The Irish Republican Army began to decline after Eamon de Valera became a prime minister and took over the Irish government. The IRA and the Irish state were in constant conflict, during the 1930s and 1940s. The IRA started to concentrate on Northern Ireland in the 1950s. The IRA tried to gain favor from Northern Ireland, but failed.

In 1969 the IRA started new radical social reforms in Northern Ireland, and the British government couldn't overcome them after a dozen years. This crisis also allowed the IRA to make a drastic comeback. The Irish Republican Army was split into two groups. The officials, w

A terrorist, loyalist and Protestant militia called the Ulster Defense Association shot and killed a Catholic man. The loyalists work with the sympathetic Protestant officers in the Royal Ulster Constabulary. This proved that the IRA was not the only forceful group in the Northern Ireland crisis. The Protestant militia soon after the killing called a cease-fire. This group was responsible for more deaths than the IRA, in the two years before the cease-fire was called.

A Former Unites States Senate majority leader, George Mitchell, was to direct a panel that would come up with ways to compromise with the IRA on disarmament matters. The unionists opposed Mitchell, and believed that he was an Irish Catholic. Mitchell sent reports on disarmament to British and Irish governments. The compromise was that disarmament would be during the all party talks instead of being before or after them. John Mayor, British Prime Minister, instead proposed an elected assembly in Northern Ireland. This infuriates Sinn Fein and the Irish government in Dublin. Mitchell warned Britain that the IRA will split if an all-party talk is not announced.

After Tony Blair replaced John Mayor as Prime Minister in Britain, he approved for a talk between Britain and Sinn Fein, but the IRA still would not gain entry into all-party peace talks until renewing the cease-fire. The IRA announces a new cease-fire on July 19, 1997. This was welcomed by the British and Irish leaders, but the Unionists rallied against it. They claimed it to be another phony truce. The cease-fire ended the stalemate over disarming the IRA and the violent Protestant rivals. The pact would have the IRA disarm during the all-party talk. The unionists feared that the IRA would never give up their weapons and voted against it. Blair claimed that he would treat Sinn Fein like the other parties only if the cease-fire holds.

Years of negotiating and devising new plans to solve the Northern Ireland crisis has failed to be solved. After solving the problem of the cease-fire, the problem of disarmament still consists. Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern have not yet found a solution for the issue of disarmament. The Irish Republican Army believes disarmament to be surrender and the Ulster Unionists believes disarmament to be a scare tactic. Therefore, giving each other no choice but to disagree and stagnate

On August 31, 1994, the Irish Republican Army announced a cease-fire. This would affect the 25-year-old battle against British domination of Northern Ireland. This cease-fire came about from several years of confidential meetings between the IRA and the British government. This arrangement for peace is called the "Downing Street Declaration."

The Anglo-Irish summit was reconvened on April 14, 1999. The political leaders of Irish and British governments tried to break the deadlock over the issue of disarmament. There was no proof that pointed to an early progress between Sinn Fein and t

Some topics in this essay:
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