Fianna Fáil, Irish Republicanism and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1968-2005

Description

Fianna Fáil: The Republican Party has been a party defined by its emphasis on partition and its ideological commitment to reunification. Through its use of anti-partitionist rhetoric it has been the most vociferous political party in the Republic of Ireland on Northern Ireland. Its emotive and divisive response to the outbreak of the Troubles in Northern Ireland seen most clearly in the Arms Crisis of 1970 which threatened to destroy the party and the stability of the State in the Republic. However, the party has been at the centre of the Northern Ireland peace process and the attempts at reconciliation between Unionists and Nationalists, and North and South. Yet there is no substantive study of Fianna Fáil’s language, ideology and policy on Northern Ireland since the outbreak of the Troubles. How could ‘The Republican Party’ be such a central player in the political changes in Northern Ireland? Has Fianna Fail changed its traditional republicanism and anti-partitionism? This fascinating and important new book provides an examination of Fianna Fáil’s record on Northern Ireland since 1968. It outlines the party’s response to the Troubles and its guiding principles in the search for the solution. O’Donnell argues that the relationship between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin is central to understanding Fianna Fáil’s role in the peace process, which began with the Fianna Fail–Sinn Fein talks in 1988. She investigates the implications of the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement for Fianna Fáil’s ideology and policy on Northern Ireland and highlights the continued centrality of the relationship between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Fein to the peace process and politics in the Republic of Ireland. As Sinn Fein make further electoral gains in the Republic of Ireland, this book will be essential reading for anyone wishing to understand how Republicanism is a contested electoral resource within southern politics.

 Table of Contents

Introduction ~ The North in the South: The Irish State and Partition 1921-68

• Constructing an Orthodoxy
• Partition as a Tactical Device
• Idealogical Contradictions: Sovereignty versus unity
• Séan Lemass: ‘An era of radical change’?

Chapter One ~ Jack Lynch and the Failure of Conciliation 1968-79

• Jack Lynch and the Northern Ireland Troubles
• The Arms Crisis 1970
• Unity as the Ultimate Solution: Northern Ireland policy in the Post 1970 Arms Crisis Period
• Domestic and Anglo-Irish Pressures: Understanding policy on Northern Ireland in the Post-Arms Crisis Period
• Fianna Fáil Northern Ireland Policy 1973-9

Chapter Two ~ Charles J. Haughey and Sinn Féin 1979-92: Towards a consensus on partition? 

• Charles Haughey and Northern Ireland Policy
• The Importance of Sinn Féin to Fianna Fáil’s Northern Ireland Policy
• Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin in the Post Anglo-Irish Agreement Period
• The 1988 Sinn Féin/Fianna Fáil Talks Initiative: Implications for the peace process
• The Principles of Consent and Self-determination

Chapter Three ~ Albert Reynolds and the Northern Ireland Peace Process 1992-4

• The Political Environment 
• The Reynolds Administration
• Constitutional Change Linked to the 1920 Government of Ireland Act and North-South Bodies
• Constitutional Change as part of an Overall Settlement
• Building the Pan-Nationalist Alliance
• Anglo-Irish Relations
• The Contribution of Dick Spring
• The 1993 Downing Street Declaration
• Idealogical Implications of the 1993 Downing Street Declaration
• The 1994 Ceasefire

Chapter Four ~ Bertie Ahern: From opposition leader to peacemaker 1994-98

• Fianna Fáil in Opposition, December 1994-June 1997
• The Framework Documents of February 1995
• The Collapse of Bi-partisanship
• Ahern as Taoiseach: Negotiations and agreement
• Issues of Contention: North-South institutions
• Issues of Contention: Articles Two and Three
• The Negotiations
• The Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement
• The May 1998 Referenda
• Unionism and the Good Friday Agreement

Chapter Five ~ The Monster of the Peace Process’: Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement

• A Dual Approach to Sinn Féin
• Issues of Security, Democracy and Decommissioning
• Criticisms of the Peace Process
• The 2002 General Election
• The Implications for Fianna Fáil and the Peace Process
• 2005: A New Approach or the Sin-Binning of Sinn Féin?

Conclusion ~ Revising Republicanism

• Republicanism: Fianna Fáil and the Peace Process
• The Nation
• Unionism
• Fianna Fáil, Northern Ireland, Unity and the Future of the Peace Process
• Dramatis Personae

About the Author

Catherine O’Donnell is Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Government of Ireland Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Humanities Institute of Ireland, University College, Dublin.