Devolution in Northern Ireland

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Devolution in Northern Ireland

• The troubled path to power sharing

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The Six Counties of Ulster which make up Northern
Ireland.
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Key terms

• Nationalist ( the Catholic community which
  favoured union with the Republic of Ireland to
  the south)
• Loyalist ( the Protestant community which wished
  to remain loyal to the United Kingdom)
• Unionist (same as above wished to maintain the
  union with the rest of the UK)
• Para-military terrorist groups such as the
  Nationalist IRA and Loyalist UDA, UFF and UDF.

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1972 Bloody Sunday
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1984- The Brighton Bomb
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A troubled history

• Since 1969 the province of Northern Ireland
  suffered a sustained terrorist campaign which
  lasted almost 30 years.
• The Catholic nationalist community fought against
  discrimination in jobs and housing from the
  Protestant loyalist community.
• The IRA killed hundreds of British soldiers and
  policemen and dozens of civilians with bombs and
  shootings.
• The UDA and UDF killed Catholics in revenge for
  IRA attacks.
• Whilst terrorism remained a feature of Northern
  Irish politics there was no chance of devolution.
  The government in London maintained direct rule
  through the Secretary of State for Northern
  Ireland.

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The peace process

• The IRA called a ceasefire in 1993
• John Majors government attempted to bring all
  sides together in peace talks to secure a lasting
  political settlement.
• Tony Blair continued this process, achieving a
  breakthrough in 1998 with the Good Friday
  Agreement

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The four main parties
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Sinn Feins new respectability
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Sinn Fein is now the largest Nationalist Party in
the NI Assembly. It still officially promotes a
United Ireland. It was for years the political
wing of the IRA.
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The Good Friday Agreement

• All sides agreed in 1998 to the following peace
  deal
• A Northern elected assembly of 108 members
• A Northern Ireland power-sharing executive
  (government) consisting of a First Minister,
  Deputy Minister and ten other ministers

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Stormont Castle, Home of the NI Assembly
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Implementation

• The Good Friday Agreement was put to a referendum
  in May 1998 to the people of N.Ireland 71
  voted yes.
• The people of the Irish Republic voted yes in a
  separate referendum. The Irish Government also
  formally gave up any territorial claim on
  N.Ireland.

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Devolution stalled

• Since 1998 the Good Friday Agreement has still
  not been fully implemented.
• The issue of de-commissioning of all terrorist
  weapons has taken years to be accepted by all
  sides. The Unionist parties would not share power
  with Sinn Fein until all weapons had been
  surrendered. The issue was not finally resolved
  until 2006. The IRA said it had disbanded and
  given up all weapons.
• The acceptance of Sinn Fein and the IRA of the
  new Police Service of Northern Ireland was
  another sticking-point not resolved until March
  2007.
• Several attempts to start the power-sharing
  government broke down and the UK government had
  to re-impose direct rule from London. The
  Assembly was suspended in 2002.

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Policing the sticking point.
The change of name has not convinced many
Catholics that the NSPI will be impartial and
fair. Until all sides support the police there
can be no power-sharing.
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Reverand Ian Paisley
Forthright and stubborn the DUP Leader Ian
Paisley is set to become the First Minister in
the Power-Sharing Government after his party won
the largest number of seats in the March 2007
elections. Sinn Fein came second.