This move comes amid deep political tensions over decommissioning and Sinn Féin’s role in the peace process. The GFA requires both the UK and Irish governments to ratify the agreement, and the Northern Ireland Assembly to function under a power sharing Executive. However, progress on decommissioning — the disarmament of paramilitary groups — has stalled, and Sinn Féin’s participation in cross‑border talks is seen by some Unionists as a political liability.
The dispute reflects broader disagreements over:
Sinn Féin’s political legitimacy in the peace process.
Unionist concerns about the Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) continued armed activities.
Irish government and nationalist demands for full political inclusion.
The UK Government’s attempt to restrict Sinn Féin’s cross‑border participation is a direct challenge to the GFA’s principle of inclusive political engagement. It underscores the fragility of the peace process, as even the most carefully negotiated agreements can be undermined by procedural disputes and mistrust between parties.
This episode is part of a wider period of implementation challenges after the GFA’s signing, where political disagreements over disarmament, decommissioning, and cross‑border cooperation often threaten to paralyse the Assembly.
Hume, a key architect of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, is widely respected for his unwavering commitment to dialogue and negotiations in resolving the long-running conflict in Northern Ireland. The Dalai Lama, also a Nobel laureate, praises Hume’s deep conviction in the power of peaceful resolution, noting that his leadership and persistence were instrumental in achieving the historic peace agreement.
The meeting takes place at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, a central venue for political and cultural events in Northern Ireland. The Dalai Lama’s visit is part of a three-day stay in the city, underscoring the shared values of peace, nonviolence, and reconciliation between the two leaders.
This encounter reflects the mutual respect between Hume and the Dalai Lama, both of whom have dedicated their lives to resolving conflicts through dialogue rather than violence.
Blair tells Sinn Féin he needs assurance that its members are committed to “exclusively peaceful means” for the peace process to succeed, and stresses that all parties must recognise their obligations under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Durkan warns that while the power sharing government might be suspended, the agreement itself should not be “crippled” but only “injured.” He says the SDLP will not support a motion to exclude Sinn Féin from the Executive, but acknowledges that the Ulster Unionists cannot be expected to continue sitting alongside Sinn Féin under the current circumstances.
Durkan also stresses that the best way to reassure communities is to end IRA-related concerns, calling for an end to IRA activity. He urges both governments to avoid an “orgy of mutual recrimination” and to keep the political agenda focused on protecting the peace process.
This moment is a critical test for the Good Friday Agreement, as the suspension of the Executive risks undermining the democratic path it has established, but Durkan’s stance reflects the SDLP’s commitment to preserving the framework of the peace deal even amid political turmoil.
Progressing the Peace Process – the parties are consolidating steps needed to establish Northern Ireland’s new devolved Assembly, following the Good Friday Agreement signed in April 1998.
Confirming Executive Arrangements and Cross-Community Cooperation – discussion focuses on how the new Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive can function on a cross-community basis, ensuring Unionist and Nationalist representation in governance and decision-making.
Addressing the Controversial Role of the Queen – newly declassified documents show that Tony Blair and Secretary of State for Northern IrelandMo Mowlam explored whether Queen Elizabeth II should officially open the new Assembly, a sensitive question due to nationalist perception. They propose consulting privately with Seamus Mallon before final decisions are made with David Trimble.
Ensuring the Implementation of Key Good Friday Agreement Provisions – including Irish Republican Army (IRA) decommissioning of weapons, parity in representation for Unionists and Nationalists in the Assembly, and planning for the full transfer of powers from the UK Government to the Assembly, which is scheduled for December 1999.
Key outcomes and discussions coming out of the meeting include:
Commitment to Institutions: Blair, Trimble, and Mallon agree on the importance of setting up a shadow Assembly that can transition to full devolved powers once cross-party agreements are stable.
Cross-Community Provisions: Blair emphasizes that sensitive issues require cross-community approval in the Assembly, warning that majority-rule-only systems could lead to collapse if abused.
International Support: George Mitchell, as U.S. envoy, reaffirms American support for the peace process and encourages local leaders to uphold commitments.
Political Sensitivities of the Queen’s Role: Blair and Mowlam note the potential nationalist backlash if the Queen’s presence is prominent, suggesting alternative ceremonial openings.
Security and Prisoner Issues: Discussions also cover paramilitary decommissioning, with particular concern over Sinn Féin and IRA compliance to allow the formation of the shadow Executive safely.
The meeting is part of a broader diplomatic effort. It occurs after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (April 10, 1998) but before formal referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland approving the Agreement (May 22 and 23, 1998). It highlights the delicate balancing act between Unionists and Nationalists, the role of the UK and Irish governments, and international mediation, notably from the U.S. via George Mitchell.
Declassified documents at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast detail concerns over cross-community decision-making and the Queen’s status in ceremonial openings. The CAIN: Irish Peace Process Chronology confirms Blair, Trimble, and Mallon are engaging in preparatory discussions to implement the Agreement’s provisions and ensure the Assembly’s initial functionality. U.S. involvement through George Mitchell underscores the international commitment to maintaining peace and political stability during the transitional period.
In summary, the September 27, 1998 meeting is a crucial step in operationalizing the Good Friday Agreement, demonstrating cooperative leadership among British, Unionist, and Nationalist figures, with strategic oversight from the United States. It sets the stage for the new Northern Ireland Assembly, addressing ceremonial, legislative, and security challenges central to the successful devolution of powers.
Key participants demonstrate cautious diplomacy, foresight in cross-community governance, and recognition of the international dimension crucial to Northern Ireland’s peace process.
(Pictured: (L to R) David Trimble, George Mitchell and Seamus Mallon)
The march is orchestrated by networks of Ulster Unionist victims’ groups, Protestant clergy, parties, and cultural organizations. The mobilization draws from what scholars term the Unionist Victims Movement, which seeks to highlight perceived mistreatment of Protestant Unionists in the post-agreement political settlement. Groups involved include the Northern Irish Victims of Terrorism Association (NIVTA) and affiliated organizations. They frame the protest in terms of civil rights for Protestants, drawing analogies with global civil rights movements to legitimize their cause.
The September 25 march aims to lay a wreath at the cenotaph in Belfast to commemorate victims of the Troubles. This act is symbolic, emphasizing that Protestant victims of the conflict feel ignored or marginalized in the ongoing peace process. The march is also referred to as “The Long March,” which is structured to traverse central areas of Belfast, culminating in a rally at the grounds of Stormont Parliament. Organizers promote messages such as “pride, not prejudice” and “heritage, not hatred” to frame the march as a civic, rights-based demonstration rather than sectarian agitation.
Belfast City Council issues a ban on the march, restricting access to certain areas. Nevertheless, the Protestant marchers blatantly defy this prohibition. This act of defiance is deliberate, signaling a protest against perceived institutional bias and asserting the visibility of the Protestant community’s grievances.
The march reflects ongoing tensions within Northern Irish society during a period of post-conflict transition, where newly established power sharing mechanisms are perceived by some Unionist factions as disadvantaging Protestant communities. The event is emblematic of a strategy used by the Unionist Victims Movement to mobilize public attention and articulate a collective identity rooted in historical victimhood, despite being part of a locally dominant ethno-national group.
Contemporary news accounts note the boldness of defying official restrictions and the wider sociopolitical implications for the peace process. The Long March serves as both a commemorative act and a political statement, uniting a range of Protestant organizations in a conflictual social movement for civil rights recognition.
In summary, the September 25, 1999 Protestant civil rights march in Belfast is a strategically organized demonstration by Protestant and Unionist groups that deliberately defies a municipal ban to assert the civil rights of their community. The event combines symbolic commemoration of the Troubles’ victims with a broader protest against perceived post-Good Friday Agreement injustices, highlighting the complex dynamics of post-conflict mobilization and identity politics in Northern Ireland.
The inaugural 12-person national executive sits at the “top table” under a banner of the 1916 Proclamation’s signatories. Notable members included Nuala Perry, vice-chairperson and former Provisional IRA prisoner, Kevin Murphy, former Real IRA prisoner, Risteard Ó Murchú, former republican prisoner, Sharon Rafferty, Dee Fennell, David Jordan and Mandy Duffy, sister-in-law of Colin Duffy. Other attendees include veteran republican leader Billy McKee, Thomas Ashe Mellon and Issam Hijjawi, Chair of the Association of Palestinian Communities in Scotland.
Saoradh positions itself as a far-left, dissident republican movement advocating a 32-county socialist republic free from British rule and European Union (EU) interference, anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism, and worker ownership of production, rejection of the Good Friday Agreement as a capitulation to British control and grassroots activism, street politics, and campaigns for republican prisoners.
The founding press release emphasizes that Ireland should be governed by the Irish people, with wealth and wealth-producing mechanisms in the people’s ownership, rejecting both British imperialism and capitalist exploitation. The event is marked by a mix of political rhetoric, historical symbolism, and support from prominent dissident figures.
In short, September 24, 2016, marks the official launch of Saoradh as a political front for dissident republicans committed to revolutionary means to achieve Irish unification and national sovereignty.
On September 5, 1998, United States PresidentBill Clinton becomes a Freeman of Limerick, following in the footsteps of John F. Kennedy, who had received the honor in 1963. The ceremony marks the last day of Clinton’s official visit to Ireland, which had begun earlier in the month and included stops in Dublin, Adare, Limerick, and Kerry.
On September 5, thousands gather on O’Connell Street to hear Clinton speak to an estimated 40,000 people. His address references the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process, saying: “Because of what you have done in Ireland in 1998, you have made it possible for me to tell every warring, feuding hating group of people trapped in the prison of their past conflicts to look at Ireland and know there can be a better day.”
The speech is broadcast worldwide and is delivered during a period when Clinton is facing political challenges in the United States, but he is still held in high esteem in Ireland for his role in the Northern Ireland peace process.
By being granted the Freedom of the City of Limerick, Clinton joins a distinguished list of U.S. presidents honored by Irish cities, underscoring the strong ties between the United States and Ireland. The visit and ceremony are symbolic of reconciliation, mutual respect, and the shared history of Irish Americans in U.S. politics.
In short, September 5, 1998, is both a personal milestone for Clinton and a moment of national and international significance, blending political diplomacy with public celebration.
The unrest was triggered by the Orange Order’s permission to march its traditional route through the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, County Armagh, a Catholic/nationalist area, as part of the annual Drumcree parading dispute. The Orange Order, a Protestant fraternal organization, has marched this route since 1807 to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne. For decades, Catholic residents object to the route, seeing it as a sectarian provocation.
The decision to allow the march comes after death threats from loyalistparamilitaries to target Catholics if the parade is stopped. This concession outrages nationalists, who also resent the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)’s aggressive policing of protesters.
On July 6, around 1,000 Orangemen march under a sealed-off Garvaghy Road, with about 1,500 RUC and British Army personnel present. The next day, mass protests erupt in areas like North Belfast, Lurgan, and west Belfast’s Lenadoon district. Rioters hurl stones, petrol bombs, and other projectiles at security forces, while Republican paramilitaries engage in gun battles with police.
Security forces responded with plastic bullets and other riot control measures, firing over 2,500 plastic bullets at rioters. A 13-year-old boy is critically injured after being struck by one. Hundreds of vehicles are hijacked, set on fire, and used to block roads in Belfast, Newry, Armagh, and Dungannon. The RUC and British Army have to withdraw entirely from some nationalist areas of Belfast.
One civilian is killed in the rioting and over 100 people are injured, including 62 RUC officers and at least three soldiers. One hundred seventeen arrests are made and some armoured vehicles are either damaged or destroyed. An indirectly related incident sees a loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member killed by a pipe bomb he is handling.
The riots highlight the fragility of peace efforts and deepen divisions over parading rights. The episode leads Secretary of State for Northern IrelandMo Mowlam to urge Orange leaders to reroute future marches. For the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the riots are its last major action in a 27-year campaign. It declares its final ceasefire on July 19, 1997.
The 1997 riots are the last widespread sectarian violence in Northern Ireland before the Good Friday Agreement, underscoring the unresolved nature of the Drumcree dispute and the challenges of achieving lasting peace.
(Pictured: “Drumcree, The Garvaghy Road July 1997” by military artist David Rowlands, oil on canvas, owned by the 1st Battalion (The Cheshires) The Mercian Regiment which depicts British soldiers during the rioting on Garvaghy Road)
O’Faolain is born in Dublin on March 1, 1940, the second of nine children of Tomás O’Faolain and Kathleen O’Sullivan. Originally a schoolteacher and Army lieutenant, under the pen name Terry O’Sullivan, her father becomes a prominent social diarist for the Evening Press in Dublin. He is distant from his children and engages in extra-marital affairs which produce at least two half-siblings. Despite earning as much money as the newspaper’s editor, Douglas Gageby, he does not share his income with his family. The family lives in poor conditions, frequently going hungry. Her mother becomes an alcoholic, going to the pub every day at 4 p.m. and not returning home until midnight.
O’Faolain attends convent school in Dublin but is expelled at the age of fourteen after going home from dances with a married man. She then goes to a boarding school in County Monaghan, whose austere environment and strict educational standards benefit her. From there, she studies English literature at University College Dublin (UCD), where she runs in a social circle that includes Mary Lavin, John McGahern, Patrick Kavanagh, and Louis MacNeice. Although she drops out of her studies temporarily and spends time working menial jobs in England, with financial assistance from Lavin and others, she graduates in 1961. On scholarships, she studies medieval English at the University of Hull before completing a postgraduate degree in 19th-century English literature at the University of Oxford. She then returns to Dublin to work at UCD as an academic in the English literature department, which brings her into contact with the bohemian Dublin literary scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In 1970, O’Faolain moves to London to work for the BBC. She is a producer at the Community Programme Unit, which seeks to allow members of the public to create programmes for national broadcast on human interest topics like transgender people, anti-pornography protests, and community organising in the Bogside. She also makes programmes with the arts faculty of the Open University, and teaches evening classes at Morley College. During this period, she shows little interest in Ireland, regarding the country as backward and unsophisticated, but a visit to the Merriman Summer School in County Clare in 1974 sparks new enthusiasm. In 1977, she moves back to Dublin to work for the public broadcaster, RTÉ, where she becomes a colleague of female journalists like Doireann Ní Bhriain, Marian Finucane, and Nell McCafferty – later her partner – who are making programmes about Irish society with a feminist bent. She Is the producer of Women Today, a pioneering radio programme, from 1983 to 1986. One series she works on, Plain Tales, a televised interview programme in which women speak directly to camera about their life experiences, wins a Jacob’s Award in 1985.
O’Faolain has an interest in books from an early age, and credits voracious reading for helping her through a difficult childhood. She works as a book reviewer for The Times. Between 1990 and 1993, she co-presents Booklines, a television programme about books for RTÉ, a programme she says “nobody ever watched because it was on terribly late at night.”
In 1986, Conor Brady, the editor of The Irish Times, offers O’Faolain a newspaper column after hearing her being interviewed by Gay Byrne on the radio. Brady is struck by her ability to “infuse ordinary people’s everyday activities with value and interest.” The column becomes a major success and she is awarded journalist of the year in 1986.
O’Faolain acts as a roving commentator for The Irish Times, covering the 1994 Cregg Wood murders in County Clare, and visiting Northern Ireland at the time of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Following periods of leave while she works on her books, she leaves the paper in 2002, and writes a column in the Sunday Tribune from 2005 until her death.
O’Faolain never marries and has no children. Although she writes about her relationships with men and women, she does not identify as bisexual, though others have described her as such. She suffers from alcoholism. After Are You Somebody?, she divides her time between Ireland and New York City. During the final years of her life, she is in a relationship with a Brooklyn-based lawyer, John Low-Beer, whom she meets on Match.com.
O’Faolain is diagnosed with metastatic cancer while living in New York City in early 2008. She experiences a strange feeling in the right side of her body and presents at the emergency department of a hospital, where she is told that she has primary tumours in her lungs which has spread to her brain and liver, and that her cancer is incurable. She refuses chemotherapy.
O’Faolain returns to Ireland and is interviewed by her friend, Marian Finucane, on her radio show about her terminal illness on April 12, 2008. Both O’Faolain and Finucane are in tears during the interview, which is recorded in Galway, where she is undergoing radiotherapy. She tells Finucane: “I don’t want more time. As soon as I heard I was going to die, the goodness went from life”. Her frank discussion of her illness leads to the interview being preceded by a warning that her comments may be upsetting to others with life-threatening conditions. She says that she does not believe in God or an afterlife, but as in the song “Thíos i Lár an Ghleanna,” she is asking for help she knows will not come from a god she does not believe in. The interview has a major public impact in Ireland. After Finucane’s death in 2020, the Irish Independent describes it as “one of the most extraordinary [interviews] in the history of Irish broadcasting.”
In the final weeks of her life, O’Faolain travels Europe with close friends and family, staying in the Ritz Hotel in Paris and visiting the Berlin State Opera and the Prado Museum in Madrid for the first time. She dies in a hospice in Blackrock, Dublin, late on May 9, 2008. Her funeral takes place in the Church of Our Lady of the Visitation in Fairview in north Dublin on May 13. Her ashes are buried in Kilbarrack Cemetery in north Dublin with her maternal grandparents, Terence and Marion O’Sullivan, and her brother, Dermot Phelan.
From the late 1960s until the late 1990s, Northern Ireland undergoes a conflict known as the Troubles, in which more than 3,500 people are killed. More than 700 of those killed are British military personnel, deployed as part of Operation Banner. The vast majority of these British military personnel are killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), which wages an armed campaign to force the British to negotiate a withdrawal from Northern Ireland. In 1997, the IRA calls a final ceasefire and in 1998 the Good Friday Agreement is signed. This is widely seen as marking the end of the conflict.
However, breakaway groups of dissident Irish republicans oppose the ceasefire and continue a low-level armed campaign against the British security forces in Northern Ireland. The main group involved is an IRA splinter group known as the Real IRA. In 2007, the British Army formally ends Operation Banner and greatly reduces its presence in Northern Ireland.
The low-level dissident republican campaign continues. In January 2009, security forces have to defuse a bomb in Castlewellan, County Down, and in 2008 three separate incidents see dissident republicans attempt to kill PSNI officers in Derry, Castlederg and Dungannon. In all three cases, PSNI officers are seriously wounded. Two of the attacks involve firearms while the other involves an under-car booby-trap bomb.
At about 9:40 p.m. on the evening of Saturday, March 7, four off-duty British soldiers of the Royal Engineers walk outside the barracks to receive a pizza delivery from two delivery men. As the exchange is taking place, two masked gunmen in a nearby car open fire with PM md. 63assault rifles. The firing lasts for more than 30 seconds with more than 60 shots being fired. After the initial burst of gunfire, the gunmen walk over to the wounded soldiers lying on the ground and fire again at close range, killing two of them. Those killed are Sappers Mark Quinsey from Birmingham and Patrick Azimkar from London. The other two soldiers and two deliverymen are wounded. The soldiers are wearing desert fatigues and were to be deployed to Afghanistan the following day. A few hours later, the stolen car involved is found abandoned near Randalstown, eight miles (13 km) from the barracks.
A Dublin-based newspaper, the Sunday Tribune, receives a phone call from a caller using a recognised Real IRA codeword. The caller claims responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Real IRA, adding that the civilian pizza deliverymen were legitimate targets as they were “collaborating with the British by servicing them.”
The shootings are the first British military fatalities in Northern Ireland since Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was shot dead by the Provisional IRA in February 1997, during the Troubles. The attack comes days after a suggestion by Northern Ireland’s police chief, Sir Hugh Orde, that the likelihood of a “terrorist” attack in Northern Ireland is at its highest level in several years.
Civilian security officers belonging to the Northern Ireland Security Guard Service are criticised for not opening fire during the incident, as a result of which plans are made to retrain and rearm them.
The morning after the attack, worshippers come out of St. Comgall’s Church after mass and keep vigil near the barracks. They are joined by their priest and clerics from the town’s other churches. On March 11, 2009, thousands of people attend silent protests against the killings at several venues in Northern Ireland.
The killings are condemned by all mainstream political parties in Northern Ireland, as well as the Irish government, the United States government and Pope Benedict XVI. Sinn Féin condemns the killings, but is criticised for being less vehement than others in its condemnation.
On March 14, 2009, the PSNI arrests three men in connection with the killings, one of whom is former IRA prisoner Colin Duffy. He had broken away from mainstream republicanism and criticised Sinn Féin’s decision to back the new PSNI. On March 25, 2009, after a judicial review of their detention, all the men are ordered to be released by the Belfast High Court. Duffy is immediately re-arrested on suspicion of murder. On March 26, 2009, Duffy is charged with the murder of the two soldiers and the attempted murder of five other people. The following day he appears in court for indictment and is remanded in custody to await trial after it is alleged that his full DNA profile had been found on a latex glove inside the vehicle used by the gunmen. There is also soil found in the car they drove that matches the soil on the ground in front of the barracks.
Brian Shivers, a cystic fibrosis sufferer, is charged with the soldiers’ murders and the attempted murder of six other people. He is also charged with possession of firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life. He is arrested in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, in July 2009.
In January 2012, Shivers is convicted of the soldiers’ murders, but Duffy is acquitted. In January 2013, Shivers’s conviction is overturned by Northern Ireland’s highest appeals court. A May 2013 retrial finds Shivers not guilty. He is cleared of all charges and immediately released from jail. The judge questions why the Real IRA would choose Shivers as the gunman, with his cystic fibrosis and his engagement to a Protestant woman.
The barracks are shut down in 2010 as part of the reduction of the British Army presence in Northern Ireland.
