist gunmen kill thirteen in revenge attacks for the Shankill bomb.

Eight died in Tyrone. The level of outrage rises so
high. Still they refuse to come to the table. What if
50 died, or 150? What then? Do Paisley and Hume,
the whole damn lot of them have a body count in
their heads above which they will definitely begin
to move heaven and earth to do something about
it. Pick a number lads. Any number.
T07: Outrage at growing violence
Emily O’Reilly, 1992, a local journalist, expressing a common
sense that it was time for the politicians to become more
active in looking for a settlement, after eight Protestant
workmen were killed by an IRA bomb on 17 January 1992.
Their ‘crime’ was to carry out work for the security forces.
More lives may have been lost in the 1970s, but
nearly all who lived through those times they never
felt as helpless or as frightened as they do today.
Frightened because of the increasing savagery of
the sectarian attacks; and helpless, because there
seems no prospect of a settlement. The most
terrifying development of the last year or so has
been the sharp rise in atrocities carried out by
Loyalist paramilitary groupings. Loyalists are now
able to manufacture bombs and are able to carry
out assassinations with apparent impunity. They
have now killed six people in two days.
The ferocity of the UFF campaign of sectarian killing put
pressure on both Sinn Fein and the SDLP. By early 1993
innocent Catholics were being regularly killed by Loyalist
assassins. The Nationalist newspaper, the Irish News,
described the Catholic mood in March 1993.

Recognising the potential of the current situation
and in order to enhance the democratic peace
process and underline our commitment to its
success, the leadership of the Irish Republican
Army have decided that as of midnight, Wednesday
31 August, there will be complete cessation of
military operations. All our units have been
instructed accordingly.
T08: Paramilitary ceasefires, 1994
IRA statement announcing a ceasefire, 31 August 1994.
The loyalist paramilitaries achieved something
which perhaps the security forces could never have
achieved ... [in contributing] ... to the IRA finally
accepting that they couldn’t win.... Indeed in the
year before the ceasefire by the IRA the loyalist
paramilitaries had killed more people that year than
the IRA .... this got a message over to IRA that no
longer were they going to be the one and only
terrorist organisation.... Paramilitary killings are not
going to win the day in Northern Ireland.
David Ervine of the UVF, explaining the thinking behind the
Loyalist paramilitary cease-fire, 31 September 1994, a month
after the IRA ceasefire.

I’m prepared as a Republican to settle. My hopes

are for the unification of this country, but I have to
accept in the long run that it’s not going to happen.
The Brits are not going to sail away in the sunlight.
Go back to war? What are we going to do? It would
only cause more misery, more suffering and mostly
to our own people and to ourselves.
T09: Former IRA activist Gabriel Megahy, interviewed
on BBC television in 1998.

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First time they wanted me to leave the country, I
was only 13. They took me away for six hours and
burnt me with fags. They struck me with a
soldering iron bar and made me kneel down for six
hours and battered the back of me with a bat,
while I had a hood over my head. They were
threatening to take me and shoot me dead, and
bury me ... The people that done this to me are
definitely scumbags.
T10: Punishment beatings
In the 1990s, a young Catholic living in Deny was repeatedly
subjected to IRA ‘punishment beatings’ because of his
involvement in petty crime.
The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann has formally
ordered an end to the armed campaign.
• This will take effect from 4pm this afternoon.
• All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms.
• All volunteers have been instructed to assist the
development of purely political and democratic
programmes through exclusively peaceful
means....
• We believe there is now an alternative way to
achieve this and to end British rule in our
country.
T11: Decommissioning
IRA announces decommissioning and the end of the ‘armed
campaign, July 2005.
When we started reporting there had been one six
month period in which there had been nearly 90
casualties of shootings and over 80 of assaults.
There were other six month periods with between
60 and 70 victims of both shootings and assaults.
The number of casualties is now very much lower.
Compared with those in the peak six months (1
September 2003 to 29 February 2004), the number
of shooting casualties is now some 10% and the
number of assault casualties some 20%. In several
months on one side or other there have been no
casualties at all.
T12: Official optimism, 2007
Independent Monitoring Commission on Decommissioning,
reporting on the decrease in paramilitary activity April 2007.
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The paramilitaries kept their estates in order. If you
stood out of line you got busted. Now they’re taking a
back seat so I think there’ll be more crime now because
people will think they can get away with more than they
used to. (Protestant, South/East Belfast)
In my community people’s cars were ruined and
seemingly some young person did itbut nobody saw it
happen. I feel that wouldn’t have happened had they
been afraid of the paramilitaries. (Catholic, Cookstown)
Before the ceasefire paramilitaries had a tight grip on
the town and things wouldn’t have been allowed.
(Catholic, Derry)
Arguments for punishment beatings, 2006.
Following a direct engagement with all the units
and departments of our organisation, the today
make public the outcome of our three year
consultation process.
• All recruitment has ceased; military training has
ceased; targeting has ceased and all intelligence
rendered obsolete; all active service units have
been de-activated; all ordinance has been put
beyond reach and the IICD instructed
accordingly....
• All volunteers are further encouraged to show support
for credible restorative justice projects so that they,
with their respective communities, may help to
eradicate criminality and anti-social behaviour in our
society.
Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando announces
the end of military activity, 3 May 2007.
In the run up to the 12th July we carefully
considered more than 50 contentious parades.
Commissioners attended parades right across
Northern Ireland last week and we are pleased that
we have now come through another 12th July
which was generally peaceful....
In contentious areas where local agreements were
not secured, parades and protests were
successfully managed in a way which ensured that
peace was maintained on the streets. This was vital
and the Commission acknowledges the continuing
efforts of politicians, community representatives,
the PSNI and all those involved in parading issues.
Parades Commission welcomes peaceful July parades, 19 July
2007.
Alternative visual sources
These alternative visual sources are included, so that the emphasis of the topics can be altered to suit a
particular line of enquiry and students’ abilities.

We are going to be delivered, bound and

trussed like a turkey ready for the oven,
from one nation to another.
James Molyneaux, leader of the Ulster
Unionist Party

This deal does not go anywhere near

bringing peace to this part of Ireland. On
the contrary it reinforces partition because
Dublin is recognising Northern Ireland.
Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein

P05: Alternative:
Opposing the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave the Irish Republic a role in Northern Ireland.
After the Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed, posters saying ‘Mrs Thatcher is a Traitor’ appeared in loyalist areas and effigies
were displayed, including this one with an effigy of Thatcher. The other effigy is of Peter Barry, the Republic’s foreign minister.

P07: Alternative
Catholic fear at an Orange parade.
Panic and fear spread among Catholic protestors as the RUC
make a baton charge to clear the road so that the Orangemen
can take part in their traditional march, Portadown, 1996.

P11: Alternative
A poster published by hardline Republicans attacking
the Good Friday Agreement, 1998.
The poster shows Mo Mowlam, Gerry Adams and Martin
McGuinness. 'Gerry and the Peacemakers' is a pun on the
1960s pop band Gerry and the Pacemakers. The sellout tour
is an ironic reference to this `band' who have not sold out
their tour in terms of tickets, but have allegedly sold out their
supporters and friends.

Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 23

Resources for lesson 3

Lesson 3: Evaluation: where do we go from here?

In groups,
1. Make a mindmap: Why are Protestants & Catholics willing to share power?
2. Using the two starter statements on paramilitary activity and the attitudes of north Belfast
schoolboys and girls, consider the question ‘How peaceful is Northern Ireland today?’.
3. Where does Northern Ireland go from here - internal and external factors?
4. How far do we, in Britain, have a part to play in the future of Northern Ireland?
Plenary
What & how have we learned?

Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 24

Independent Monitoring Commission: 15th report, April 2007
Lesson 3, activity 2

Our conclusions [on the whole six months from 1 September 2006 to 28 February 2007] are:
- There were no paramilitary murders;
- Overall, the number of casualties of both shootings and assaults for all groups combined has again fallen
significantly. Compared with the preceding six month period it has fallen from 46 to 28-39%. Compared
with the same six month period in 2005-06 it has fallen from 64 to 28-56%. As when we reported six
months ago, the combined figure is by a long margin the lowest for any such period on which we have
reported ...

3.3 Over the period from 1 March 2003 to 28 February 2007 we believe that the number of paramilitary murders
was as follows:

1 Sept 06 - 1 Mar - 1 Sept 05 - 1 Mar - 1 Sept 04 - 1 Mar - 1 Sept 03 - 1 Mar -

28 Feb 07 31 Aug 06 28 Feb 06 31 Aug 05 28 Feb 05 31 Aug 04 29 Feb 04 31 Aug 03
CIRA*
INLA
LVF 1
PIRA
RIRA 1
UDA 2 1 1 1 1
UVF 4 2 2
Not 1 2
attributable
TOTAL 0 0 2 5 1 3 2 5
* Continuity Irish Republican Army

3.5 The number of casualties of paramilitary shootings and assaults from 1 March 2003 to 28 February 2007 was
as follows:

Shooting casualties
Responsible 1 Sept 06 - 1 Mar - 1 Sept 05 - 1 Mar - 1 Sept 04 - 1 Mar - 1 Sept 03 - 1 Mar -
group 28 Feb 07 31 Aug 06 28 Feb 06 31 Aug 05 28 Feb 05 31 Aug 04 29 Feb 04 31 Aug 03
Loyalist 2 14 36 36 37 39 69 34
Republican 8 4 2 4 7 11 19 35
Total 10 18 38 40 44 50 88 69

Assault casualties
Responsible 1 Sept 06 - 1 Mar - 1 Sept 05 - 1 Mar - 1 Sept 04 - 1 Mar - 1 Sept 03 - 1 Mar -
group 28 Feb 07 31 Aug 06 28 Feb 06 31 Aug 05 28 Feb 05 31 Aug 04 29 Feb 04 31 Aug 03
Loyalist 13 19 20 39 29 42 57 46
Republican 5 9 6 16 25 18 26 24
Total 18 28 26 55 54 60 83 70

3.6 The sharp decline in the number of casualties of loyalist shootings has continued over the six months under
review, with no shooting casualties since September 2006. This is by far the lowest level since the period 1
March to 31 August 2003, the first such we recorded. The number of casualties of republican shootings has
doubled, from 4 to 8, though the overall trend remains downwards. None of the republican shootings were
undertaken by PIRA.

3.7 The number of casualties of assaults is also at its lowest since the six months starting 1 March 2003. This is the
case for the total (which is some two thirds of the six months ending 31 August 2006), for casualties of loyalists
(also some two thirds of that period), and for those of republicans (just over half). PIRA was not responsible
for any of these incidents.

Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 25

Trouble in store: sectarianism among the young?
1. Catholic schoolboys from north Belfast
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/learning/eyewitness/se
ctarian/voices/cathsch.shtml
We have a lot of culture, Irish culture. I think that
the main thing that has to happen is the Protestants
are going to have to accept that they’re Irish as
well. We’re not the only Irish people, they’re Irish,
they were born in Ireland. It might be called
Northern Ireland, it might be part of the British
state, but it’s still Ireland no matter what they say.
Yes, they may find it easier to come and join their
culture - as it is their culture as well. But why would
we go in to learn their culture when it’s very
sectarian bigotry? Their culture is about the
paramilitaries - I find that no interest to me, like.
BBC Reporter: Ok, so your reflections on culture and
identity?
Well, the Protestant culture is our culture. The
Protestants are Irish even though they don’t like to
admit it, so basically we are their culture. So I would
say that it would be more important for them to
learn about the Irish culture, than what it would be
for us to learn about the Protestant culture.
BBC Reporter: Do you sometimes feel that you’d like
to go in and learn about how to play the Lambeg
drum, or to play some of those traditional Orange
tunes on a flute?
Not really, no. It just doesn’t interest me; I’d rather
stick to the Irish culture, which is our culture.
BBC Reporter: And do you think by doing that,
you’re being sectarian?
No. I just feel that, seeing as I am Irish, I would find
no point in going and trying to learn about other
cultures that have nothing to do with me, if I’ve no
interest in them.
Well I think the Protestant culture is just a rogue
culture itself - if it’s not an English culture and it’s
not an Irish culture, what is it, do you know what I
mean? The Protestant culture are Irish, right - they
are the island of Ireland, that means they’re Irish.
They don’t accept that - they think they’re British,
but they’re not British, do you know what I mean?
Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 26
Lesson 3, activity 2
BBC Reporter: Would you like to learn a little bit
about their culture, what makes them tick?
No, I’m happy enough with my culture, ‘cos I like
learning Irish and all the Irish songs and that there.
I’m not really interested in Orange, any Orange
songs or Protestant songs, you know what I mean?
There’s nothing really to do in their culture, there’s
only their marches and their bigotry, where there’s
Irish dancing and Irish music and all in our culture.
2. Protestant schoolgirls and boys from
north Belfast
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/learning/eyewitness/se
ctarian/voices/protsch.shtml
BBC Reporter: And what about the notion that
Catholics get more than Protestants do? Do you feel
that Catholics do better?
Well Catholics get more money from the bru, so
they do, for doing nothing - they just sit there and
don’t even work. We have to go out to work to earn
our money. Them ones earn the same money, like,
sitting in the house as what we do working.
BBC Reporter: Do you see yourself as being different
from Catholics?
I don’t see myself as being different, but the way
we’re treated we’re different because, like, them
ones are getting new houses - we aren’t. If we want
a good house we’ve to buy our house, but, whereas
them ones are getting that house for nothing.
Aye, ‘cos they breed like rats, that’s why.
Aye, they do. That’s why they get better housing.
BBC Reporter: Do you feel that Catholic families
have more children than Protestant families?
Yes, because the Catholic Church doesn’t allow you
to use contraceptions and the Protestant church
does, so obviously they’re going to have more
children than Protestants.
Continued ...
BBC Reporter: And do you feel threatened by that?
Yes, because in, say 15 or 20 years, there’s going to
be, say, under 6000 Catholics and, there’s only
going to be, maybe 5000 Protestants.
BBC Reporter: And why should that affect you?
Because sooner or later the Catholic race is just
going to outbreed the Protestant race, and then
we’ll all be forced to live the Catholic way.
BBC Reporter: How would that affect you as a
Protestant girl?
Well, I wouldn’t be able to believe in what I wanted
til believe in anymore. I’d be made to believe what
them ones wanted me to believe.
BBC Reporter: So, as a Protestant, for example, how
do you feel that your Protestant faith would be
threatened by an increase in the Catholic
population?

BBC Reporter: And if there are more Catholics, do
you feel that will affect your identity as a Protestant?
Yes, I do, because then the Twelfth of July marches,
the Garvaghy Road and all the Orange Order
marches aren’t going to be allowed to happen ‘cos
they’re just going to take over Northern Ireland and
going to be outnumbered.
Yes, Catholics do outbreed Protestants for the
simple fact being that they’re getting more money
because they’re having more kids and better houses
and all.
Because you wouldn’t be able to go til your marches
or nothing anymore, because they’d stop all the
marches and all so they would, and they’d knock
down all the Protestant churches as well.
BBC Reporter: Seriously? You don’t think they’re
going to knock down all the Protestant churches?
Yeah, because they only believe in one church, and
there’s like Presbyterian, Free Presbyterian and
Baptist and all, and them ones don’t believe in that.

BBC Reporter: The fact that the Catholic population

is growing, how does that affect you as a
Protestant?

Well, they’re going to wipe us out - it’s plain and

simple.

BBC Reporter: Is it as simple as that? Are they

actually going to wipe you out?

Yes, because they’re having more kids and more

kids and, like, we’re being sensible - we’re using
protection, we’re not running about with kids at like
fifteen and all, so we’re not. And they’re going to
end up just moving in til everywhere so they are.

Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 27

Plenary: What & how have we learned?
Lesson 3, plenary

Cards are provided for these tasks - see next page.

A.For the first three tasks, the title cards are to be removed.

1. Discuss some of the cards for meaning: eg, ‘classify’, ‘suggest a hypothesis’, ‘evaluate
information’.

2. Sort the cards into the following groups or categories:

! Types of thinking that you know you have done.
! Those that you have heard about but cannot remember doing.
! Those which are new to you.
! Feed back to the class about how and why you have grouped them this way

3. Turn over all of the cards. How many of them can you remember?

B.Introduce the remaining cards.

4. The cards in bold type are your new headings. Re-arrange all the cards into new categories
under these headings.

5. Did you find any of the cards difficult to place? If so, identify them, and explain why you
found them difficult.

6. Show a set of cards where you can easily describe and explain a connection between them.

Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 28

 Information – Creative thinking
Enquiry skills Evaluation skills Reasoning skills
processing skills skills

Compare and Ask relevant

Classify Test conclusions Sequence
contrast questions

Make judgements
Generate and Pose and define Plan what to do and decisions
Suggest hypotheses
extend ideas problems and how to search informed by
reasons or evidence

Use precise
Develop criteria for Judge the value of
Analyse part/whole Give reasons for your language
judging the value of what you read, hear
relationships opinions and actions to explain what you
your work and ideas and do
think

Have confidence in Draw inferences and Look for alternative Evaluate

Apply imagination
your judgements make deductions innovative outcomes information

Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 29

Notes for teachers
Collages Lesson 1

1.Politicians
The politicians featured are: Gerry Adams (President of Sinn Féin); Bertie Ahern (Irish Taoiseach); Tony Blair (then British Prime
Minster); Martin McGuinness (NI Deputy First Minister); and Ian Paisley (NI First Minister).

Then (centre panel, left collage) Now

Top left: Top: Paisley, McGuinness, Blair, Ahern at relaunch of
Adams in paramilitary guise, c.1969. NI Assembly at Stormont, 8 May 2007.
Bottom left: Centre right:
McGuinness at an IRA press conference, 1972. Guardian cartoon, 27 March 2007, on historic
Right: Paisley with a sledgehammer marked ‘Smash Adams-Paisley meeting, 26 March 2007.
Sinn Fein’, c. 1982. Bottom left:
Historic meeting between Paisley and Adams, 26
March, when they agreed to power-sharing and
the resumption of the NI Assembly on 8 May.
Bottom right:
Paisley and McGuinness laughing together at
resumption of the NI assembly, 8 May 2007.

2. Northern Ireland Executive & Assembly

Now
An extension of ‘Now’ in collage 1, showing:
Top: old enemies sharing power and
Bottom:
the assembly getting down to the routine of
government.

3. Police badges

Then (left) Now (right)

The badge of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The badge of the Northern Ireland Police Service, which
For nationalists and Catholics the symbols in the badge replaced the RUC in 2001 (right).
encapsulated Ireland’s subjection to England: The symbols have been carefully chosen and arranged
the imperial crown sitting above to represent equality.
the Irish symbols of The badge features the saltire of St Patrick, and six
• the harp and symbols representing different and shared traditions:
• the shamrock. - the Scales of Justice (representing equality and justice)
- the harp (a traditional Irish symbol but not the Brian Boru
harp used as official emblem in the Republic)
- a torch (representing enlightenment and a new beginning)
- an olive branch (a peace symbol from Ancient Greece)
- a shamrock (a traditional Irish symbol, used by St Patrick
to explain the Christian Trinity)
- a crown (a traditional symbol of monarchy but not the
Crown worn by or representing the British Sovereign).

4. South Armagh (‘Bandit country’)

This area was the most republican part of Northern Ireland in which the IRA and the British Army were constantly at war during
the ‘Troubles’.

Then Now (right)

Two iconic pictures:
Left: the defiant IRA emblem on a telegraphy pole
dominating the surrounding countryside; and
Bottom centre:
the heliport from which Army helicopters conducted
the battle with the IRA.
Top: Promoting tourism and tourist attractions in south
Armagh
Bottom:
A republican mural, 2007, saying goodbye to British
troops on the road to London. On 31 July 2007, the
Army had withdrawn from Northern Ireland,
including South Armagh after 38 years.
5. Children in Belfast
Then Now
Left: ‘Boy mourner’, April 1996. Right: Enjoying the Belfast Children’s Festival, 2006.
‘Loyalists shot dead his grandfather, Joe McCloskey,
at his home in the New Lodge area of north Belfast
(left). The young boy, also called Joseph, walks
ahead of the cortege. Who knows what goes
through children’s minds? At the wake, a friend of
his grandfather had said: “I wonder who’ll be next.”
He was shot a few days later by loyalists.’
Centre:
‘Bullet hole’, June 2002.
A family in the nationalist short Strand district of
Belfast were victims of a loyalist gun attack. This
child looked through the broken blin as the press
photographer took the picture.

6. Free Derry wall

Then (top) Now (bottom)
Left: The original stark statement declaring the The wall is being painted pink for the duration of the
Bogside ‘no go’ area, 1969 (top left). Gay Pride celebrations which were held in the city, 13-18
Right: August 2007. This represents a broadening of
More of a public monument and tourist perspective and a move away from the preoccupation
attraction than a gritty political statement, with nationalist struggles in Ireland and elsewhere.
1990s.

7. Londonderry’s parades & walls

Then (left) Now (right)
Top: A parade featuring 13 white crosses in memory Bottom:
of the 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators Part of Derry’s Annual Halloween Carnival,
shot dead on ‘Bloody Sunday’ dead, 30 January 2006.
1972 by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment. Top: Tourists enjoying a walk in the sun around the
Bottom: walls, 2006.
A forbidding aspect of Derry city walls at the
height of the Troubles with loyalist slogans and
a security watchtower.

Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 31

Notes for teachers
Attempts at peace
1. The Power-sharing Executive &
the Sunningdale Agreement, 1973-74
• A new Assembly was elected to govern Northern
Ireland.
• The main parties in the Assembly were represented
on a Power-Sharing Executive (a government which
would guarantee to share power between
nationalist and unionist communities).
• A Council for Ireland was set up which would link
Belfast, Dublin and London over issues of concern
to all of them.
(Details of this Council were worked out between
the Northern Ireland parties and the British and
Irish governments in the Sunningdale Agreement of
December 1973.)
This was agreed between Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
and Irish Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald.
No power-sharing.
All-Ireland dimension.
Supported by SDLP but opposed by all unionist/loyalist parties,
including Ian Paisley and the DUP, and the IRA/Sinn Fein,
including Gerry Adams.
Inter-governmental council operated until 1998.
3. The Good Friday Agreement, 10 April 1998
• A new Northern Ireland Assembly with 108
members would be set up. All key decisions would
require the consent of both communities in the
province.
• A North-South Council of Ministers would also be
set up, made up of members of the new Assembly
and ministers from the Republic.
• The Irish government would remove Articles 2 and
3 of its constitution, which claimed the North as
part of its territory (subject to a referendum of the
people of the Republic).
• There would be a review of policing in Northern
Ireland.
• Early release for paramilitary prisoners was
promised.
Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 32
This was proposed by Northern Ireland Secretary William
Whitelaw in consultation with the main Northern Ireland
parties.
Power-sharing executive & assembly.
All-Ireland dimension.
Executive set up on 1 January 1974, led by Brian Faulkner, the
former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and Gerry Fitt of the
SDLP.
Collapsed May 1974 in face of unionist opposition coalition,
including the Ulster Unionist Party, Ian Paisley’s DUP, and a
strike by Protestant workers.
2. The Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985
• It set up an Intergovernmental Conference: the
Northern Ireland Secretary and Irish Foreign
Minister would meet regularly.
• There would be cross-border co-operation on
security, legal and political issues.
• The Agreement set up its own civil service with staff
from both sides of the border.
• The British government accepted that there might
one day be a united Ireland, but only with the
consent of the majority in Northern Ireland.
• The Irish government accepted the existence of
Partition, and also the principle of consent.
This was agreed between the Irish and British governments
and the main political parties of Northern Ireland, except the
DUP. John Hume and David Trimble were awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize for their role.
Power-sharing executive & assembly.
Extensive reforms, including the police, & safeguards.
All-Ireland dimension.
Approved by large majorities referenda, north & south.
The new power-sharing Executive was set up on 2 December
1999, headed the First Minister David Trimble of th Ulster
Unionist Party with Seamus Mallon of the SDLP as his deputy.
The new regime struggled to get off the ground.
Disagreements over weapons, the police and parades, meant
that the Assembly was suspended more often than not.
Discussions in 2006 and new elections in 2007 resulted in the
re-establishment of the Executive and Assembly, 8 May 2007,
led by the old arch-enemies, the DUP (Ian Paisley, First
Minister and Sin Féin (Gerry Adams & Martin McGuinness, as
deputy First Minister).
Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 33
Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 34
Notes for teachers
Timeline
1603 The defeat of an Irish revolt opens the way for Protestant settlement in Ulster.
1 July 1691 Protestant William III defeats Catholic James H at the Battle of the Boyne.
1801 The Act of Union creates the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1845-50 Over a million Irish people die in the Great Famine.
24-29 April 1916
British army crushes Easter 1916 Uprising in Dublin, intended to create an Irish republic.
1919 Sinn Fein MPs form an Irish parliament, the Dail Eireann; the IRA begins a military campaign to
end British rule.
Dec. 1920 Britain passes Government of Ireland Act to set up a parliament in Belfast to run the six counties.
Dec. 1921 The Anglo-Irish Treaty creates an Irish Free State controlling all of Ireland except the six counties.
1949 Ireland is declared a Republic and leaves the British Commonwealth.
1951 Ian Paisley founds Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster
1956 The IRA launches a ‘border campaign’ against British and Protestant rule in Northern Ireland; it
ends in failure in 1962.
5 Oct. 1968 Police clash with civil rights marchers in Londonderry.
4 Jan. 1969 A People’s Democracy march is attacked by Protestants at Burntollet Bridge, outside Derry.
12-15 Aug. 1969
After violent clashes spread from Derry to Belfast, the British army is sent in to restore order.
Sept 1969 Provisional IRA emerges.
April 1970 Social Democratic & Labour Party founded.
6 Feb. 1971 For the first time a British soldier is killed by the Provisional IRA.
9 Aug. 1971 Internment is introduced in Northern Ireland
Sept. 1971 Ian Paisley established the Democratic Unionist Party.
30 Jan. 1972 ‘Bloody Sunday’ 14 people killed as British soldiers open fire after a demonstration in Londonderry.
24 Mar. 1972 Britain imposes ‘direct rule’ on Northern Ireland, suspending the parliament at Stormont.
21 July 1972 On ‘Bloody Friday’ in Belfast, 9 people are killed and 130 injured by Provisional IRA bombs.
1 January 1974 Power-sharing Executive established under the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement.
May 1974 A strike by Protestant workers forces the British government to abandon plans for a power sharing
executive in Northern Ireland; Protestant bombings kill 33 people in southern Ireland.
24 Nov. 1974 IRA bombings of two pubs in Birmingham kill 19 people.
Feb.-Nov. 1975-6
The IRA maintains a ceasefire; internment ends.
1976 Peace campaigners Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
27 Aug. 1979 In two separate attacks, the IRA murder Earl Mountbatten and 3 other people in Sligo, and kill 19
British soldiers at Warrenpoint.
5 May 1981 IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands dies in the Maze prison.
1983 Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is elected MP for West Belfast.
12 Oct. 1984 The IRA bombs the Grand Hotel, Brighton, during the Conservative Party conference, narrowly
failing to kill Prime Minister Thatcher.
Nov. 1985 In the Anglo-Irish agreement, Britain recognizes that Dublin government has legitimate interest
in the affairs of Northern Ireland.
31 Aug. 1994 IRA declares a ceasefire. It ends with bombing of Canary Wharf, London, on 9 February 1996.
31 Sept. 1994 Loyalist paramilitaries declare a ceasefire.
May 1996 An all-party forum is elected to negotiate a Northern Ireland settlement.
July 1997 The IRA announces new ceasefire.
10 April 1998 A peace agreement provides for a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland which will include
Sinn Fein.
15 Aug. 1998 A ‘Real IRA’ car bomb kills 29 people in Omagh.
Dec. 1998 SDLP leader John Hume and Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble are jointly awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize.
2 Dec. 1999 A power-sharing executive and assembly are finally set up in Northern Ireland.
Nov. 2001 Northern Ireland Police Service replaces the RUC.
2002 Power-sharing executive and assembly suspended.
28 July 2005 IRA end their armed struggle.
28 Jan. 2007 Sinn Féin agree to support the new police force and the criminal justice system.
3 May 2007 Ulster Volunteer Force declares an end to military action.
8 May 2007 Power-sharing restored with Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party) and first minister and Martin
McGuinness as his deputy.
31 July 2007 British Army withdraws from Northern Ireland after 38 years.

Blackpool, Classification - peace in NI?, 35