The Road to Peace

Five Years of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland

In the early 1990s, after twenty five years of disorder and bloodshed in Northern Ireland, the prospects of an end to violence looked remote. The many political parties representing the nationalist and unionist communities appeared to have no common ground between a desire for a united Ireland and the campaign to remain a part of the United Kingdom. And there were also the more extreme factions on each side who had taken up arms within paramilitary bodies - republicanism and loyalism. Even within these umbrellas there were many opposing splinter groups, often with political wings in disagreement with the voices of nationalism and unionism. How could the problem ever be solved?

And yet, the 1990s saw an inexorable drive towards peace. It was far from a straight line, with many upsets and violent disagreements along the way. Lives continued to be lost. However, by the end of the decade all four main political groups, along with those representing cross-community parties, had agreed a settlement which was put to the Northern Irish people and voted for in overwhelming numbers with a new power-sharing body set up. Old rivals sat in government together.

This collection gathers together archive from UTV in an attempt to tell the story of this drive for peace through key incidents along the way. Of course, deciding on a start point is difficult. The Hume/Adams talks behind the scenes unquestionably paved the way, but the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 could be an even earlier starting point. For the purpose of this collection we have settled on the Downing Street Declaration in 1993. Made by the governments of the UK and the Irish Republic, this tabled a new offer to all involved in paramilitary activity - put down the guns and you can be directly involved in the talks process. A chain of events was set in motion.

The full story of these years is complicated and seen through many prisms to this day. However, this collection sets oiut key events such as the involvement of President Clinton and his Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, Senator George Mitchell. The ceasefires from the IRA and loyalist groups are covered as well as the voice given to them through their political wings in Sinn Fein, the Progressive Unionist Party and the Ulster Democratic Party. Voices from the nationalist SDLP and the uninionists in the UUP and DUP are heard, as well as the cross-community Alliance Party and the Women's Coalition. 

Through ceasefires, talks, reports on decommissioning and the involvement of the British, Irish and American governments, the collection takes us through the decade to the pressure of the final days of the talks at Stormont as a deadline loomed, while also following the campaign to sell the deal to the public afterwards and the setting up of the first new power-sharing Assembly. This is the story of a decade which will live long in history.