The Troubles in Northern Ireland began in the late 1960s due to grievances over discrimination in housing, employment and voting rights faced by the Catholic/Nationalist minority population. The civil rights movement organized protests that were often met with police violence, exacerbating tensions. Bloody Sunday in 1972 led to a massive increase in violence as republican paramilitary campaigns intensified and loyalist paramilitaries also emerged. Over 3,000 people were killed during The Troubles before the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 established devolved government and power sharing, though tensions and sporadic violence continued.
Chapter 4 - Causes of Northern Ireland ConflictGoh Bang Rui
These slides aims to explain the causes of Northern Ireland Conflict between the Protestants and Catholics found in Chapter 4 in the Social Studies textbook for Secondary 3.
Chapter 4: Northern Ireland - Causes and ImpactsGoh Bang Rui
These slides explain Chapter 4 of Social Studies syllabus which is Norther Ireland and aim to explain the causes and impacts.
These slides have been adapted from Adeline Fam and these slides can be located at
http://www.slideshare.net/adefam/ch4-northern-ireland.
Chapter 4 - Causes of Northern Ireland ConflictGoh Bang Rui
These slides aims to explain the causes of Northern Ireland Conflict between the Protestants and Catholics found in Chapter 4 in the Social Studies textbook for Secondary 3.
Chapter 4: Northern Ireland - Causes and ImpactsGoh Bang Rui
These slides explain Chapter 4 of Social Studies syllabus which is Norther Ireland and aim to explain the causes and impacts.
These slides have been adapted from Adeline Fam and these slides can be located at
http://www.slideshare.net/adefam/ch4-northern-ireland.
It is a guideline to use which includes statutes and case law relating to the UK but perhaps relevant for other EU countries. Only looks closely at 3 issues!
The Labour party has promised increased self-government for India without a definite timetable.The governments in Delhi and London are alarmed by the support for the Indian National Army. Leaders are put on trial but Congress leaders as whether as the public no longer view them as allies of an enemy, Japan, but as fighters for freedom from Britain. A wide scale mutiny in the Indian Navy adds doubts about the ability to use native troops to put down domestic violence. In addition Britain has large war debts including a debt to India for the use of troops outside India. Efforts to bring the Muslim League (Jinnah) and the Indian National Congress (Nehru) founder on the insistence, among other things, that the League represents all Muslims and Congress represents all Indians Britain under Viceroy Mountbatten proposes a plan that would allow for splitting India and existing provinces of India on Muslim or Hindu majority grounds. Votes lead to splitting Bengal and Punjab as well as some minor adjustments. India and Pakistan become independent.
12 The Raj -Burma campaign and Bengal famineRobert Ehrlich
The Burma campaign was almost entirely the work of the British Indian Army. The success in driving Japanese troops from Burma is attributed to the efforts of General William Slim. He used Dakota planes to support troop movements and proceeded even in the monsoon season. Different approaches to the campaign were conducted by US General 'Vinegar Joe' Stillwell and British General Orde Wingate.
9 The Raj Rowlatt, Amritsar and Non Cooperation Robert Ehrlich
The Raj continues wartime measure through the Rowlatt Act. Protests result. A peaceful gathering at Amritsar is massacred by General Dyer. Dyer is removed from his post. is treatment is brought to Parliament where he is praised by Lords but the dismissal is upheld by Commons after a speech by Churchill. Gandhi uses satyagraha in labor disputes but extends this to non-cooperation with the raj. He is arrested but soon released. Congress becomes a larger force among the Indian public.
The presentation begins with a look at the role of Indians in England. Many serve in the shipping industry as lascars and some remain in England, primarily in the Docklands section of London. Recently noted is Queen Victoria's munshi, Abdul This presentation then looks at the contribution of India to the Great War (World War I). The opinions of sepoys are known from letters transcribed by censors. The army served on the Western Front, in East Africa, Mesopotamia, the Suez and was a component at Gallipoli Some opposition to the war came from expatriates in Canada and the US. Others gave support but agitated for home rule. Gandhi supported the ambulance corps and recruiting. The war resulted in an increase in industrial produciton.
7 The Raj - Imperial Architecture -Art and NationalismRobert Ehrlich
This presentation looks at building built by the Raj and Raj-supported princes in the late 19th century. Havell makes a case for including Indian elements in public buildings while others advocate using architecture associated with imperial power in Europe. Indian painters evolve from artists who use the motifs of western art to those who look to traditional art
After a brief look at the jubilees celebrated in India the presentation looks at the proposed 1905 Bengal partition and its consequences. Partition is justified by administrative concerns but the partition map effects religious differences and a policy of divide and rule. Muslims in Bengal support the partition but the Indian National Congress opposes it.The reaction is to combine support of native industry with boycott of foreign goods. Opponents divide into moderates who support just these efforts . and extremists who advocate swaraj or self-rule. The Raj counters with the Minto-Morley reforms which give a small increase in local self-government. In 1911 the partition is repealed
6 The Raj - Indentured Indian Labor in South AfricaRobert Ehrlich
A look at the Indian diaspora in South Africa where indentured labor predominates but there are formeer indentured laborers who have small businesses and merchants or 'passenger' Indians' who have paid there own way. Gandhi goes to South Africa as lawyer for a merchant but encounters the plight of indentured labor. He develops the technique fo satyagraha to protest discrimination against Indians.
5 The Raj Political. Social and Religious Reform and WomenRobert Ehrlich
The Indian National Congress makes moderate demands for political reforms. The British make laws or attempt to make laws dealing with practices that some identify with religious traditions and others fee it is up to Indians to address. Some measures that are considered suppressive of free speech and participation in the system are. overturned. Particularly troublesome is the question whether Indians can sit on juries that try British citizens.
The rise of Indian nationalism in the late 19th century is a combination of rising Indian identity but also Hindu and Muslim identity. At Ayodha they come into conflict. A limited self-governance is offered through the 1892 Councils Act. Education is expanded particularly high education.
The use of caste by the British in terms of their remake of the army. Caste as a census. A look at caste from historic, linguistic and genetic point of view.
The changes that take place in India after the areas administered by the East India Company are assumed by the Crown. The army is restructured in an attempt to prevent future mutinies. A series of famines occurs and question arise about how to prevent or lessen their impact.
The Government of India Act of 1935 and discontent. The entrance of India into World War 2 and the resulting disaffection of the Indian National Congress, the opposition of the Indian Antional Army and the support of over 2 million volunteers. The Indian Army is crucial in East Africa and the Middle East and of great support in North Africa and Italy. A look at the summer capital of Simla.
The Indian Army after the Great War. The consequences of the swadeshi movement. Move of the capitol to New Delhi. Congress rejects the reformed government proposed by the Simon Commission. Round table conferences to try to reconcile differences. Salt Satyagraha led by Gandhi to try to obtain concessions.
3 England & India Before the Raj: New Products, New MilitarismRobert Ehrlich
The East India Company must accommodate to changing regimes in Britain. Its product create changing tastes: tea, cotton cloths and diamonds. A look at Company officials who get rich on diamonds.
5 England & India Before the Raj; Controlling Indian territoryRobert Ehrlich
The East India Company must now administer the territory where it has obtained revenue rights. The Company is under increased scrutiny and a hearing is held on Clive and his vast gains. Parliament attempts to have an influence in this administration.
A governor-general, Warren Hastings is sent to lead the three divisions of presidencies.
War continues in the south with conflicts between Mysore and its neighbors. After France enters on the side of revolting American colonists, the conflict again spills over into India. A technological advance is the sue fo improved rockets by Mysore
We also look at working conditions for civilian employees in India.
4 England and India Before the Raj: From Commercial to Military PowerRobert Ehrlich
This is the time of Clive.
The decline of the Mughal Empire leads to the development of regional powers.
In the Carnatic conflicts between these powers offer opportunities for expansion of East India Company influence. In this they come into conflict with the French and European and North American Wars (Austrian Succession, Seven Years) involve an Indian theater.
In Bengal rights granted by a weak Mughal Emperor are abused. A new leader, nawab, of Bengal attempts to check these abuses. He attacks Calcutta but a counterattack at the Battle of Plassey results in a puppet nawab. He too grows weary of abuses and demands and at Buxar is defeated. The Emperor then grants the Company revenue rights in Bengal and neighboring areas.
Financial difficulties result in a British bailout with restrictions. The Company is allowed to send tea to North America with a lower tariff but it is rejected. The American Revolution results.
The use of European trained native Indian troops (sepoys) begins
13 f2015 Science and Invention in Restoration EnglandRobert Ehrlich
A overview of scientific institutions that facilitated the advances, particularly the Royal Society. Some of teh major scientists and some of the less well known scientist who contributed to their work.
The reopening of the theater after the Interregnum required new buildings, new plays and new approaches to acting. Indoor theaters with elaborate effects meant higher prices. The audience was middle class and even the court attended. Women were now on stage in prominent sexualized roles.
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Here is Gabe Whitley's response to my defamation lawsuit for him calling me a rapist and perjurer in court documents.
You have to read it to believe it, but after you read it, you won't believe it. And I included eight examples of defamatory statements/
An astonishing, first-of-its-kind, report by the NYT assessing damage in Ukraine. Even if the war ends tomorrow, in many places there will be nothing to go back to.
‘वोटर्स विल मस्ट प्रीवेल’ (मतदाताओं को जीतना होगा) अभियान द्वारा जारी हेल्पलाइन नंबर, 4 जून को सुबह 7 बजे से दोपहर 12 बजे तक मतगणना प्रक्रिया में कहीं भी किसी भी तरह के उल्लंघन की रिपोर्ट करने के लिए खुला रहेगा।
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El Puerto de Algeciras continúa un año más como el más eficiente del continente europeo y vuelve a situarse en el “top ten” mundial, según el informe The Container Port Performance Index 2023 (CPPI), elaborado por el Banco Mundial y la consultora S&P Global.
El informe CPPI utiliza dos enfoques metodológicos diferentes para calcular la clasificación del índice: uno administrativo o técnico y otro estadístico, basado en análisis factorial (FA). Según los autores, esta dualidad pretende asegurar una clasificación que refleje con precisión el rendimiento real del puerto, a la vez que sea estadísticamente sólida. En esta edición del informe CPPI 2023, se han empleado los mismos enfoques metodológicos y se ha aplicado un método de agregación de clasificaciones para combinar los resultados de ambos enfoques y obtener una clasificación agregada.
1. TheTroublesNorthernIreland(1968-?) The unemployment in our bones Erupting in our hands like stones; The thought of violence a relief The act of violence a grief; Our bitterness and love Hand in glove “Derry” Seamus Deane
2. Northern Ireland - Before “The Nationalist majority . . . stands at 3,684. We must ultimately reduce and liquidate that majority. . . This county is . . . a Unionist county.” E.C. Ferguson, Unionist MP, Femanagh, 1948
3. Alleged liquidation campaign Make new housing available primarily to Protestants Make employment scarce for Catholics
4.
5. Reaction 1963 Homeless Citizens, League, Dungannon 1964 Fermanagh Civil Rights Association Dr. Conn and Mrs. Patricia McCluskey 1965 Campaign For Social Justice In Northern Ireland
6. Activities Presentations, pamphlets, pickets Occupied pre-fab bungalows due for demolition First protest march of the civil rights movement in Dungannon in June 1963.
7. Background - Derry February 1967 Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association formed Derry City Council dominated by Unionists despite majority Catholic population High unemployment in area (~20%) Caledon squatting Council houses generally denied to Catholics Catholic squatters evicted; House given to a 19-year old Protestant woman with connections Aug. 24, 1968 Local march wo incident
8. Voting – Northern Ireland Parliament 1921, 1925 - Proportional representation 1929 Eliminate proportional representation 1973 Single transferable vote Local elections (1960s) ~1.5% have more than one vote 25% have no vote (lodgers, grown children at home)
9. Disproportionate Representation Derry (1957) Nationalists 61.6 % of parliamentary electors 54.7 % of local government electors Belfast (1967) Nationalists 49 % of local government electors 62 % of non-electors
12. Grievances Franchise Gerrymandering, Allocation of houses and jobs by local councils Discrimination by private firms Lack of economic aid leading to high rates of unemployment in Catholic areas.
13. Civil Rights - Oct. 5,1968 Derry Housing Action Committee and Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association plan march in Derry along traditional Protestant route Home minister bans march
14. Derry March March held anyway Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) baton marchers including two MPs Stones and placards thrown at police Batons and water wagons used against marchers
20. More Protests and Response More rallies, marches, and counter demonstrations Newry riot Nov. 22 Reforms Package announced byTerence O'Neill, NI Prime Minister Omsbudsman; Derry Housing Council to allocate on need; Abolish special powers of police when safe Cameron report
21. 1969 Cameron report The police handling of the demonstration in Londonderry ... was in certain material respects ill co-ordinated and inept. There was use of unnecessary and ill controlled force in the dispersal of the demonstrators, only a minority of whom acted in a disorderly and violent manner. There are at work within Northern Ireland persons whose immediate and deliberate intention is to prepare, plan and provoke violence, reckless of the consequences to persons or property. ... From the aimless and vicious hooligans of the streets and alleys to the extremists of right or left, of whatever creed, Catholic or Protestant, all would appear to bear a share of blame for the tragic events which have occurred.
29. “Interrogation in Depth” wall-standing: forcing the detainees to remain for periods of some hours in a "stress position", hooding: putting a dark bag over detainees' heads subjection to noise deprivation of sleep deprivation of food and drink Compton report: the techniques constituted physical ill-treatment but not physical brutality PM Heath: “Government, having reviewed the whole matter with great care and with reference to any future operations, have decided that the techniques ... will not be used in future as an aid to interrogation."
30. European Court for Human Rights holds (1978) Five techniques constituted a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment but not torture That there existed at Palace Barracks a practice of inhuman treatment That it cannot direct the respondent State to institute criminal or disciplinary proceedings against those members of the security forces who have committed the breaches...found by the Court and against those who condoned or tolerated such breaches IRELAND v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
31. 1972- 1985 1972 UK suspends Northern Ireland government (Stormont) – Direct rule 1974 Prevention of Terror Act Hunger strikes Bombings, snipings, random acts of unkindness
32. Organizations - Militia Republican Official IRA, Provisional IRA(1972) Irish National Liberation Army (1974), Continuity IRA (1996), Real IRA (1997) Loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (1966) Ulster Defence Association - Ulster Freedom Fighters (1971)
33. Organizations - Political Official Sinn Féin -> Sinn Féin the Workers Party -> The Workers' Party -> Workers' Party of Ireland. Sinn Féin (associated with Provisional IRA)
41. Path to Peace 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement “We say never, never, never” Ian Paisley "...the formal recognition of the partition of Ireland...[is] a disaster for the nationalist cause” Gerry Adams Irish opinion 59 % pro, 29% anti
42. Path to Peace 1993 Downing Street Declaration Informal talks 1994 Formal talks 1998 Belfast (or Good Friday) Agreement Complication - Decommissioning
44. Sides Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein David Ervine, Progressive Unionist Ian Paisley, Democratic Unionist Martin McGuiness, Sinn Fein, IRA
45. Mitchell Principles Negotiators commit to: Democratic and peaceful means of resolving political issues Total disarmament of all paramilitary organizations; Verifiable disarmament to the satisfaction of an independent commission; Renounce and oppose use of force, or threat to use force, to influence negotiations; To agree to abide by the terms of any agreement Urge that 'punishment' killings and beatings stop and take effective steps to prevent such actions.
46. Drumcree March, Portadown Commemorate Battle of the Boyne 1995 RUC blocks Garvagny Rd. Loyalist riots March permitted Nationalist riots Still blocked Annual protests
48. Ian Paisley They breed like rabbits and multiply like vermin. Ian Paisley on Catholics, to loyalist rally in 1969 I denounce you, Anti-Christ! I refuse you as Christ's enemy and Antichrist with all your false doctrine. Ian Paisley to Pope John Paul II on a visit to the European Parliament 1988
49. “Sitting with the devil” “I will never sit down with Gerry Adams . . . he'd sit with anyone. He'd sit down with the devil. In fact, Adams does sit down with the devil.”Ian Paisley Independent, February 13 1997 Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams, March 2007
50. Devolution – Excepted MattersReserved for central government the Crown Parliament international relations Defence national security immigration and nationality taxation national insurance elections currency nuclear energy space
51. Devolution – Reserved PowersMay be transferred at a later date navigation (including merchant shipping) civil aviation Coastline postal services import and export controls minimum wage financial services, markets intellectual property units of measurement telecommunications, broadcasting, internet National Lottery xenotransplantation surrogacy human fertilisation and embryology, human genetics consumer safety in relation to goods
52. Devolution – Transferred PowersCurrently controlled by North Ireland Agriculture and rural development Culture, arts, leisure Education Employment and learning Enterprise, trade and investment Environment Finance and personnel Health, social services and public safety Justice Regional development (including transport) Social development (including housing)
54. 1968: Which of these best describes the way you think of yourself? Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, Queen's University Belfast and University of Ulster
55. 1991: Which of these best describes the way you think of yourself?
56. 2009: Which of these best describes the way you think of yourself?
57. 2009: And are you in favor of more mixing or more separation in people's marriages?
58. 2009: If the majority of people in Northern Ireland ever voted to become part of a United Ireland do you think you …
59. 2009: Would you say that relationships are better than they were 5 years ago, worse, or about the same?
61. 2011 Gerry Adams Resigns as MP (Westminster) Resigns from NI Assembly Runs in Republic
62. Headlines – Belfast Times, May 4 Use your vote for peace, says family of murdered policeman Ronan Kerr Semtex found during raids Man jailed over £3.5m cocaine plot
Editor's Notes
The gerrymancler works on a very simple principle : In theUnionist Constituencies the Nationalist minority is made aslarge as possible, whereas in the Nationalist constituency theUnionist minority is made as small as possible. This ensures amaximum “waste” of Nationalist votes and a maximum utilisationof Unionist votes.
In Conn McCluskey’s book Up Off Their Knees (1989) the late Patsy McCooey gave a description of Patricia in the introduction. “In her wide-brimmed hat and striking costume, she headed a parade of homeless young mothers, their babies and prams, through Dungannon and strode right into the conscience of a people and into the history of our times.”Born in 1914 in Portadown, the daughter of a local draper, Patricia McShane went to Scotland after leaving school to train as a home economics teacher, working with disadvantaged children.When the second World War started, she helped to organise the evacuation of children to rural homes. It was on a holiday back home in Ireland that she met and later married Conn McCluskey.After their marriage, they lived in Keady and then Dungannon where Conn practised as a doctor. After their daughters were raised, she threw herself into politics. Patricia McCluskey: born March 17th 1914, died December 9th 2010
20 JUNE 1968 - THE CALEDON PROTESTAustin Currie, a Nationalist MP at Stormont, and two local men occupied a house in Caledon, Tyrone, on 20 June 1968 in protest over its allocation by the local council to a nineteen-year-old unmarried Protestant, Emily Beatty, who was the secretary of a local unionist politician. A Catholic family with three young children had been evicted recently from the house next door.After a few hours, the RUC removed Currie and his fellow-squatters. Currie said that they had squatted in protest against the allocation of the house to an unmarried woman while more than 250 people were on the waiting list in the Dungannon rural district. He also wanted to draw attention to the system of allocation which allowed an individual councillor to give houses to anyone he wished.
Surveys with statistical significance questioned
Winning while losing: The Apprentice Boys of Derry walk their beat Shaul Cohen Political Geography 26 (2007) 951-967As an outgrowth of the Troubles, Protestants in Derry/Londonderry have moved from the west or Cityside of the River Foyle, where the key historicalevents took place, to the east bankdor Waterside The Apprentice Boys parades are a territorial demonstration and a claim of presence that iscarried out by a community that has lost its control of the contested spaceIn the centuries following the siege, Catholics were barredfrom living within the walls of the city, and after completing a day’s labor were compelled to returnto their homes in the marshy lowlands to the west, called the Bogside. By the mid-19th century,however, more than half of the residents of the broader town of Derry/Londonderry were
British troops fire rubber bullets at stone-throwing Protestant rioters who had set fire to the mobile classrooms of Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School in the Ballysillian area of west Belfast, Northern Ireland, March 28, 1972. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz)
Rukeyser American UPI reporter
Pallbearers carry one of 13 coffins of BloodySunday victims to a graveside during a funeral in Derry, Northern Ireland, following requiem mass at nearby St. Mary's church at Creggan Hill on Feb. 2, 1972. About 10,000 people shared in the funeral services. British soldiers shot dead 13 catholic protesters in Northern Ireland on Jan. 30. (AP Photo)
Armed British troops patrol a neighborhood in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in Feb. 1972,
Other estimate is 2000 killed by IRA and 1000 by loyalist militia 363 by Army
British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the Irish Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald.The UUP MP Enoch Powell asked Thatcher in the Commons the day before she signed the Agreement: "Does the right hon. Lady understand—if she does not yet understand she soon will—that the penalty for treachery is to fall into public contempt?"[6] The UUP leader James Molyneaux spoke of "the stench of hypocrisy, deceit and treachery" and later said of "universal cold fury" at the Agreement such as he had not experienced in forty years of public life.[7] Ian Paisley, a few days later to his congregation, compared Thatcher to "Jezebel who sought to destroy Israel in a day".[8] He wrote to Thatcher: "Having failed to defeat the IRA you now have capitulated and are prepared to set in motion machinery which will achieve the IRA goal...a united Ireland. We now know that you have prepared Ulster Unionists for sacrifice on the altar of political expediency. They are to be the sacrificial lambs to appease the Dublin wolves".[9] In his letter to FitzGerald, Paisley said: "You claim in your constitution jurisdiction over our territory, our homes, our persons and our families. You allow your territory to be used as a launching pad for murder gangs and as a sanctuary for them when they return soaked in our people's blood. You are a fellow traveller with the IRA and hope to ride on the back of their terrorism to your goal of a United Ireland. We reject your claims and will never submit to your authority. We will never bow to Dublin rule“, Gerry Adams, denounced the Agreement: "...the formal recognition of the partition of Ireland...[is] a disaster for the nationalist cause...[it] far outweighs the powerless consultative role given to Dublin".[17] On the other hand, the IRA and Sinn Féin claimed that the concessions made by Great Britain were the result of the armed struggle, from which the SLDP gained political credit.
Chairman of the Northern Ireland peace talks and former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell points to a reporter during a news conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1998. At right is Co-chairman HarriHolker [former PM of Finland]i. Mitchell announced Tuesday that all eight participating parties had accepted a joint British-Irish plan for progress.(AP Photo/Paul McErlane)
Few politicians in recent Irish history have divided opinion as much as Gerry Adams. To his followers, he is regarded as one of the best leaders the republican movement has ever had. To his fiercest unionist opponents, he is at best little more than an apologist for IRA gunmen, and at worst, a member of its highest command.A former barman, the Sinn Fein president comes from a strongly republican family. In security circles, it is believed he has held senior positions in all branches of the republican movement, including the IRA, but he has never been convicted of membership of that organisation.Interned by the British government in 1971, he was considered important enough within the republican leadership to be released in July 1972, to take part in secret talks in London with then-Northern Ireland Secretary William Whitelaw.Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Mr Adams has been the key figure in developing the political strategy of the republican movement along with his close colleague Martin McGuinness.In 1979, he said that the aims of republicans could not be achieved simply by military means. The statement was a prelude to what became known as the twintrack strategy of "the armalite and the ballot box" - pursuing republican goals through both violent and political means.Following the 1981 hunger strike in which 10 republicans died, Sinn Fein's base was given renewed strength. Mr Adams persuaded the republicans to place increasing emphasis on the political strategy and success of Sinn Fein.Mr Adams was elected party president in 1983 and under his leadership the party took the historic step of abandoning its policy of abstention from the Irish Parliament.He was also elected MP for West Belfast in 1983. He lost the seat to the SDLP in 1992, but later regained it in 1997. He has never taken his place at Westminster. Mr Adams began a series of contacts with the SDLP leader John Hume, which in 1993 became the foundation of the modern peace process. He helped deliver the first IRA ceasefire in 1994.When this collapsed in February 1996, with a bomb attack in London, it raised two key questions. Firstly, if he didn't know, what was his real influence upon the IRA - could he deliver anything at all? Secondly, many unionist critics pointed out that if he did know that the ceasefire was to be broken, was Adams only committed to the peace process when it tactically suited Republican goals.With the ceasefire restored, Mr Adams eventually led his party into the multi-party talks at Stormont which concluded with the Good Friday Agreement.He has persuaded his supporters to contemplate steps many people had thought impossible, including taking their places in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont, which was set up under the agreement.In the run-up to the deadline for the formation of a new Northern Ireland executive in March 1999, he insisted that the IRA could not yet be persuaded to give up its arms and that the weapons issue should be considered as part of a wholescale "decommissioning of all the guns", including the British security aparatus.When the process appeared to be floundering in the autumn of 1999, Mr Adams' statement committing Sinn Fein to "all aspects" of the Good Friday Agreement, including decommissioning, was among several key moments following Senator George Mitchell's final review of the peace process, leading to the establishment of a powersharing executive.But while the peace process has stuttered since then, it appears to have done Gerry Adams no harm. Sinn Fein became the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland after it doubled its number of MPs to four in the 2001 general election - something that analysts have dubbed the "greening of the west".The question from observers is whether that will become something more, the greening of the north. The question being asked by unionists, is whether Gerry Adams’ strategy remains that of 20 years ago or just purely peaceful means
absolute commitment: a. To democratic and exclusively peaceful means of resolving political issues; b. To the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations; c. To agree that such disarmament must be verifiable to the satisfaction of an independent commission; d. To renounce for themselves, and to oppose any effort by others, to use force, or threaten to use force, to influence the course or the outcome of all-party negotiations; e. To agree to abide by the terms of any agreement reached in all-party negotiations and to resort to democratic and exclusively peaceful methods in trying to alter any aspect of that outcome with which they may disagree; and, f. To urge that 'punishment' killings and beatings stop and to take effective steps to prevent such actions.
Drumcree MarchRed line: Route taken by Orangemen on the Sunday before 12 July; from their Carlton Street Hall (D) under the railway bridge (C) along Obins Street (A) to Drumcree Church (F) and back along Garvaghy Road (B). Blue line: Route taken on 12 July; from Corcrain Hall (E) along Obins Street (A) and under the railway bridge (C). Green areas are largely nationalist/Catholic. Orange areas are largely unionist/Protestant.
“
Jan. 2010 A political scandal riveting Northern Ireland has a certain cinematic feel: an affair by 58-year-old woman named Mrs. Robinson with a 19-year-old male lover.Five separate Facebook groups with hundreds of followers have sprung up, lampooning the affair and comparing it to the 1967 film, "The Graduate."But there is a serious side to the story of Iris Robinson, who also happens to be a member of Parliament and the wife of Peter Robinson – Northern Ireland's government leader.The BBC reported that Iris Robinson allegedly solicited 50,000 pounds ($80,000) from businessmen so her young lover could open a restaurant – without disclosing the fact to lawmakers