UNIT 10: Downing Street Declaration 1993 Flashcards
Describe the Hume-Adams initiative:
-Unlike all other governments and parties, SDLP leader Hume believed that much could be gained by talking to republicans.
-In early 1988, he began secret talks with Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams.
-They lasted 8 months, ending in August 1988.
-Talks remained secret until April 1993 when they were revealed by the Sunday Tribune Newspaper.
-The talks were severely criticised by other politicians, even within the SDLP (eg MP Eddie McGrady and Deputy Leader Seamus Mallon)
-1992: SF published ‘Towards a Lasting Peace’ (expand on this and GB gov’s response if needed)
Describe the SF document ‘Towards a Lasting Peace’:
-Published in 1992
-Reduced emphasis on the armed struggle and instead spoke of self-determination (decreasing violence and letting the public decide)
-Believed it was GB gov’s responsibility to persuade unionists that their interests would be best served with a united Ireland.
-Wanted all Irish nationalist parties to cooperate to achieve constitutional change (legal change) in Ireland to reduce the unionist majority and GB would be prepared to deal with the Republican movement.
Describe the GB government’s reaction to the Hume-Adams initiative:
-Secretary of State (Peter Brooke) suggested that if the PIRA called a ceasefire that the GB gov would react in an imaginative manner (1989) and stated that the GB gov had no “selfish strategic or economic interest” in remaining in NI (1990)
-Brooke also approved the establishment of their Back Channel- a private line of communication between republican leadership and the GB gov
-The fact both sides were prepared to talk indicated that new thinking was emerging.
-Brooke also attempted starting discussions with the main parties about political solution. Though unionist involvement was determined on the Anglo-Irish Agreement so the Intergovernmental Conference element was temporarily suspended to allow talks to begin.
-Expand where necessary
What did Brooke’s discussions on settlement of NI lead to?
-Agreed on 3 strands (inter community relations, North-South cooperation and intergovernmental negotiations)
-Final agreement would only be recognised when consensus was reached in each of these areas.
-Though by the middle of 1991 discussions collapsed over the agreement of a timetable for each strand and over the issue of who would chair North-South cooperation element.
-GB general election 1992 saw Brooke replace by Mayhew
-Also reduction in SF’s share of the vote and Adams lost his West Belfast seat to the SDLP’s Joe Hendon
-Mayhew tried to start talks again but they collapsed within a few months
Describe the second set of talks between Hume and Adam’s:
• April 1993 issued a joint statement reaffirming their intention of achieving
self-determination for Ireland.
• In a draft document SF was prepared to acknowledge the necessity of unionist
consent with regard to the future constitutional development of NI.
• But GB and Irish governments found it difficult to accept it as a basis for peace
given Gerry Adams involvement in it.
• They instead jointly drew up their own document Dec 1993 – the Downing
Street Declaration – their approach to the removal of conflict.
Describe the 1993 Downing Street Declaration:
-Signed in December 1993
• This was agreed between PM John Major and the Taoiseach Albert
Reynolds.
• Talks were to be set up to decide on a new form of government for NI.
• The new NI government would respect all traditions in NI.
• Only parties which rejected violence would be allowed any say in the talks.
• The GB government said it had no selfish political or economic interest in NI but was only concerned with the welfare of the people of NI.
• The GB government accepted that Irish unity was an issue for Irish people, but
said it could only happen with the consent of those in the North.
• The Irish government accepted the principle of consent for Irish unity.
• The Irish government also accepted that it might have to drop the parts of its
constitution which claimed the North as part of its territory.
• The Irish government would set up a Forum for Peace and Reconciliation to
promote trust and understanding between the traditions. Only those who
rejected violence could be part of this.
Describe the responses to the 1993 Downing Street Declaration:
• GB government accepted that the desire to see a united Ireland was a
legitimate aspiration to hold.
• SF glad to see that GB was accepting the concept of self-determination but
unionists could still veto over its exercise.
• Different unionist parties were equally cautious.
• UUP comforted that GB had reaffirmed that they still had sovereignty/control
over NI and did not contemplate sharing this with Dublin but less happy with
what they termed the Declaration’s ‘green tinge’.
• Similar reaction form DUP but argued it was yet another step towards a united
Ireland.
-Unionists were concerned at the vague nature of the Republic’s pledges to change its constitution.
-Argued that the language used would permit Dublin to decline to the change of the constitution if it was dissatisfied with the ‘overall settlement’
-Argued that if the ROI was satisfied it would be an indication that its long-standing constitutional claim over NI had been achieved.
Describe the significance of the 1993 Downing Street Declaration:
The Declaration might not have been the political answer that the PIRA was looking for however after further clarification about the document from the Irish government it enabled the Republican movement to use the document as a basis for its ‘complete cessation of military operations’ as of 31 Aug 1994.
Describe the 1994 Republican ceasefire:
• PIRA warned that SF would have to be fully included in any talks process.
• GB government wanted to hear the PIRA use the word ‘permanent’ in
connection with its cessation and added it would require a period of time to test
the Republican movements actions rather than words.
• SF argued that the silence of the PIRA weapons and their own electoral support
was more than enough justification for inclusion.
Describe the responses to the 1994 PIRA ceasefire:
• Dublin acted positively to PIRA’s statement – just a week after the cessation
took effect the Taoiseach Albert Reynolds shook hands with Gerry Adams
publically on steps of Government Buildings along with John Hume.
• In the next month Dublin announced the establishment of a Forum for
Peace and Reconciliation to be attended by representatives of all Irish
parties.
• Early Dec 9 PIRA prisoners were released ‘on licence’ (p255)
• But Dublin support was crumbling – Dec 1994 a new government was put in
place with a new Taoiseach, John Bruton, not known for liking Republicanism.
• In USA President Bill Clinton allowed Adams into the USA and organised
numerous conferences aimed at supporting the peace process with economic
development.
Describe the reaction of loyalist paramilitaries to the 1994 PIRA ceasefire:
• Waited a further 6 weeks after PIRA declaration before announcing their own
ceasefire on 13 October 1994.
• But the continuation of their ceasefire depended on the continued cessation of
all nationalist/Republican violence.
• As a result of this ceasefire their political representatives were engaged in
discussions with representatives of the GB government by the end of the year.
• (Progressive Unionist Party PUP, Ulster Democratic Party UDP)
Describe the 1995 Framework documents:
1995: THE FRAMEWORK DOCUMENTS
• The ceasefires were followed by the Framework Documents Feb 1995 drawn
up by the GB and Irish governments to provide a framework for taking the
peace process forward.
• The 2 governments wanted to see a ‘comprehensive settlement’ that would
return greater ‘power, authority and responsibility to all the Northern Ireland
people.’
The first paper – A Framework for Accountable Government in Northern Ireland.
• Outlined GB’s proposals for new political institutions for NI – a 90 strong assembly with similar powers to 1974 power sharing government and range of
measures to protect the nationalist minority.
The second paper produced by GB and Irish governments – A New Framework for Agreement.
• Based around the principles of self-determination, consent, non-violence and
parity of esteem (mental health is given equal status as physical health).
• Also develop relationships within Ireland – establish some form of NI – Republic
of Ireland body.
• Relations between GB and Ireland would have a similar form as those
established by the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Describe the first framework document:
1995
The first paper – A Framework for Accountable Government in Northern
Ireland.
• Outlined GB’s proposals for new political institutions for NI – a 90 strong
assembly with similar powers to 1974 power sharing government and range of
measures to protect the nationalist minority.
Describe the second framework document:
1995.
The second paper produced by GB and Irish governments – A New Framework for Agreement.
• Based around the principles of self-determination, consent, non-violence and
parity of esteem (mental health is given equal status as physical health).
• Also develop relationships within Ireland – establish some form of NI – Republic
of Ireland body.
• Relations between GB and Ireland would have a similar form as those
established by the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Describe the responses to the framework documents:
RESPONSES – reaction from the local parties were mixed.
UNIONISTS
• Saw too many similarities with Sunningdale
• Suspicious of the development of North-South links
• UUP leader James Molyneaux resigned and was replaced by David Trimble. He
left behind a divided and demoralised party.
SINN FEIN
• They argued that the Documents would still allow Unionists to halt progress
Only the SDLP and Alliance Party reacted positively to what had been proposed
Other issues and problems
• Unionists and GB government wanted to see decommissioning of IRA
weapons, but SF would not give up weapons because it did not trust the GB
government.
HOWEVER …
Peace started to look possible …
• In September the new UUP leader David Trimble confirmed his full support for
the peace process.
Describe the 1996 collapse of the ceasefire:
• Absence of face to face talks between GB government and Republicans began
to impact severely on stability of peace process.
• Main problem for GB was decommissioning of PIRA weapons. They wanted
this before entering into talks.
• For the PIRA such a demand was like an admission of defeat and surrender.
• Instead of following the lead of SF the PIRA began to plan for a return to
military operations.
What did London do to find its way around the decommissioning problem?
To find a way round the problem London set up an international commission under
former US Senator George Mitchell to work out a process for decommissioning
weapons and achieving a settlement everyone could accept. Mitchell had enormous
experience as a negotiator and peacemaker.
• The Mitchell Commission reported its solution in early 1996 – twin track
approach or parallel decommissioning – handover of weapons in parallel
with talks taking place not before.
• Also put forward proposals or principles of non-violence to which all parties
would have to sign up in order to demonstrate their commitment to peace.
Describe the 1996 obstacles to peace:
• An idea also raised by the Mitchell Commission was to hold elections to a Peace
Forum as a way of providing a mandate for the participants. Nationalists were
not happy as new elections would mean delays to the peace process.
• Then Feb 1996 PIRA exploded a bomb at London’s Canary Wharf which saw
the collapse of the PIRA ceasefire. This seemed proof that the Republican
movement had never seen its cessation as anything more than a tactic.
• PIRA placed the blame for its return to violence on GB’s government’s
reluctance to move the peace process forward.
• An explanation for this might be that the Conservative government had a small
majority and was reliant on the UUPs to stay in power. Therefore, they could
only push the process forward at a pace with which the unionists were
comfortable.
• Unionists supported the Forum plan.
• Nationalists believed this was another stalling exercise and an example of the
influence the unionists had over the Conservative government.
• But SDLP and SF put forward candidates for the Forum elections.
• But SF announced it would boycott the assembly; SDLP announced it would
make up its mind to attend the Forum on a day by day basis.
Describe the 1996 election results:
• Results revealed support for the DUP and SF had increased.
• UDP and PUP were also successful in winning seats so they could attend any
future peace talks – a positive outcome.
• It provided for broadly based negotiations that at least had the potential to
bring all the key players in the process along.
• Talks began June 1996; SF were not present. As a result, they didn’t have the
same influence to put forward their case.
• But entire peace process in limbo 1996-97.
• No real progress could be made until there was a stronger GB government – a
general election was due to happen in 1997
