This document provides a timeline of key events related to the conflict in Northern Ireland from 1919 to 2009. It outlines the origins of the partition of Ireland, the civil rights movement in the 1960s, periods of violence and unrest in the late 20th century, peace agreements and ceasefires in the 1990s and 2000s, and the ongoing threat from dissident republican groups in the late 2000s. The timeline traces over 90 years of tensions, conflicts and political developments between nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland.

1. Writing Ireland
Week 6: “No Surrender”?:
Conflicts within and Beyond

2. Bernard MacLaverty
Read more at:
http://www.bernardmaclaverty.com/index.
htm
.
http://literature.bureau-va.com/bernard-
maclaverty
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/lea
rning/getwritingni/wh_maclaverty.shtml

3. Setting the scene
1919
British prime minister Lloyd George outlines the government's proposals for home rule in
Ireland.
1922
Partition. Six counties in the north of the island opt to stay in the United Kingdom when the rest
of Ireland becomes independent and later a republic. Many of the inhabitants are descended
from Protestant settlers brought in by James I in the 17th century, although there is still a large
Catholic minority, just as there continues to be a significant Protestant minority in the Republic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/08/northern-ireland-timeline/print

4. 1968
The civil rights movement. Catholics complain of unfair treatment at the hands of a largely Protestant political
establishment, saying among other things that electoral boundaries are gerrymandered to ensure Protestant majorities. On
5 October, a civil rights march is stopped by the RUC. Rioting follows and the province's government agrees to undertake
reforms.
1969
The battle of the Bogside. A loyalist parade passing through the nationalist Bogside area of Derry on 12 August sparks two
days of rioting. As sporadic violence spreads across the province, troops are called in. At first they are welcomed by the
Catholic community, but sectarian violence continues. The Provisional IRA becomes more active, and the army increasingly
concentrates on fighting it.
1971-75
Internment. Nearly 2,000 people are arrested and held without trial on suspicion of involvement in terrorism.
1972
Bloody Sunday. A protest against internment in Derry on 30 January is fired upon by British troops. Thirteen people are shot
dead and another dies later. Troops say they were fired upon first.
Direct rule. Edward Heath suspends the Northern Ireland parliament on 24 March and introduces direct rule from
Westminster

5. 1993
It becomes apparent that the British government has been in secret contact with the IRA for years. In a Downing Street
statement on 15 December, the British prime minister and Irish Taoiseach, agree in principle on talks on the future of
Northern Ireland. Any party that "renounces violence" is invited to take part, opening the way for Sinn Fein if it can prove
the IRA is committed to giving up its weapons.
1994
IRA announces a ceasefire in August and loyalist groups follow suit in October. The first formal talks between
the British government and Sinn Féin begin in December.
1996
The IRA declares an end to its ceasefire at about 7am on 9 February, after the Major
government insists on decommissioning as a condition of talks. A few moments later the IRA
explodes a bomb at Canary Wharf, killing two people and causing millions of pounds worth of
damage.
1997
The IRA announces a second ceasefire in July. Tony Blair, now British prime minister, announces
that decommissioning will take place in parallel with talks from September. Talks begin at
Stormont, but it takes until 7 October to convince the unionists to sit down at the table with
Sinn Féin. The talks are hampered by paramilitary killings on both sides. At one point the Ulster
Democratic party walks out rather than be suspended for its links to the Ulster Freedom
Fighters; at another Sinn Féin is suspended for a month. But talks continue until April 1998.

6. 1998
Good Friday agreement 10 April. The deal includes the restoration of a devolved assembly at
Stormont and a role for the Republic of Ireland in the affairs of the north. A referendum later
approves the deal.
On 15 August a car bomb kills 29 people in Omagh, County Tyrone. The Real IRA, a breakaway
group, claims responsibility.
2000
The devolved assembly is suspended on 11 February when the IRA refuses to prove its
commitment to decommissioning. The assembly is restored in May when the IRA agrees to puts
its weapons "verifiably beyond use".
2001
David Trimble, the first minister and leader of the Ulster Unionist party, resigns on 1 July over
lack of progress on the arms issue. In the following months, General John de Chastelain, the
head of the body set up to oversee arms decommissioning, says the IRA has given him a
disarmament plan. This fails to convince the unionists, and John Reid, the new Northern Ireland
secretary, twice suspends the assembly to give time for talks. By October, De Chastelain says he
has seen decommissioning taking place. The institutions are restored in November.

7. 2002
Sinn Féin's offices at Stormont are raided by police who suspect they are being used by the IRA
to spy on the government. Ten days later devolution is again suspended.
2004
Attempts in December to reconcile Sinn Féin and the DUP fail when the unionists again refuse to
accept the lack of transparency in the IRA's commitment to disarm.
On 21 December more than £26m is stolen from a bank in Belfast city centre. The IRA is
suspected.
2005
Robert McCartney, a former bouncer, is killed outside a bar in Belfast city centre on 30 January.
His family blames the IRA, which later announces that it has suspended some of its members.
On 6 April the Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams, challenges the IRA to "fully embrace" democratic
means and give up its arms.
On 28 July the IRA makes a detailed statement in which it declares its armed campaign over. It
promises to resume disarmament and pursue its aims through politics.
On 26 September, De Chastelain announces inspectors' confirmation that all the IRA's weapons
have been put beyond use. The IRA confirms that all its weapons have been taken out of action.

8. 2006
On 15 May, the Stormont assembly sits for first time since its suspension in 2002. However,
hopes of a political breakthrough remain with disputes over policing and power-sharing.
On 4 October, the Independent Monitoring Commission says the Provisional IRA has undergone
a "transformation", disbanding military structures, standing down volunteers and following
through on its political strategy of renouncing terrorism and crime.
On 24 November, the loyalist murderer Michael Stone forces the suspension of the inaugural
meeting of Northern Ireland's transitional assembly when he storms into the entrance hall of
the parliament building armed with a knife, a handgun and what police said was a "viable"
bomb. He is later sentenced to 16 years in prison.
2007
On 7 March, Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist party wins in the assembly elections but comes
under intense pressure to enter a power-sharing government with Sinn Féin. Paisley and Adams
hold their first face-to-face meeting and agree to start sharing power on 8 May, with Paisley as
first minister and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness as his deputy.

9. 2008
On 4 March, Paisley announces he will step down as first minister and as leader of his
Democratic Unionist party in May. He is replaced by Peter Robinson.
On 3 September the IRA's ruling body, the army council, no longer has an army to command and
control, the Northern Ireland secretary, Shaun Woodward, declares. The latest IMC report says
the IRA's seven-man army council has fallen into "disuse".
On 10 November, the IMC reports that IRA dissidents were behind a more concentrated period
of attacks than at any time since 2004.
2009
On 31 January, police destroy a bomb packed with 300lb of explosive in Castlewellan, south of
Belfast. A splinter republican group claims responsibility.
On 4 March, Northern Ireland's most senior policeman, Sir Hugh Orde, confirms that the level
of threat from dissident republican terrorism is at its highest since he became chief constable
seven years ago.
On 7 March, dissident republican paramilitaries shoot dead two British soldiers outside their
barracks near Antrim and wound four other people, two of them pizza delivery men. The dead
men are the first British troops killed in Northern Ireland by terrorists since 1997.
On 9 March, Stephen Carroll, 48, a PSNI police officer from Banbridge, County Down, is shot
dead as he responds to an emergency call to the nationalist Drumbeg housing estate in
Craigavon, County Armagh, 26 miles south-west of Belfast. He is the first police officer murdered
in Northern Ireland since 1997, when two community constables were shot dead.

10.  Symbolism of
sacrifice
 Differences
Cal
and patterns
 Religion and
guilt
 Violence and
desire

12. Next Week
Reading Week