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- Sinn Fein play the key role over a period of years in creating the political conditions which allowed
us to persuaude the IRA to call a unilateral cessation of military operations in 1994 and to re-instate
this in 1997.
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- In September 1994 Gerry Adams pledged in conjunction with John Hume and the then Taoiseach Albert
Reynolds our total commitment to democratic and peaceful methods of resolving political problems
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- We engaged positively with the International Body on Decommissioning in 1995 and 1996 in an attempt
to resolve the impasse created by John Majors demand for an IRA surrender
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- Despite the bad faith of the Major government we used our influence to sustain the first IRA ceasefire
for 17 months until the rejection by John Major of the report of the Intrenational Body on Decommissioning.
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- After the collapse of the first IRA cessation we undertook a series of political initiatives to put
the Peace Process back on track and succeeded in this in 1997
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- On the first of June 1998 David Trimble was elected First Minister and Seamus Mallon his Deputy First
Minister. David Trimble then sought to have Sinn Fein excluded from the executive. The summer passed
with no executive formed.
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- The 31st of October deadline for completion of a programme of work and the establishment of the Shadow
executive and the Shadow ministerial council was not met.
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- The British government promised to trigger the d'Hondt mechanism on 10th of March and 29th March.
They did not fulfil this promise.
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- Instead, on 1st April, in the Hillsborough Declaration - in an attempt to further meet UUP demands
- the two governments made proposals on the executive and on the issue of decommisioning that were outside
the terms of the Agreement.
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- We secured our party support for Good Friday agreement and campaigned for it in both referenda.
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- Despite the risk of destabilising our own support, we sought and secured our partys support to amend
our constitution to remove a 75 year ban on members taking seats in any Northern Assembly
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- We worked constructively and in good faith with the independent Commission on de-commissioning.
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- On the 14th of May in Downing Street agreement was reached between the two governments, the UUP and
Sinn Fein to establish the Shadow Executive the following week. The UUP renaged the following day.
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- On Friday the 2nd of July The Way Forward statement was issued by the two governments at Castle Buildings.
This was subsequently developed unilaterally into draft legislation tabled on 12th which was outside
the terms of the Agreement.
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- On July 15th, David Trimble once again failed to establish the executive, and Seamus Mallon resigned
as Deputy First Minister
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- On the 24th of July against this difficult backdrop the Sinn Fein negotiating team reported to the
Ard Comhairle on the preliminary discussions with Senator Mitchell and the British government in respect
of a review.
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continued on left of page
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- on the 15th of November the Mitchell review concluded with agreement that :
- The instutions
be established
- The decomissioning issue be dealt with by General de Chastelain and the Independent
International Commission on Decommissioning.
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- On the 11th of February, Secretary of State, Peter Mandelson unilaterally suspended the political
institutions, at the behest of unionism. This despite the fact that a new and significant proposition
to resolve the arms issue was on the table.
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- On 27th of November, a meeting of the council of the Ulster Unionist Party created a new pre-condition
and a new false deadline for the issue of decommissioning.
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- On Friday the 5th of May, the Irish and British governments published a joint statement agreeing to
re-establish the institutions and to implement the outstanding aspects of the Good Friday Agreement.
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- On the 29th of November, almost 20 months after the Good Friday agreement was signed the Executive
was finally established.
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- On Saturday the 6th of May, the IRA issued a statement that it will "initiate a process that will
completely and verifiably put its weapons beyond use"
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- On the 13th of December 1999, the inaugral meeting of the All-Ireland ministerial council was held
in Armagh.
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go to middle right of page
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- On Tuesday the 30th May power is restored to the political institutions including the Assembly, Executive
and the All-Ireland bodies.
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The next page will give you a history of the Irish Conflict, particularly the conflict in the North
of Ireland over the past thirty years. Its followed by some suggestions for reading material and video/documentary
material which may help further your understanding.
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