The following is a very brief listing of events that has created the current climate in Northern Ireland. We favor no position over another and any tendency to do so is unintentional. Our purpose is simply to provide background information. For a more complete study of the events, please visit the CAIN Project. We thank the CAIN Project for allowing us to abridge their information for our site.
1170 Arrival of Normans in County Wexford. Arrival of Earl of Pembroke ('Strongbow').
1171 'Strongbow' became King of Leinster.
1366 Statutes of Kilkenny were introduced to try to stop the assimilation of the 'English born in Ireland' into the Gaelic way of life.
1595 Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, rebelled against Elizabeth I in an attempt to preserve the Gaelic way of life.
1603 Tudor conquest of Ireland completed. English law enforced throughout Ireland.
1606 Scottish settlers were 'planted' in the Ards peninsula area of Ulster.
1608 (and onwards) Plantation of confiscated land in
Ulster began. Plantations were planned and carried out in
a number of areas of the region including Derry.
1641 Only 59% of land in Ireland held by Catholics. Catholic-Gaelic Rebellion in an attempt to regain confiscated lands.
1649 Cromwell's army left Britain for Ireland.
1650 Catholic landowners were exiled to Connaught. Cromwell's army left Ireland.
1688 Approximately 22% of land held by Catholics.
James II deposed as King in England.
7 December The gates of the city walls in Derry were
shut against the troops of James II, beginning the Siege of Derry.
1689
28 July The Siege of Derry ended.
James II landed in Ireland with French support.
1690 William III (William of Orange) arrived at
Carrickfergus.
July William III defeated James II at the Battle of the
Boyne.
1691 Catholic forces were defeated at the Battle of Aughrim. Limerick surrendered.
1695 The first of the 'Penal Laws' were enacted
against Catholics in Ireland. The last of the 'Penal Laws' were not overturned
until 1829.
1714 Approximately 7% of land in Ireland held by Catholics.
1782 The Irish Parliament won legislative independence from the British Parliament.
1795
September Formation of the Loyal Orange Institution
(Orange Order) in County Armagh.
1796
12 July First parade held to commemorate the Battle of
the Boyne.
1800 The Act of Union passed; to take effect 1 January 1801.
1813 "Battle of Garvagh" between Catholic 'Ribbonmen' and Orangemen.
1814 Apprentice Boys of Derry formed.
1823 Daniel O'Connell's Catholic Association, which campaigned for Catholic emancipation, was formed.
1825 The Unlawful Societies Act was passed which proscribed the Catholic Association and the Orange Order.
1829
July Fierce riots in Belfast followed the banning of
the 12 July parades. Rioting spread to County Armagh and County
Tyrone and
resulted in at least 20 deaths.
1832 - 1844 Party Procession Acts enforced to control public demonstrations.
1845 - 1849 The Great Famine in Ireland. The first cases of blight in the potato crop occurred in Ireland leading to famine.
1857
July Ten days of serious rioting in Belfast following clashes
surrounding the Orange Order parades on 12 July.
1867
12 July Orangemen march in County Down in defiance of a ban on parades.
1868 Protestant Church was disestablished in Ireland.
1872 Rioting in Belfast following Catholic Lady Day march.
1905 Sinn Féin founded under Arthur Griffith.
1913
January Ulster Volunteer Force formed and began drilling.
November Irish Citizen Army and Irish National Volunteers formed.
1916
April Easter Rising in Dublin, which began on Easter
Monday (24 April), lasted for a week before being put down.
1921
12 July In the wake of partition, Northern Ireland saw a lot of
rioting, and July was particularly bad. Clashes between Catholics
and Protestants on the 12th July resulted in 23 deaths and the destruction of
over 200 Catholic homes.
1922 Widespread violence in Northern Ireland with approximately 232
people killed and roughly 1,000 injured.
August Michael Collins killed. Death of Arthur Gfiffith.
7 December The six counties of Northern Ireland opted out of the Free
State.
Special Powers Act was introduced in Northern Ireland.
1923
May The Irish Civil War ended.
1931 The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was declared illegal in the Irish Free State. Ulster Protestant League (UPL) established.
1932 Northern Ireland Government moved to new buildings at Stormont.
1936 Public Order Act introduced in Northern Ireland.
This gave the
Chief Constable the power to impose conditions on
parades or public processions
if it was thought they would lead to public disorder.
1937 The Irish Constitution was approved by a referendum.
The
Constitution claimed sovereignty over the whole of the
island of Ireland.
1939 - 1945 World War II. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) began a campaign of bombing in Britain.
1949 Republic of Ireland established. Republic of Ireland
leaves the Commonwealth. Ireland Act (1949) guaranteed
Northern Ireland's position within the United
Kingdom.
1954 A second coalition government took power in the Republic of
Ireland. Flags and Emblems Act introduced in
Northern Ireland. The Act was
exclusively used against the flying of the 'tricolour' (the flag of the Republic
of Ireland).
1956 - 1962 The Irish Republican Army (IRA) began what was called
its 'border campaign'. As a result of the campaign,
internment was introduced in
both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The campaign ended in March
1962
because of lack of support.
1963 John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, visited the Republic of Ireland.
1964 Campaign for Social Justice (CSJ) formed.
The CSJ was the
forerunner of the civil rights movement and it began a
program of publicizing what it saw as widespread discrimination, in a number of areas of life, against
Catholics in
Northern Ireland. Rioting in Belfast during the election.
1965 Sean Lemass, Irish Prime Minister, traveled
to Belfast to
meet Terence O'Neill, Northern Ireland Prime Minister.
This was the first
official meeting between an Irish Taoiseach and a Northern Ireland Prime
Minister. A meeting
between the two men also took place in Dublin. The meetings
caused uproar amongst unionists.
1966 Rioting broke out in Belfast as Loyalists held counter
demonstrations to oppose commemorations of the Easter Rising
in 1916. Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) formed.
1967
1 February The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was
formed. The Civil Rights Movement called for a number
of reforms one of which
was for 'one man, one vote' for local government elections. Other reforms
pressed for included:
the end to perceived discrimination in the allocation of
public sector housing and appointments to, particularly, public
sector
employment; the repeal of the Special Powers Act; and the disbandment of the
'B-Specials' (Ulster Special
Constabulary) which was a paramilitary style
reserve police force which was entirely Protestant in its makeup.
November The Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) was formed.
Republican Clubs were declared illegal in Northern
Ireland.
1968
24 August First Civil Rights March. The Campaign for Social Justice
(CSJ), the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
(NICRA), and a number of
other groups, held the first 'civil rights march' in Northern Ireland from
Coalisland to Dungannon.
Loyalists organized a counter demonstration in an
effort to get the march banned (a tactic that was to be used throughout
the
period of 'the Troubles') and in fact the planned rally was banned. Despite this,
the march occurred without incident.
The publicity surrounding the march acted
as encouragement to other protesting groups to form branches of the NICRA.
5 October Civil Rights March in Derry. Considered by many as
the start date of the current 'Troubles'. Estimates of the number
of
people taking part in the march differ. One of the organizers of the march
estimated that about 400 people lined up on
the street with a further 200
watching from the pavements. The RUC broke-up the march by baton-charging the
crowd and
leaving many people injured including a number of MPs. The incidents
were filmed and there was world-wide television
coverage. The incidents in Derry
had a profound effect on many people around the world but particularly on the
Catholic
population of Northern Ireland. Immediately after the march there were
two days of serious rioting in Derry between the
Catholic residents of the city
and the RUC.
1969
1 January March organized by the People's Democracy.
The intention
was to walk from Belfast to Derry, although much of the
route was through
Protestant countryside, and they were forced to take various detours. At Burntollet Bridge, on the Derry to
Claudy road, an ambush was waiting for them
and stones and bottles were hurled down on them by Loyalists who were
positioned
on high ground over-looking the road. When they tried to escape into the fields,
police forced them back onto
the main road, where they were viciously attacked
by men armed with crowbars, sticks and various other weapons. The
police did
very little to protect them. Those who were fit to continue to Derry did so, but
were attacked again along the road.
Later that evening, after their arrival in
Derry, 20 police constables went on the rampage in the Bogside, smashing down
doors and windows. Barricades were erected around Catholic areas of Derry
and rioting lasted for several days. The
television coverage of this episode
reflected very badly on the police.
12 August Battle of the Bogside. The Apprentice Boys held their
annual parade and as they paraded past the Bogside
(a
working-class Catholic part of Derry) they jeered and threw pennies at
Catholics. Catholics responded with stones.
Loyalist supporters and the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) then became involved. By 7:15 p.m., a
full scale riot was in
progress, later referred to as the 'Battle of the Bogside'.
Once news spread to other parts of Northern Ireland, rioting
erupted in many
Catholic areas across the North, most notably Belfast. This continued on a wide
scale until 2 days later
(14 August). Chichester Clark, Prime
Minister of Northern Ireland, called for the mobilization of British troops on
the streets
of Northern Ireland.
1971
25 February The Housing Executive (Northern Ireland) Act became
law. The Act provided for the establishment for a central
authority for public
sector housing in Northern Ireland and to also oversee the provision of grants
for improvement to the
private sector.
23 March The Local Government Boundaries (Northern Ireland) Act
became law. The Act provided for the appointment of a
Boundaries Commissioner to
recommend the boundaries and names of district council and ward areas.
1974 Formation of the Junior Orange Institution.
As the name suggests,
this is a branch of the Orange Order which only accepts
boys under the age of
16.
1975
5 May The Fair Employment (NI) Bill was introduced to the House of
Lords. [The resulting Fair Employment Act went into effect
on 1 December 1976.]
1985
3 July The 'Tunnel', that is, the Catholic Obins Street area of
Portadown, became a subject of controversy. Thousands of
Loyalists demonstrated
against a proposed Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) decision to re-route a church
parade away
from the 'Tunnel' area.
6 July The RUC gave the go-ahead for a church parade to go through the
disputed area, but it imposed a ban on similar marches
on the 12th and 13th
July. The result of this decision was to cause serious clashes in Portadown
between Nationalist
protesters and the Police on 7 July as the Parade,
consisting of 2,500 Orangeman, passed through the Catholic Obins
Street. Eight
policemen were injured and three people were arrested during these clashes.
12 - 13 July There was further rioting in Portadown, this time between
Loyalists and the RUC, as the Orange order and Black
Institution Parades were
re-routed from the controversial 'Tunnel' area. Police had sealed off all the
entrances to Obins
Street, and Loyalist protesters hurled stones and bottles at
them. Police responded with plastic bullets. In total 52
policemen were injured
and 43 people were arrested during these two days of rioting.
1986
3 July The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) allowed an Orange
Church parade to pass through the Catholic Obins Street area
of Portadown, but
banned the 12th and 13th July Parades from doing so. Three days later rioting
broke out when police
prevented George Seawright, a Loyalist politician, from
passing through the 'Tunnel' area.
11th July The Portadown Orangemen
accepted the compromise offered to them by the RUC, that is, that they could
march along
the Garvaghy Road route; a compromise which was to result in a
weekend of violence. The weekend casualties included
128 police injuries, 66
civilian injuries and 127 arrests. The riots continued in Belfast and Portadown
for six consecutive
nights.
1987
8 November During the annual Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh,
a bomb planted by the Irish
Republican Army (IRA) exploded at the War
Memorial killing 11 people and injuring another 63.
1988
11 January John Hume, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), met with Gerry Adams, President of Sinn
Féin (SF).
This was the first in a series of discussions between the two men.
1989
5 March Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Féin (SF), made a
speech in which he said that he sought a "non-armed political
movement to
work for self-determination" in Ireland.
1990
9 November Peter Brooke, Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland, made a major speech on the British position to an audience
in London.
In the speech he said that Britain had no "strategic or economic
interest" in Northern Ireland and would accept
unification of Ireland if
that was the wish of the people of Northern Ireland.
1991
14 March Peter Brooke, Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland, announced to the House of Commons that talks involving the four
main
parties in Northern Ireland would take place during a gap in the operation of
the Anglo-Irish Conference meetings.
These talks were the first of a series
lasting from March 1991 to November 1992 which became known as the Brooke /
Mayhew Talks.
1992
1 July In a significant shift in approach, the Unionist parties
agreed to talks with politicians from the Republic of Ireland under the
Brooke /
Mayhew Talks.
1993
11 April The secret talks held between John Hume,
leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and Gerry Adams,
President of Sinn Féin (SF), became public knowledge when the Sunday Tribune
newspaper ran a story. The talks were
criticized by a number of parties and
individuals.
23 October Ten people were killed when a bomb being
planted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded prematurely in a
shop on the Shankill Road, Belfast. With the exception of one of the bombers who was also
killed, the rest of those who
died were Protestant civilians. The bombing
represented the greatest loss of life in Northern Ireland in a single incident
since the Enniskillen bombing on 8 November 1987. There was a wave of
condemnations of the attack. Loyalist
paramilitaries reacted immediately
shooting two Catholic men one of whom died later from his wounds.
1994
29 January Bill Clinton, President of the United States of
America, ordered that Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF),
should be given a visa to enter the USA to address a peace conference.
6 April - 8 April The Irish Republican Army (IRA)
called a three-day ceasefire.
18 June The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) killed six Catholic men
in a gun attack on a bar in Loughlinisland, County Down.
The attack was widely
condemned.
10 November Frank Kerr (54), a Post Office worker in a sorting
office, was shot dead during a robbery. [The Irish Republican
Army (IRA) later
admitted that some of its members had been responsible though it claimed the
killing had not been
sanctioned by the Army Council of the IRA.]
1995
22 February John Major, British Prime Minister, and John Bruton, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), held a press conference
in
Belfast to launch the Framework Document.
9 July The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) blocked an Orange
parade from returning from Drumcree Church to Portadown
along the Garvaghy Road,
a Catholic area. The decision sparked a stand-off between the RUC and the Orange
Order.
There were disturbances and blocked roads across Northern Ireland as
protests were organized by loyalists in support
of the Orange Order.
11 July A compromise was reached which allowed the Drumcree parade
to proceed down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown.
27 July Patrick Mayhew, Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland, and Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Féin (SF), met for their
first
official talks at Stormont.
8 September David Trimble was elected as leader of the Ulster
Unionist Party (UUP).
1996
9 February The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a large bomb
at South Quay in the Docklands area of London, England.
The lorry bomb kills two
people, injuries many more, causes millions of pounds worth of damage, and marks
the end
of the IRA ceasefire.
3 March Launch of intensive consultations between the Northern
Ireland political parties.
7 July The Royal Ulster Constabularly (RUC) prevented a march by
Portadown Orangemen from returning from Drumcree
Church via the Garvaghy Road.
Protests and roadblocks by Loyalists began to spread across Northern Ireland.
13 July A car bomb exploded outside the Kilyhelvin Hotel,
Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, causing substantial damage. The
Irish Republican
Army (IRA) denied responsibility for the bomb as did Republican Sinn Féin (RSF).
[The bomb was later
believed to be the work of a new group called the Continuity
Irish Republican Army (CIRA).]
7 October The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded two bombs in
the British Army Headquarters, Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn,
County Antrim. The
bombs were the first attack against the security forces in Northern Ireland by
the IRA since their
ceasefire on 31 August 1994.
1997
1 May The Labour Party was elected to power in British General
Election. Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party became Prime
Minister.
Marjorie (Mo) Molam, was appointed as Secretary of State of Northern Ireland in
the new Labour government.
Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Féin (SF), was
elected for West Belfast and Martin McGuinness, the Vice-President of
Sinn Féin
(SF), was elected to Mid-Ulster.
6 July There was violence in Portadown, which later spread to
other Nationalist areas, after the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) moved in the
early hours to seal off the Garvaghy Road to allow the Orange march through the
Catholic area.
20 July Following an approach from Gerry Adams, President of
Sinn Féin (SF), and other SF members, the Irish Republican
Army (IRA) declared
a renewal of its ceasefire.
26 August An International body was established to oversee the
decommissioning of paramilitary weapons.
17 September The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) joined the
multi-party talks at Stromont. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
boycotted the
talks because of the presence of SF, as did the United Kingdom Unionist Party (UKUP).
1998
9 February Marjorie (Mo) Mowlam, Secretary of State for
Northern Ireland, went into the Maze Prison to meet Ulster Defence
Association (UDA)
and Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) prisoners in an attempt to change their
decision to end their
support for the peace process. This strategy worked and
the prisoners subsequently restated their support for the
peace process.
6 April George Mitchell, independent chairman of the
multi-party talks, gave each of the parties his version of a possible draft
agreement based on the talks to that date.
10 April 'Good Friday'. All the parties talking place in the
multi-party talks at Stormont sign an agreement. The talks are brought
to an end
by George Mitchell, the independent chairman.
16 April An opinion poll indicated that 73% of people in
Northern Ireland were in favor of the Good Friday Agreement.
22 May Referendum on The Agreement. There was a huge turnout
throughout the island of Ireland as people in Northern Ireland
and the Republic
of Ireland voted on the Good Friday Agreement. This was the first all-Ireland
poll since the general
election of 1918. It was clear from the number of people
going to polling stations across Northern Ireland that there had
been a high
turnout (the figure was 81.10%). [When all the votes were counted the results
were as follows: Northern
Ireland - Yes 71.12%, No 28.88% (turnout
81.10%); Republic of Ireland - Yes 94.39%, No 5.61% (turnout 56.26%);
Ireland
overall - Yes 85.46%, No 14.54%, (turnout 53.70%).
27 May In the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement the issue of
the 'decommissioning' of paramilitary weapons began to
dominate the political
agenda. [Decommissioning was to prove a stumbling block to the full
implementation of the
Agreement and the issue was still causing problems in
November 1999.]
25 June Northern Ireland Assembly Election. An election was
held across Northern Ireland to chose representatives for the new
Northern
Ireland Assembly. The election was contested in the 18 parliamentary
constituencies with six people being
returned from each of the constituencies
making a total of 108 members for the new Assembly.
5 July Drumcree Parade - 'Drumcree IV' For the fourth year
in a row the Drumcree parade by the Portadown District Lodge of
the Orange Order
proved to be the focal point for divisions in Northern Ireland. The parade
passed from the center of
Portadown, County Armagh, along the edge of a
Nationalist area to the Church of Ireland parish church at Drumcree
where the
Orangemen attended a service. However, as the Orangemen attempted to walk back
to the center of
Portadown, along the mainly Catholic Garvaghy Road, the route
was blocked by the police and the British Army. A
stand-off began. The decision
to reroute the parade had been taken by the Parades Commission. As the day wore
on,
the number of Orangemen protesting at Drumcree increased. The British
government said that it would "hold the line"
against those protesting
at Drumcree. Throughout the day there were street protests across Northern
Ireland by
Loyalists in support of the Orange Order. A number of roads were
blocked and some cars set on fire. A number of
Catholic homes were also attacked
in Belfast.
12 July Three Boys Killed at Ballymoney. Three young Catholic boys,
Richard (11), Mark (10), and Jason (9) Quinn, were killed
after their home, in Ballymoney, County Antrim, was petrol bombed in a sectarian attack carried out
by Loyalists.
William Bingham (Rev.), Deputy Grand Chaplain of the Orange
Order, called for the Drumcree protest to be ended and
said that the 15 minute
march down the Garvaghy Road would be "a hallow victory" as it would
be taking place in the
shadows of three little white coffins. David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and Robin Eames (Dr),
Church of Ireland Primate, also called for an end to the protest. The Orange
Order rejected these and other similar
calls. [The protest at Drumcree declined
following the Quinn deaths but a token protest was maintained during the
whole
of the year to July 1999.]
1 August Thirty-three civilians and two members of the Royal
Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were injured when a car bomb
(estimated at 500 pounds)
exploded in Banbridge, County Down. Extensive damage was also caused in the
explosion
that was later claimed by the "real" Irish Republican Army (rIRA).
15 August The Omagh Bomb. Twenty-nine people died as a
result of an explosion at 3.10 pm in Omagh, County Tyrone. The
bomb had been
planted by the "real" Irish Republican Army (rIRA). The death toll
represented the single worst incident
within Northern Ireland since the
beginning of the conflict. Among the dead were family members, one family lost
members from three generations, and close friends, and a number of tourists from
the Republic of Ireland and Spain.
One woman who died was pregnant with twins.
There were hundreds of people injured, some of whom lost limbs or
their sight.
[The code word used was that of the rIRA, a breakaway
group of dissident members from the Provisional
IRA who disagreed with the
political direction being taken by the Sinn Féin leadership. There was outrage
and shock
across the whole population of Northern Ireland. Many people expressed
the hope that this incident would mark a
turning point in the conflict.]
26 August Blair Visits Omagh. Tony Blair, British Prime
Minister, paid a visit to the site of the bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone.
Blair
promised draconian legislation to deal with any paramilitary groups that refused
to call a ceasefire. Sinn Féin (SF)
said the new measures would amount to
"internment in another guise".
3 September Clinton Visit to Northern Ireland. Bill Clinton,
President of the United States of America, paid his second visit to
Northern Ireland. Clinton delivered his address at the Waterfront Hall in
Belfast.
11 September First Paramilitary Prisoners Released Under Agreement.
The first of the paramilitary prisoners were released
from jails in Northern
Ireland under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Seven prisoners, including
three
Republican and three Loyalist, were released in a program that was
expected to take two years to complete.
14 September Meeting of Northern Ireland Assembly. The Northern
Ireland Assembly met for the first time since June 1998.
David Trimble,
First Minister designate, said that the issue of decommissioning remained an
obstacle to the
establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
17 October It was announced that the Nobel Prize for Peace would
be awarded jointly to John Hume, leader of the Social
Democratic and Labour
Party (SDLP), and David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).
1999
18 March Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), Tony
Blair, British Prime Minister, and Bill Clinton, President of the
United States of America (USA), issued a tripartite statement. They urged the
leaders of political parties in Northern
Ireland to meet the deadline set for
all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement.
4 July Drumcree Parade - 'Drumcree V' For the fifth year in
a row attention was focused on the Orange Order parade at
Drumcree, Portadown,
County Armagh. The Orange Order was refused permission to parade down the mainly
Catholic
Garvaghy Road. The security forces had erected a steel barricade across
the road to halt the march but the subsequent
protest passed off relatively
quietly compared to previous years.
17 July It was announced that the former Northern Ireland talks
chairman, Senator George Mitchell, had been invited to take part
in a summit
meeting on the peace process between the Taoiseach and the British Prime
Minister.
14 August There was violence in Derry and Belfast following
Apprentice Boys parades through the Bogside and lower Ormeau
Road.
6 September Start of Review of Good Friday Agreement. George
Mitchell, former Chairman of the multi-party talks, was in
Castle Buildings to
open the review of the Good Friday Agreement. He made clear that the review
would concentrate
specifically on breaking the deadlock over decommissioning and
the formation of an executive.
30 November The House of Lords and the House of Commons both
approved a devolution order under the Northern Ireland Act
1998 that allowed for
the transfer of power from Westminster to the Assembly at Stormont. [This
allowed for the ending
the system of 'Direct Rule' that had been installed in
1972.]
2 December New Devolved Government Direct Rule came to an end as
powers were devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
[Devolution took effect
as of midnight on 1 December 1999.] At a meeting in Dublin at 9:00 a.m., the
North-South
Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Ministerial Council, as
set out in the Good Friday Agreement, took effect. At the
same time, the
Anglo-Irish Agreement was replaced by the British-Irish Agreement. At 9:20
a.m.,
Articles 2 and 3 of the
Irish Constitution were replaced by new Articles. At
3:00 p.m., the new Executive of the Northern Ireland Assembly met
for the first
time. Present at the meeting were representatives of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP),
the Social Democratic
and Labour Party (SDLP), and Sinn Féin (SF). The
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to attend. At 8:30 p.m.,
the IRA issued a
statement indicating that it would appoint a representative to meet the
Decommissioning Body chaired
by General de Chastelain.
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