News

20th anniversary of landmark 1997 IRA ceasefire

 Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams holding a copy of The Irish News at a press conference on July 19 1997. Picture from RTÉ
 Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams holding a copy of The Irish News at a press conference on July 19 1997. Picture from RTÉ  Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams holding a copy of The Irish News at a press conference on July 19 1997. Picture from RTÉ

THE 1997 IRA ceasefire was the "definitive" cessation which paved the way for key peace talks, a historian has said on the 20th anniversary of the announcement.

The Provisional IRA declared its second ceasefire on July 19 1997, which came into force from midday the following day.

Just months later, Sinn Féin began official talks with then Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair - an important step which led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

In 2005, the IRA then declared an end to its armed campaign.

The IRA statement on July 1997 read: "We want a permanent peace and therefore we are prepared to enhance the search for a democratic peace settlement... Having assessed the current political situation, the leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann are announcing a complete cessation of military operations from 12 o'clock midday on Sunday, the 20th July 1997... We have ordered the unequivocal restoration of the ceasefire of August 1994. All IRA units have been instructed accordingly."

Historian and Irish News columnist Brian Feeney said the August 1994 ceasefire was the "most significant" because it came after several years of intensive talks as well as the 1993 Downing Street Declaration which affirmed that people in Ireland had the exclusive right to solve north/south issues.

However, he said 1997 "was the definitive ceasefire because it paved the way for talks".

The aftermath of the IRA's Canary Wharf bomb in February 1996
The aftermath of the IRA's Canary Wharf bomb in February 1996 The aftermath of the IRA's Canary Wharf bomb in February 1996

Mr Feeney said progress was scuppered after the 1994 announcement because then British Prime Minister John Major's Conservative government was reliant on support from the Ulster Unionists.

"The following three years (after 1994) were largely wasted because John Major didn't have a majority," he said.

"The Ulster Unionists were crucial to Major over Europe. If you remember he had a difficult time over the Maastricht Treaty.

"He was so frustrated because he couldn't make progress - at one time he had a majority of one. He really needed the Ulster Unionists to keep him in power."

Mr Feeney said the collapse of the ceasefire with the London Docklands bomb in February 1996 was a major set-back.

Celebrations after the August 1994 IRA ceasefire
Celebrations after the August 1994 IRA ceasefire Celebrations after the August 1994 IRA ceasefire

"There was no real community support for going back," he said.

"When the ceasefire broke in 1996 no-one wanted it to break. Everything had been great from August 1994 so (when it broke) people were completely fed up."

However, he said the IRA had been frustrated by the lack of political talks.

"Within the IRA there was a lot of opposition - a year after the 1994 ceasefire they felt they had got nowhere so by the summer of 1995 the IRA army council felt they'd 'been had'," he said.

"August/September 1995 was very dangerous because there could have been a split within the IRA."

File photo from 10/04/98 of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (right) former US Senator George Mitchell (centre) and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (left) smiling after they signed the historic agreement for peace in Northern Ireland. 
File photo from 10/04/98 of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (right) former US Senator George Mitchell (centre) and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (left) smiling after they signed the historic agreement for peace in Northern Ireland.  File photo from 10/04/98 of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (right) former US Senator George Mitchell (centre) and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (left) smiling after they signed the historic agreement for peace in Northern Ireland. 

He said the election of Labour leader Tony Blair as Prime Minister in May 1997 was vital in bringing about the second cessation.

"If the Conservatives had got in again in 1997 there wouldn't have been a ceasefire," he said.

"But it was the end of an era.

"John Major was hanging on and all the betting pointed to the Labour Party coming in. The ceasefire was inevitable once Tony Blair was elected.

"What Major couldn't offer was talks with Sinn Féin but Blair could. The ceasefire was declared and talks began in September."

 Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams holding a copy of The Irish News at a press conference on July 19 1997. Picture from RTÉ
 Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams holding a copy of The Irish News at a press conference on July 19 1997. Picture from RTÉ  Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams holding a copy of The Irish News at a press conference on July 19 1997. Picture from RTÉ