Top Ten in the Peace Process

Duke of Marmalade

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Not really LOS, just some observations.

1. Margaret Thatcher - perhaps unwittingly but if it wasn't for the hunger strikes SF/IRA would still be in the political wilderness and still fighting a low level terrorist war. The political rocket boost of the hunger strikes meant the ballot box became a realistic alternative to the bullet for SF/IRA.
2. Tony Blair
3. John Major - I know my top three are Brit PMs but the fact is that the PP was in essence a major concession to terrorists with substantial risks by the British government(s). The republicans were given an offer they couldn't refuse and the unionists did what they were told, so no real credit to either of the supposed peace-making factions.
4. George Mitchell - the unsung hero
5. Bill Clinton - he really didn't have to spend so much time on this.
6. John Bruton - other Irish Taoisaoigh get more credit but really they took no domestic political risks, just did what would be expected of them. JB helped assuage the Unionists, it was easy to support the republicans.
7. John Hume and the SDLP - whilst he personally did ok (Nobel etc.) it was political suicide for his party.
8. Bertie Ahern - as I say no real political risk for Southern politicians but Bertie seems to have put a lot into it personally.
9. Albert Reynolds - similar comments but he did win over the hearts and minds of some loyalists.
T10. Martin McGuinness - in general SF/IRA deserve no credit as they were conceded almost everything as witnessed by their 99% support for the GFA. However it was a big swallow to support Continuity RUC, Martin I think takes the credit.
T10. Jeffrey Donaldson - similarly I think JD was mainly behind the real hardliners of Unionism accepting a deal.

Selected others: Mo Mowlam, David Trimble, Seamus Mallon, Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson, Gerry Adams, Fr. Alex Reid, Cardinal Brady, Archbishop Eames, The Alliance Party, Martin Mansergh, Dick Spring, Liz O'Donnell, John de Chastellane, Van Morrison and Brian Kennedy
 
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I forgot Garret Fitzgerald. His contribution came before it is generally recognised that the PP commenced but still his work with the winner, Mrs T, should definitely put him in the fray.
 
You forgot CJ Haughey, the man who started the whole ball rolling. Though not publically and so with no real risk to his political capital. It was his contacts, through Fr. Alex Reid, with the IRA that planted the seeds of the peace process in the minds of the Provo's. Even Furgus Finlay acknowledged that in his book about being Dick Spring's special advisor and he was no friend of Haughey.

I'd put Albert as the top Irish politician. he beat the path; before him there was no public high level political agenda for peace which included the IRA. After him it was front and centre and no Irish politician could not have it at the top of their list of priorities. He created the momentum.
Dick Spring should also be on your list of "others" as should, to a lesser extent, Liz O'Donnell who was junior minister for foreign affairs around that time.
David Trimble also sacrificed his political career for the peace process. If John Hume is on the first list then so should Trimble.
Martin Mansergh was the glue that held it together for years. He had to be mentioned before many on your list.
 
John Hume has to get primary recognition for his work on the peace process... no one worked longer or harder to get thingsds moving in the 80s or 90s. On this side of the border, I think we concentrate too much on the developments from 1993 onwards and there was a serious amount of work done before this to get to that point. If you listen back to what John Hume's views in the 1970s on what would bring about peace, the model is broadly similar to what is in place today.

I know the list is quite subjective, you'd have to consider how some people (American presidents etc.) had a lot of influence through economic power but maybe a lesser need/want to see things things develop.
 
Purple

I have updated the selected others.

But I refuse to include Mr H. For me Haughey (Blaney, Boland et al) are the key architects of the protracted Provo campaign - the Arms Trial is a most telling event.

His churlish rejection of the Anglo Irish Agreement proved he remained irredentist. I also don't like this tendency to commend bad guys turned good like Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley. For me guys like Garret and Hume who are thoroughly good guys all along are much more deserving.
 
Purple

I have updated the selected others.

But I refuse to include Mr H. For me Haughey (Blaney, Boland et al) are the key architects of the protracted Provo campaign - the Arms Trial is a most telling event.

His churlish rejection of the Anglo Irish Agreement proved he remained irredentist. I also don't like this tendency to commend bad guys turned good like Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley. For me guys like Garret and Hume who are thoroughly good guys all along are much more deserving.

I agree that Haughey's rejection of the Anglo-Irish agreement was political opportunism of the worst kind, and that he was bombastic and superior when he should have been conciliatory and generous of spirit but the fact remains that he started the ball rolling.

Our opinions on the arms trial vary but that discussion would drag the thread off topic.

BTW, irredentist is a great word but wouldn't unredeemed have done? :)
 
What did Brian Kennedy and Van Morrison do?
What about John de Chastelain?
 
BTW, irredentist is a great word but wouldn't unredeemed have done? :)
I looked up irr.. before posting as I know eagle eyed contributors would pounce upon it. It means determined to seize territory, after some Italian guys. it's what I meant but "unredeemed" is even better:D
 
What did Brian Kennedy and Van Morrison do?
What about John de Chastelain?
Jayz Purple, that's the last update to the list:(

I think their cross divide concert celebrating the GFA was very effective.

It's amazing though that people born after the GFA esp. on the loyalist side are as bigoted as ever.
 
Jayz Purple, that's the last update to the list:(

I think their cross divide concert celebrating the GFA was very effective.

It's amazing though that people born after the GFA esp. on the loyalist side are as bigoted as ever.

This reminds me of the "What have the Romans ever done for us" sketch;
"John de Chastellane, yea of course John de Chastellane, goes without sayin' don'it?"
 
Id throw Gusty Spence and David Ervine in there also...
After the Provos announced their cease fire Gusty Spence spoke on behalf of the Combined Loyalist Command and announced a ceasefire and went one better.
He apologised for all the deaths attributed to "his" side and that wasnt expected when the cease fire was announced and it prompted others to apologise which helped cement the seeds of trust.
In addition, he acted as a father figure to some of the younger loyalist commanders and kept them on the right path.
David Ervine surprised me most of all from within the loyalist violence faction.
Here was a man who was largely uneducated and spent time in prison for acts of violence.
He was one of the most articulate speakers I have ever heard and he always spoke with reconciliation in his voice.
Until I heard Ervine and Spence speak I always though of loyalists as mindless murderers who merely wanted to wipe out catholics/nationalists and I think they changed the perception some of us down south had of northern loyalists.
 
Until I heard Ervine and Spence speak I always though of loyalists as mindless murderers who merely wanted to wipe out catholics/nationalists and I think they changed the perception some of us down south had of northern loyalists.

He was a mindless murderer...per wikipedia:
On 7 May 1966, a group of UVF men led by Spence petrol bombed a Catholic-owned pub on Shankill Road. Fire also engulfed the house next door, killing the elderly widow, Matilda Gould (77), who lived there. On 27 May, Spence ordered four UVF men to kill an Irish Republican Army (IRA) member, Leo Martin, who lived on Falls Road. Unable to find their target, the men drove around in search of a Catholic. They shot dead John Scullion (28), a Catholic civilian, as he walked home.On 26 June, the same gang shot dead Catholic civilian Peter Ward (18) and wounded two others as they left a pub on Malvern Street, Belfast
 
Id throw Gusty Spence and David Ervine in there also...
After the Provos announced their cease fire Gusty Spence spoke on behalf of the Combined Loyalist Command and announced a ceasefire and went one better.
He apologised for all the deaths attributed to "his" side and that wasnt expected when the cease fire was announced and it prompted others to apologise which helped cement the seeds of trust.
In addition, he acted as a father figure to some of the younger loyalist commanders and kept them on the right path.
David Ervine surprised me most of all from within the loyalist violence faction.
Here was a man who was largely uneducated and spent time in prison for acts of violence.
He was one of the most articulate speakers I have ever heard and he always spoke with reconciliation in his voice.
Until I heard Ervine and Spence speak I always though of loyalists as mindless murderers who merely wanted to wipe out catholics/nationalists and I think they changed the perception some of us down south had of northern loyalists.

I agree, Delboy's comments not withstanding. Terrorists often become political leaders.
There was a night, which was and is still celebrated as a great occasion, when Michael Collins ordered his men to drag British operatives out of their beds and kill/execute/murder them in front of their wives and children. His men did it with gusto.
Menachem Begin, the 6th Prime Minister of Israel, was the leader of Irgun in 1946. They were the terrorist organisation that blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people. Most of whom were civilians. David Ben-Gurion, the first Israeli Prime Minister, said at the time that Irgun were enemies of the Jewish people. By 1977 Begin was the Prime Minister and in 1979 he was the man who signed the peace treaty with Egypt, making Egypt and Jordan allies of Israel. (He also started the Lebanese war).
 
Let us not forget George Mitchell, ex Senator for Maine, later US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, who established the principles of non-violence as the foundation of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and subsequently chaired the inter-party talks that led to that agreement.
 
To be fair has anyone done more to unite Ireland than Dana. She is a laughing stock to people North and South. Catholics and Protestants. Loyalist and Republican. She would get my nomination.
 
David Ervine surprised me most of all from within the loyalist violence faction.
Here was a man who was largely uneducated and spent time in prison for acts of violence. He was one of the most articulate speakers I have ever heard and he always spoke with reconciliation in his voice.
+1 it was unfortunate he passed away when he did.

What about Mareaid Corrigan and Betty Williams founders of the Peace Movement who received the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize?
 
3rd go at this post (tech issues):

Billy Hutchinson along with David Irvine

More credit to those who were there when it got agreed (harder than the early spadework) so: Trimble, Mowlam, Blair, Bertie, Adams/McGuinness, Hume/Mallon.

Maybe we should see the gunmen as the barrier from the lunatic element, Adams & McGuinness largely brought republicanism with them.

Was there capitulation to republicans?, bar the prisoner releases most "concessions" were only putting NI on par with the rest of UK.

DUP not entitled to any major credit, it had worked before they got into power, ok they didnt then wreck it but even their traditional lust for 17th century stuff couldnt overcome the logic of what was already working.
 
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