Anglo-Irish Agreement 1985

• Leaving Cert History

• Case Study

• Northern Ireland 1949-1973

Background• Sinn Fein began making electoral gains after

the hunger strikes• UK and Irish governments worried that Sinn

Fein would steal votes away from the SDLP• Irish government establish the New Ireland

Forum to discuss possible solutions to the conflict

Background• The UK government, Unionist parties and

Sinn Fein all boycotted the New Ireland Forum

• The New Ireland Forum suggested 3 possible solutions –– (a) a united Ireland – (b) a confederation of Northern Ireland and the

Republic – (c) joint authority over Northern Ireland.

• Response from UK government

• Maggie Thatcher saidI have made it quite clear ... that a unified Ireland was one solution that is out. A second solution was confederation of two states. That is out. A third solution was joint authority. That is out. That is a derogation from sovereignty. We made that quite clear when the Report was published. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. She is part of the United Kingdom because that is the wish of the majority of her citizens. The majority wish to stay

part of the United Kingdom.• Became known as the ‘out, out, out’ speech.

Background

articlestory

• 12 October 1984 IRA blow up Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Tory party conference

• 5 killed – Thatcher escapes injury

IRA assassination attempt

Anglo-Irish Agreement• UK and Irish governments begin

talks• Anglo-Irish Agreement finalised on

15 November 1985

Anglo-Irish Agreement• 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.

Reaction to Agreement• Among Unionists – uproar, shock, a sense

of betrayal• The Ulster Unionist leader, James

Molyneaux, said that Northern Ireland was being delivered "from one nation to another".

• SDLP supported the agreement• Sinn Fein was against it because the Irish

government was recognising Northern Ireland's existence.

Opposition in Northern Ireland

• Mass rallies organised by Unionists

Unionist MPs resign• As a protest, all the Unionist MPs resigned,

forcing by-elections all over Northern Ireland. • Although the Unionist vote went up, they lost

the constituency of Newry and Armagh to the SDLP.

Ongoing Paramilitary campaign

• IRA and Loyalist attacks continue• Almost 300 murders between 1984 and

1987 inclusive.• One of the worst massacres was on 6

November 1987 when the IRA detonated a bomb at the war memorial in Enniskillen

• Crowds of civilians gathered to watch a Remembrance Day parade.

• One building collapsed onto the crowd, killing 11 people and injuring many more.

Protests end

• By 1986 protests fizzle out• Agreement remains in place• UUP and DUP ended their boycott of

the UK government in September 1987 in order to have talks about the possibility of having new peace talks.

• New talks in 1991 fail to progress

• Presentation prepared by:• Dominic Haugh• St. Particks Comprehensive School• Shannon• Co. Clare

• Presentation can be used for educational purposes only – all rights remain with author