91�ȱ�

The hunger strikes and their aftermath changed the political situation in Northern Ireland massively.

The growth of Sinn Féin was challenging the position of the SDLP as the main nationalist party.

Against this backdrop, the London and Dublin governments decided to work more closely together.

The outcome was the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

On 15 November 1985, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Garrett FitzGerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

There are a number of reasons why both governments decided to do so:

• The British knew that nationalist hostility to them would have to be removed if ‘the Troubles’ were ever to be ended.
• The Irish believed that if this nationalist hostility towards the British was ended, support for Sinn Féin and the PIRA campaign would disappear.

As part of the Agreement, both governments agreed to set up an Intergovernmental Conference chaired by the Irish Foreign Minister and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

It would look after issues relating to:

• Security
• Law
• Politics

The Intergovernmental Conference would also work on improving general co-operation between both parts of the island.

A permanent secretariat would provide the Intergovernmental Conference with administrative help.

It would be staffed by civil servants from both Belfast and Dublin.

It was also agreed that until there was agreement on power sharing between Northern Ireland’s parties there would be no further attempt to introduce devolution.

As with the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement, the Anglo-Irish Agreement:

• Accepted that the Dublin government had to have an input into how Northern Ireland was run.
• Included an acceptance by the Irish government that Irish unity would only happen in the long term and would require the support of a majority of the people from Northern Ireland.

To become law, the Anglo-Irish Agreement had to be passed by the Parliaments in London and Dublin.

While this did not prove to be a problem, the Agreement did face a range of reactions across the British Isles.

• The unionist population reacted very badly to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which came as a complete shock.
• They felt betrayed by Thatcher’s government and felt that they would end up having to join a united Ireland.
• At the same time, the pro-Union Alliance Party was more positive about the Agreement’s potential to bring peace to Northern Ireland.

• Of all Northern Ireland’s parties, the SDLP had most to be pleased about.It had been kept up to date about the negotiations leading up to the Agreement by the Dublin government.
• The SDLP believed that the Agreement could allow unionists and nationalists to live together in peace.

• The Agreement was rejected by Sinn Féin.
• Republicans argued that by recognising the existence of Northern Ireland in the Agreement, the Dublin government had made partition more permanent.

• While the Republic’s Fine Gael/Labour government welcomed the Agreement, the main opposition party - Fianna Fáil – condemned the deal.
• Its main concern was the Irish government’s acceptance of Britain’s right to be in Northern Ireland.
• Opposition to the Agreement was also expressed by Senator Mary Robinson, a key member of the governing Labour Party.
• She resigned from the party in support of unionist opposition to the Agreement.

• While the Agreement was easily passed by the Westminster Parliament, some members of Margaret Thatcher’s government were not as happy.
• Chief among these was Ian Gow, a Minister in the Treasury Department.
• Gow resigned from the government in protest at the Agreement - he claimed that it had only been agreed due to the pressure of paramilitary violence and argued it would only make the situation worse.

The unionist population was so angered by the Anglo-Irish Agreement that it decided to try and destroy it by a series of protests and other actions.

These included:

• Protest marches across Northern Ireland (which sometimes became violent).
• A rally to oppose the Agreement. Held in front of the City Hall in Belfast on 23 November 1985, this gathering was attended by over 100,000 people.
• A ‘Day of Action’, held on 3 March 1986. This event brought most of Northern Ireland to a standstill. By and large it was a peaceful protest, but in a few places the ‘Day of Action’ ended in violence.
• A campaign of civil disobedience which included:
  • Unionist MPs refusing to attend the Westminster Parliament.
  • Unionist leaders refusing to meet members of the British government.
  • Unionist councils refusing to set rates for their area.
• The resignation - by all 15 unionist MPs – of their membership of the Westminster Parliament. This action meant that new elections had to be held for these 15 constituencies. The unionists’ intention was to show – by the number of votes gained by their candidates – how much support they had in their campaign of opposition to the Agreement.

While these actions were mostly peaceful, loyalist paramilitaries showed their opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement by:

• Trying to frighten members of the RUC – who were seen as key to making the Agreement work – through the use of violence and intimidation.
• Setting up a new paramilitary organisation – Ulster Resistance – to oppose the Agreement.

So did the campaign of opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement work?

• While unionist candidates won over 420,000 votes in the by-elections that followed the resignation of their Westminster seats, one seat (Newry and Armagh) was won by the SDLP.
• The Westminster Parliament was so big (with 650 MPs) that the non-attendance of 14 unionist MPs was not really noticed.
• As local councils within Northern Ireland had little or no power, as things stood, their refusal to use their ‘powers’ made no difference to how Northern Ireland was run.

By September 1987, when the unionist leaders agreed to talk to British ministers again, it was clear that the campaign to destroy the Agreement had failed.

For more information, including archive clips, on the Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985, visit 91�ȱ�: Ten Chapters of the Northern Ireland Troubles - ()