|
The Sunningdale Agreement on December 9, 1973, was an attempt to end the Northern Ireland troubles by forcing unionists to share power with nationalists. The Agreement had three parts — an elected Northern Ireland Assembly, a power-sharing cross-community Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. Unionist opposition, Provisional IRA violence and finally a loyalist general strike caused the collapse of the Agreement in May 1974. December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...
Dieu et mon droit (Royal motto) (French for God and my right)4 Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages none7 Main languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area - Total Ranked...
The Troubles is a term used to describe two periods of violence in Ireland during the twentieth century. ...
In the Irish context, Unionists form a group of largely (though not exclusively) Protestant people in Ireland, of all social classes, who wish to see the continuation of the Act of Union, as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, under which the Northern Ireland provincial state created in...
Irish nationalism refers to political movements that desire greater autonomy or the independence of Ireland from Great Britain. ...
The logo of the Northern Ireland Assembly is a six flowered linen or flax plant, chosen for the plants historical economic importance to the region. ...
The Northern Ireland Executive as established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 is the (currently suspended) executive body for Northern Ireland, answerable to the Northern Ireland Assembly. ...
The Council of Ireland may refer to one of two councils, one proposed and one implemented for a brief period. ...
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA; more commonly referred to as the IRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the army or the RA) is an Irish Republican paramilitary organisation dedicated to the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and to a United Ireland. ...
For the township in Canada, see Loyalist, Ontario In general, a loyalist is an individual who is loyal to the powers that be. ...
A general strike is a strike action by an entire labour force in a city, region or country. ...
The Northern Ireland Assembly
On March 20, 1973, the British government published a white paper which proposed a 78-member Northern Ireland Assembly, to be elected by proportional representation. The British government would retain control over law and order, and a Council of Ireland would give the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland a voice in each other's affairs. This assembly was to replace the suspended Stormont parliament, but it was hoped that this assembly would not be dominated by the Ulster Unionist Party in the same way, and would thus be acceptable to nationalists. March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). ...
1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...
The United Kingdom is a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy. ...
A white paper can be an authoritative report on a major issue, as by a team of experts; a government report outlining policy; or a short treatise whose purpose is to educate industry customers. ...
Proportional representation (PR) is a (by necessity multi-winner) electoral system whose use tends to make elections result in groups of votes being represented in proportional fractions in some body of representatives, i. ...
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which existed from June 7, 1921 to March 30, 1972, when it was suspended. ...
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party ) is a moderate unionist political party in Northern Ireland, which formed its government between 1921 and 1972 and was supported by most unionists throughout the Troubles. ...
The Northern Ireland Assembly Bill resulting from the white paper became law on 3 May 1973, and elections for the new assembly were held on 28 June. The agreement was supported by the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party, the unionist Ulster Unionist Party and the moderate unionist and cross-community Alliance Party. The pro-agreement parties won a clear majority of seats (52 to 26), but a substantial minority inside the Ulster Unionist Party opposed the agreement. May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap years). ...
(Some entries on this page have been duplicated on August 1. ...
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP — Irish: Páirtà Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is the smaller of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. ...
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party ) is a moderate unionist political party in Northern Ireland, which formed its government between 1921 and 1972 and was supported by most unionists throughout the Troubles. ...
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), is a political party operating in Northern Ireland. ...
Republicans boycotted the elections, and the Provisional Irish Republican Army continued its campaign of violence throughout the events described in this article. Irish Republicanism is the nationalist belief that all of Ireland should be a united independent republic. ...
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA; more commonly referred to as the IRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the army or the RA) is an Irish Republican paramilitary organisation dedicated to the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and to a United Ireland. ...
The Power Sharing Executive After the assembly elections, negotiations between the pro-agreement parties on the formation of a "Power Sharing Executive" began. The most contentious issues were internment, policing and the question of a Council of Ireland. The word internment is generally used to refer to the imprisonment or confinement of people, generally in prison camps or prisons, without due process of law and a trial. ...
On 21 November, agreement was reached on a voluntary coalition (not unlike the provisions of the Belfast Agreement) of pro-agreement parties. Prominent members of the executive included former Unionist Prime Minister Brian Faulkner as Chief Executive, then SDLP leader Gerry Fitt as Deputy Chief Executive, future Nobel Laureate and SDLP leader John Hume as Minister for Commerce and then leader of the Alliance Oliver Napier as Legal Minister and head of the Office of Law Reform. Again, the UUP was deeply divided — its Standing Committee voted to participate in the executive by a margin of only 132 to 105. Since the partition of Ireland, unionists had been opposed to sharing power with the nationalist minority, and the end of majoritarianism caused great strife in the UUP. November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was arguably a major step in the Northern Ireland peace process. ...
The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland, appointed by the Governor of Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. ...
The Right Honourable Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick (February 18, 1922 - March 3, 1977) was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1971 until 1972. ...
Gerrard Gerry Fitt, Baron Fitt (9 April 1926 – 26 August 2005) was a Northern Irish politician. ...
John Hume John Hume (born January 18, 1937) is an Northern Irish politician, and co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble of the UUP. He was the second leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, a position he held from 1979 until 2001. ...
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), is a political party operating in Northern Ireland. ...
Sir Oliver Napier was the first leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. ...
The Partition of Ireland took place in May 1921. ...
Majoritarianism is a political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a majority (sometimes categorized by religion, language or some other identifying factor) of the population is entitled to a certain degree of primacy in society, and has the right to make decisions that affect the society. ...
The Council of Ireland Provisions for a Council of Ireland existed in the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, however these had never been enacted. Unionists resented the idea of any "interference" by the Free State in their newly established region, nationalists refused to recognise the legitimacy of the partition. An Act to Provide for the Better Government of Ireland, more usually the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 (this is its official short title; the formal citation is 10 & 11 Geo. ...
After agreement had been reached on the formation of an executive, the next step was to agree on a Council of Ireland to stimulate co-operation with the Republic of Ireland. Talks were held between 6 December and 9 December in the Berkshire town of Sunningdale between the British Prime Minister Edward Heath, the Irish Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave and the three pro-agreement parties. The Council of Ireland may refer to one of two councils, one proposed and one implemented for a brief period. ...
December 6 is the 340th day (341st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Berkshire (IPA: or ; sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a county in England and forms part of the South East England region. ...
This page is about the town. ...
In the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister is the head of government, exercising many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. ...
Sir Edward Richard George Heath, KG , MBE (July 9, 1916 – July 17, 2005), soldier and politician, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. ...
The Taoiseach (plural: Taoisigh) or, more formally, An Taoiseach, is the head of government of the Republic of Ireland and the leader of the Irish cabinet. ...
Liam Cosgrave (Irish name Liam Mac Cosgair) (born April 13, 1920), served as the fifth Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland between 1973 and 1977. ...
The talks agreed on a two-part Council of Ireland:
- The Council of Ministers was to be composed of seven members from the power-sharing executive, and seven members from the Irish Government. It was to have "executive and harmonising functions and a consultative role".
- The Consultative Assembly was to be made up of 30 members from Dáil Éireann and 30 members from the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was to have "advisory and review functions" only.
The Irish government also accepted that Northern Ireland would remain a part of the United Kingdom unless a majority consented to join the Republic. Government Buildings, Dublin The Government (Irish: Rialtas) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in the Republic of Ireland. ...
The Dáil Chamber Dáil Éireann is the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of the Republic of Ireland. ...
On 9 December, a communiqué announcing the agreement was issued, which later became known as the Sunningdale Agreement. Communiqué is the second album by British rock band Dire Straits, released in 1979 (see 1979 in music). ...
The Ulster Workers' Council Strike The reaction from hardline unionists was extremely negative. It was eventually agreed that the executive functions of the Council would be limited to "tourism, conservation, and aspects of animal health", but this did not reassure the unionists, who saw any influence by the Republic over Northern affairs as a step closer to a united Ireland. They saw their worst fears confirmed when SDLP assembleyman Hugh Logue publicly described the Council of Ireland as "the vehicle that would trundle unionists into a united Ireland". A United Ireland is the common demand of Irish nationalists, envisaging that the island of Ireland (currently divided into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) be reunited as a single political entity. ...
On 10 December, the day after the agreement was announced, loyalist paramilitaries formed the Ulster Army Council — a coalition of loyalist paramilitary groups, including the UDA and the UVF, which would oppose the agreement. For the township in Canada, see Loyalist, Ontario In general, a loyalist is an individual who is loyal to the powers that be. ...
A paramilitary organization is a group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion. ...
Possible meanings: Ulster Defence Association Unified Driver Architecture Universal Database Access Utah Dental Association This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ...
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is a Northern Ireland loyalist paramilitary group. ...
In January 1974 the Ulster Unionist Party narrowly voted against continued participation in the Assembly and Faulkner resigned as leader, to be succeeded by the anti-Sunningdale Harry West. The following month a general election took place. The Ulster Unionists formed the United Ulster Unionist Council as a coalition of anti-agreement unionists with the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party to stand a single anti-Sunningdale candidate in each constituency. The pro Sunningdale parties, the SDLP, the Alliance, the Northern Ireland Labour Party and the "Pro Assembly Unionists" made up of Faulkner's supporters, were disunited and ran candidates against one another. When the results were declared, the UUUC had captured eleven of the twelve constituencies, several of which had been won on split votes. Only West Belfast returned a pro-Sunningdale MP. The UUUC declared that this represented a democratic rejection of the Sunningdale Assembly and Executive, and sought to bring them down by any means possible. 1974 (MCMLXXIV in Roman) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...
Harry West Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1974 to 1979. ...
The UK general election of February 1974 was held on February 28, 1974. ...
The United Ulster Unionist Council (also known as the United Ulster Unionist Coalition) was a body that sought to bring together the Unionists opposed to the Sunningdale Agreement in Northern Ireland. ...
The Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party, also known as the Vanguard Ulster Progressive Party (and several variations of word order), was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1973 and 1978. ...
The Democratic Unionist Party is a right wing unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ...
The Northern Ireland Labour Party was a political party which operated from 1924 until the 1980s. ...
West Belfast is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. ...
In March 1974, pro-agreement unionists withdrew their support for the agreement, calling for the Republic of Ireland to remove the Articles 2 and 3 of its constitution first. Article 2 and Article 3 of Bunreacht na hÉireann, the constitution of the Republic of Ireland, were adopted with the constitution as a whole in 1937, but completely revised by means of the Nineteenth Amendment which took full effect in 1999. ...
Following the defeat of a motion condemning power-sharing in the Northern Ireland Assembly, a loyalist organization called the Ulster Workers' Council called a general strike for 15 May. After two weeks of barricades, shortages, rioting and intimidation, Brian Faulkner resigned as Chief Executive and the Sunningdale Agreement collapsed on 28 May 1974. The unionist unwillingness to share power persuaded many nationalists to support the IRA. The Ulster Workers Council was a Loyalist workers organisation set up in Northern Ireland in 1974 as a more formalised successor to the Loyalist Association of Workers. ...
A general strike is a strike action by an entire labour force in a city, region or country. ...
Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition. ...
May 28 is the 148th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (149th in leap years). ...
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA; more commonly referred to as the IRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the army or the RA) is an Irish Republican paramilitary organisation dedicated to the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and to a United Ireland. ...
The strike succeeded because the British were reluctant to use force at an early stage and later the use of force was vetoed by the unionists in the executive.
The most crippling aspect of the strike was it's effect on electricity supply - the Ballylumford Power Station controlled Belfast's electricity and that of most of Northern Ireland. The workforce was overwhelmingly Protestant and effective control was firmly in the hands of UWC. John Hume's plan to cut the Northern Ireland electricity grid in two and rely on the power generated by Limavady Power Station (where many Catholics worked) to keep Derry and environs in business while undermining the unionist strikers in the east was rejected by the British Secretary of State Merlyn Rees, who was unwilling to provoke the strikers. John Hume John Hume (born January 18, 1937) is an Northern Irish politician, and co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble of the UUP. He was the second leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, a position he held from 1979 until 2001. ...
Derry or Londonderry (in Irish, Doire or Doire Cholm Chille), often called the Maiden City, is a city in Northern Ireland. ...
Merlyn Rees, later Baron Merlyn-Rees of Cilfynydd, PC (18 December 1920 - 5 January 2006) was a British Labour party Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992. ...
In later strikes the security forces were prepared to use force immediately and so intimidatory barricades - essential to the success of the UWC strike - were suppressed from the outset.
Some twenty-five years after the collapse of Sunningdale, the Belfast Agreement replicated most of its principles and was famously described as "Sunningdale for slow learners" by SDLP Deputy Leader Seamus Mallon. The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was arguably a major step in the Northern Ireland peace process. ...
Seamus Mallon (born on August 17, 1936) is a Northern Ireland politician and former Deputy Leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party. ...
See also The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which aimed to bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. ...
The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was arguably a major step in the Northern Ireland peace process. ...
External links - The Sunningdale Agreement — full text of the agreement, from the CAIN project's website
- The Sunningdale Agreement — Chronology of Main Events — from the same site
- Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals — text of the British government white paper which led to the agreement
- Ulster Workers' Council Strike — events and background to the UWC general strike, from the CAIN project
|
Feeds |
Contact