The Troubles: The Main Events

1. Good Friday Agreement (1998)

2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. This agreement brought lasting peace to Northern Ireland after a 30-year period of violence known as the Troubles.

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2. Beginning of the Troubles (1968-1969)

• The Troubles kicked off towards the end of the 1960s. On 5 October 1968, a civil rights march in Derry was stopped by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
• The RUC used batons and water cannon to disperse the marchers, and television news beamed pictures of the RUC attacks across the world.
• Things got worse during 1969 with the Battle of the Bogside when rioting broke out following an Apprentice Boys march in Derry. By the end of 1969, 30,000 Northern nationalists had fled to the Republic. The British army was then sent to Northern Ireland.

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3. Internment and Bloody Sunday (1971-1972)

• Brian Faulkner, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, introduced internment. '
• On 9 August 1971, 342 people were sent to Maze Prison.
• Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972: 13 civilian demonstrators were shot by British troops, and another died of his wounds. Demonstrations erupted in the Republic of Ireland, and a mob burned the British embassy in Dublin.

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4. Direct Rule and Power-Sharing Attempts (1972-1973)

• In March 1972, the Northern Ireland Parliament was suspended, and direct rule was introduced. The Secretary of State was introduced, and William Whitelaw took this position.
• Power-sharing was seen as the way forward.
• The Sunningdale Agreement in 1973 restored power to Stormont, with power shared between the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP, and the Council of Ireland was set up.
• However, the Ulster Workers' Council general strike forced power-sharing to collapse.

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5. Violence and Abandonment of Internment (1974-1975)

• In 1974, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings were carried out by the UVF, killing 33 people and injuring 300 more.
• In 1975, internment was abandoned to help ease violence.

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6. High-Profile Assassinations (Late 1970s)

• Towards the end of the 1970s, there were a number of high-profile assassinations, such as Christopher Ewart-Biggs and Lord Mountbatten.

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7. Hunger Strikes and IRA Attacks (1981-1984)

• In 1981, the Hunger-Strike Crisis began.
• H-Block prisoners went on hunger strike, protesting their prisoner status.
• Bobby Sands (MP), Kieran Doherty (TD), and eight others died.
• In 1984, the IRA planted a bomb at the Conservative Party Conference, killing four.

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8. Anglo-Irish Agreement and Continued Violence (1985-1987)

• In 1985, the Anglo-Irish (Hillsborough) Agreement stated that any change in the status of Northern Ireland would only come about with the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland.
• In 1987, 11 people were killed during a Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen.

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9. Downing Street Declaration (1993)

• The Downing Street Declaration of 1993 reaffirmed that a united Ireland could only come about with a majority consent within Northern Ireland.

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10. Good Friday Agreement and Subsequent Events (1998-2007)

• The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 stipulated an IRA ceasefire, the creation of an elected Assembly in Northern Ireland, and cross-border bodies that would encourage cooperation between North and South.
• In August 1998, the Real IRA, who were opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, set off a bomb, killing 29 and injuring over 200.
• In 2007, Ian Paisley became the First Minister of Northern Ireland, and Martin McGuinness became Deputy First Minister.

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