There is no doubt that the Provisional IRA ceasefire of August 31 1994, followed weeks later by a similar announcement by loyalist paramilitaries, was a transformative moment for a generation that had lived with the tragic consequences of conflict and violence for a quarter of a century.
Although the path to permanent peace would remain uncertain, not least with the resumption of IRA violence in 1996 before its guns fell silent again a year later, the acceptance that its aims could be pursued through purely democratic means paved the way for the Good Friday Agreement and the ‘normal’ environment that is thankfully now taken for granted.
It was the culmination of years of painstaking work involving John Hume, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Fr Alec Reid, prominent figures in the British, Irish and US administrations, and a host of others who exerted a positive influence both publicly and behind the scenes. It is right to pause and recognise all those efforts again today.
- Colum Eastwood deserves credit but his successor inherits enormous electoral challenges for the SDLP - The Irish News viewOpens in new window
- Pensioners being left in the cold by a Stormont Executive frozen by indecision over winter fuel payments - The Irish News viewOpens in new window
- The enduring uncertainty and pain of the families of the Disappeared - The Irish News viewOpens in new window
As this paper has stated many times before, every murder during our troubled history, whatever the source, was evil and wrong and capable only of causing heartache, pain and bitterness.
There is no excuse for violence in any form and the ceasefires of the 1990s have thankfully proved durable, with sporadic attempts by dissident republicans to resurrect the conflict a reminder of the distance that has been travelled since those dreadful days.
However, the imagination and determination shown by those who delivered the peace has sadly not been replicated within the political structures born from it.
While bombs and bullets have been decommissioned, mindsets remain hard to change and the form of government that followed the St Andrews Agreement in particular has in some way reinforced divisions rather than built trust and partnership.
Difficult conversations have too often been ducked, from flags and identity to the painful legacy of three decades of conflict.
Indeed, is striking that the anniversary of the ceasefire comes in the same week that a first dig has begun for the remains of Captain Robert Nairac, a British soldier shot and secretly buried by the IRA in May 1977.
Cases of the ‘disappeared’ aside, the IRA, along with loyalists and state actors, has failed to provide truth, let alone justice, for hundreds of families bereaved during the Troubles – many of whom died without the closure they desperately deserved.
The absence of agreed structures to do so, the latest example being the disgraceful attempt by the Conservative government to shut down inquests and protect former soldiers from prosecution via the Legacy Act, does not relieve any parties to the conflict of that grave responsibility.
