Topic 5, Lesson 8: How did John Major advance peace in Northern Ireland?

Topic 7, Lesson 8: How did John Major advance peace in Northern Ireland?

The Bombing of Mainland Britain

1991: The Mortar attack on Downing Street (Major had only been in office for 2 months)

1993: The Warrington Bombing (boy of three and one of twelve-years-old were killed)

1993: The Bishops Gate Bombing in the City of London (caused over a billions pounds worth of damage)

Consequences of Mainland Bombing:

Anger amongst ordinary people

Led to large peace rallies in London, Belfast and Dublin

IRA became aware that public opinion was turning against them

IRA put out a disclaimer saying that the deaths had not been intended

Topic 7, Lesson 8: How did John Major advance peace in Northern Ireland?

Secret Backchannel Communications

From 1993, the British government had recieved secret messages hinting that Sinn Fein was ready to discuss a peace agreement

Unionists were still fearful of being ‘sold out by the British’

On the Republican side there was deep-rooted hostility to the British

Helped negotiations that a Conservative PM was in Britain

Major had a good relationship with Irish Prime Minister, Albert Reynolds

American President, Bill Clinton encouraged Sinn Fein away from armed struggle

Topic 7, Lesson 8: How did John Major advance peace in Northern Ireland?

The Downing Street Declaration (Causes)

The Downing Street Declaration (1994)

The British government’s sole concern in Northern Ireland was to accept the democratically expressed wishes of the people there

British government also accepted that it was “for the people of the island of Ireland alone to bring about a united Ireland if that is their wish”

Topic 7, Lesson 8: How did John Major advance peace in Northern Ireland?

The Downing Street Declaration (Consequences)

The 1994 Ceasfire

In 1994, the IRA announced a ceasfire

Loyalist paramilitaries matched this with a ceasfire of their own

Strong sense of war weariness on both sides

A former IRA gunman, Eamon Collins, wrote in his memoirs in 1997 “I like to think that both sides look down into a Bosnia-style abyss, gulped and then stepped back”

The IRA got impatient and went back to violent methods between 1996 and 1998

1996: Bombing in centre of Manchester

The Mitchell Report (1996)

Laid down a set of principles on which a peace process might be developed. The major ones were:

• The total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations and the rejection of force

• The agreement of all parties concerned to accept as binding any agreement reached in an all-party negotiation