Troubles ceasefires showed that the political process always offered an alternative to violence - The Irish News view

The weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the IRA’s announcement of a “complete cessation” of violence, a hugely significant statement which like so many others from republican and loyalist sources over the same period did not necessarily mean exactly what it said.

However, it can clearly be seen in retrospect as a key moment during the series of events which eventually took us to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the power-sharing Stormont structures which remain in place today.

It should be remembered that, while 1994 witnessed the major turning points provided by both the republican and loyalist ceasefires, it was still an exceptionally dangerous period for all sections of our divided community.

From January 1 to the IRA’s ceasefire declaration on August 31, a total of 118 people - almost one every other day - were killed, a truly shocking figure at a stage when peace negotiations were at an advanced stage.

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While the IRA was responsible for more deaths than any other group during the course of the Troubles, loyalists had sharply increased their activities during 1994 and were by then inflicting most of the bloodshed.

Each and every death in the conflict on all sides was not just wrong but cruel, savage and only capable of causing levels of grief and bitterness which will remain close to the surface for generations to come.

Although there were many injustices which prevented the emergence of something close to a normal society, they could all have been addressed by purely constitutional means over a period of time.

Instead, republicans, loyalists and on occasions the forces of the state took innocent lives on an enormous scale until the will of ordinary citizens decreed that politics was the only way forward.

When the IRA ceasefire of August 1994 was followed by a similar loyalist move two months later, there was a huge opportunity for inter-party talks to make progress.

It was completely tragic that both sides subsequently resumed their armed campaigns, involving even more futile casualties, but the links which were in place between Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Ulster Unionist Party allowed the Good Friday Agreement to follow.

The positive involvement of the Dublin, London and Washington administrations was also crucial, and we have now moved firmly into a new era which facilitates dealing with all the opportunities and frustrations involved in a purely political process.

No-one can say where the debate over Irish unity and a border referendum will ultimately take us but it will be accepted by all that the catastrophes before and for a period after the historic ceasefires of 1994 will not be returning.