Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Chapter 1 A personal perspective
- Chapter 2 The British dimension: union, devolution and direct rule
- Chapter 3 The British dimension: direct rule to the UWC strike
- Chapter 4 The British dimension: from the collapse of power-sharing to the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985
- Chapter 5 The British dimension: the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 to the Good Friday Agreement
- Chapter 6 The Irish dimension
- Chapter 7 The politics of Northern Ireland
- Chapter 8 End-game or limbo?
- Select bibliography
- Index
Chapter 4 - The British dimension: from the collapse of power-sharing to the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Chapter 1 A personal perspective
- Chapter 2 The British dimension: union, devolution and direct rule
- Chapter 3 The British dimension: direct rule to the UWC strike
- Chapter 4 The British dimension: from the collapse of power-sharing to the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985
- Chapter 5 The British dimension: the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 to the Good Friday Agreement
- Chapter 6 The Irish dimension
- Chapter 7 The politics of Northern Ireland
- Chapter 8 End-game or limbo?
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
From that point in 1974 the story of the British Government's role must take account of a number of further developments: the nature of successive efforts made to restore devolved Governments to Northern Ireland; the methods used to combat ongoing violence resulting from both republican and loyalist terrorists; and the nature of the dialogue – whether one terms it ‘exchange of information’ or ‘negotiation’ – conducted at first covertly and then overtly between the British Government or its representatives and the mouthpieces of terrorism.
Successive British Governments were to seek by a variety of means to move the local political parties towards a new agreement on future political structures, but also considered at times ‘unboycottable’ measures which could move the political process forward. Here some basic realities must be spelled out. Any machinery of government requiring for its operation a direct participation of locally elected people must, to succeed initially and prove stable thereafter, enjoy the willing support of local parties on terms with which their electorate can live, either enthusiastically or with a degree of reluctance. By 1974 it was quite clear to me that nationalist opinion would never again accept a system under which unionists alone exercised executive power, even if inhibited by extensive safeguards and protections against abuse. Anything resembling a Cabinet in Northern Ireland would have to embody both nationalist and unionist elements, and it followed from this that any route blocked by either interest would prove a cul-de-sac.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Tragedy of ErrorsThe Government and Misgovernment of Northern Ireland, pp. 50 - 67Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2007