The Anglo-Irish Agreement

The Anglo-Irish Agreement

The Anglo-Irish agreement, 1985, this was agreed between Prime

Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald.

Between 1980 and 1984, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

held regular meetings with Taoiseach Charles Haughey and then Garrett

Fitzgerald. Both governments were concerned about continuing the

violence with the IRA and about the increasing support for the IRA’S

political wing, Sinn Fein. By 1984, Mrs Thatcher was convinced that

any solution would have to involve the Irish republicans. Unionists in

Northern Ireland became increasingly concerned during these

discussions, but Thatcher ignored their fears. In November 1985, she

signed the Anglo-Irish agreement with Garrett Fitzgerald. The

agreement was well received in most of mainland Britain and the

republic. In Northern Ireland, the alliance and SDLP felt that it had

possibilities. Sinn Fein rejected this because it confirmed the

partition of Ireland. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922 established the

Irish Free State. Unionist objections to a united Ireland had resulted

in the establishment of Northern Ireland through the Government of

Ireland Act 1920. Relations between Dublin and London soured shortly

after the arrival to power of Eamonn de Valera in 1932. The 1930s were

dominated by a trade war, instigated by de Valera's Fianna Fail

Government. Ireland ratified a new constitution in 1937 and declared

itself a Republic in 1948. Britain responded with the Ireland Act

1949, which claimed exclusive British jurisdiction over the

administration of Northern Ireland. The emergence of the civil

rights ...

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...me's Social Democratic and

Labour Party (SDLP), who had indirectly influenced its outcome through

the New Ireland Forum and who been kept informed of negotiations

through contact with the Irish Government.

Opposition to the Agreement emanated from traditional nationalists, or

republicans, in both parts of Ireland, primarily Sinn Féin (SF) and

Fianna Fáil (FF), and most vehemently, from the unionist politicians

and population of Northern Ireland. Breakaway terrorist groups such

as the Real IRA haven't agreed with the IRA's ceasefire.

They have carried on bombing in places like Omagh and London.

But on 28 July 2005 the IRA released a very important statement,

saying that they were giving up violence for good.

They also promised to destroy all their weapons and told all their

members to stop fighting as well.