The Story Of The Troubles In Northern Ireland | A Persistent Struggle for Peace In Challenging Times

Northern Ireland has long been plagued by a complex and tumultuous history, characterized by deep-seated political, social, and religious divisions.

The Troubles, a period of intense conflict spanning from the late 1960s to the late 1990s, left scars that continue to shape the region’s identity and socio-political landscape.

Despite significant strides towards peace with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, underlying tensions persist, reminding the world that the path to reconciliation is neither linear nor easy.

At the heart of the Troubles lies the sectarian divide between the nationalist Catholic community, which identifies with the aspiration of a united Ireland, and the unionist Protestant community, which favors Northern Ireland’s continued union with the United Kingdom.

These divisions have historically manifested in violence, with paramilitary groups such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) carrying out bombings, shootings, and assassinations in pursuit of their respective goals.

One of the most infamous events of the Troubles was Bloody Sunday, which occurred on January 30, 1972, in Derry/Londonderry.

British soldiers opened fire on unarmed civil rights demonstrators, killing 14 people and injuring many more. The massacre intensified hostilities and galvanized support for paramilitary groups, deepening the cycle of violence.

The conflict also had profound economic and social consequences, with Northern Ireland suffering from high unemployment, poverty, and infrastructure decay, particularly in areas most affected by violence.

The Troubles bred fear, distrust, and a sense of hopelessness among communities, exacerbating divisions and hindering efforts at reconciliation.

Despite these challenges, the peace process made significant strides with the Good Friday Agreement, a landmark accord brokered with the help of international mediators.

The agreement established power-sharing institutions, recognized the principle of self-determination for the people of Northern Ireland, and outlined mechanisms for addressing contentious issues such as policing and justice.

However, peace remains fragile, as evidenced by sporadic outbreaks of violence and persistent sectarian tensions. Issues such as parades, flags, and legacy prosecutions continue to fuel mistrust and resentment between communities, threatening to undermine the progress achieved thus far.

Brexit has also complicated matters, reigniting debates over the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Protocol, designed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland, has stirred controversy and heightened anxieties among unionists, who fear it could weaken Northern Ireland’s ties to the UK.

In recent years, efforts to address the legacy of the Troubles and promote reconciliation have gained momentum.

Initiatives such as the Historical Investigations Unit aim to provide truth and closure to victims and their families, while community-based projects foster dialogue and understanding across divides.

Ultimately, the path to lasting peace in Northern Ireland requires a commitment to addressing the root causes of conflict, promoting reconciliation, and building a shared future based on mutual respect and understanding.

It is a journey fraught with challenges, but one that holds the promise of a brighter, more inclusive tomorrow for all who call Northern Ireland home.

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The Irish Republic army Ira through its various incarations has been a central figure in the struggle for Irish independence from British rule the organization Origins can be traced back to the early 20th century specifically in the formation of the Irish Volunteers in 1913 this group was instrumental in

The Easter rising of 1916 an armed Insurrection aimed at ending British rule in Ireland despite the rebellion’s failure it significantly influenced the Irish national movement leading to the war of independence from 1919 to 1921 the signing of the Anglo Irish treaty in 1921 which ended the war of independence

Led to the partition of Ireland and established the Irish free state in the southern part of the island however the treaty was contentious and resulted in the Irish Civil War Between prot treaty forces who supported the free state and anti-treaty forces who opposed the treaty on the grounds that it did not

Establish a fully independent Island the anti-treaty forces continued to use the name Ira over the following decades the IRA attempted various military campaigns against the British presence in Northern Ireland especially during the period known as the troubles from the late 1960s through to the late 1990s this error was characterized by widespread

Violence involving the IRA British Security Forces loyalist paramilitaries and segments of the civilian population the Ira’s campaign involved bombings assassinations and armed attacks targeting both military and civilian sites the complexity of the Ira’s history is further deepened by splits and factions within the organization the most notable split occurred in 196

Leading to the formation of the provisional Ira which became the dominant faction carrying out armed operations during the troubles other fractions included the official IRA and later the real IRA and continuity Ira each with its own ideological stances and objectives the peace process of the 1990s culating in the Good Friday

Agreement of 1998 marked a significant Turing point the agreement laid the groundwork for political power sharing in nor an island and included Provisions for disarmament of paramilitary groups including the IRA following the agreement the IRA announced the end of its armed campaign and began to process the decommissioning of weapons signaling

A move away from violence and towards political means to achieve its aims the Ira’s history is intertwined with a broader Narrative of Ireland struggle for self-determination and has been marked by significant debates both within Ireland and internationally about the legitimacy of the methods and objectives the organization’s Legacy is

Complex reflecting the deep-seated issue surrounding national identity colonialism and the Quest for Peace in a divided Society tonight we’ll show you how everyone in Britain is paying for terrorism in Northern Ireland In ster today taxpayers money is being turned into bullets and bombs that kill the committed and the innocent [Applause] Alike we’re on our way to a lonely and dangerous meeting in Northern Ireland a demonstration that it’s naive and idealistic to think that the funding of terrorism comes largely from collecting boxes in sympathetic pubs and friends in America to get the evidence we posed as English property developers and staged a

Sting on a big-time paramilitary extortionist ah sir are you all right which one of you is Mr Davis you said you going to come on your own yeah where the same worry as you you’re quite sfe the man who turned up in that Craig Aven car park is in fact Eddie sers a

Prominent member of a legal organization the loyalist aler defense Association he’s the man on the right at this recent UDA press conference they are unrecognizable as terrorists as we used to think of them and are now very much more a mafia type operation the terrorists have developed a very significant financial

Infrastructure that makes them self-supporting that gives them a very uh sophisticated base that allows them uh to employ thousands of people to turn over millions of pounds a year it’s estimated that the total income that’s going into the coffers of the gangsters is in the region of 15 million

Pounds a year which is going to buy the bullets and the bombs that are used to kill the British soldiers who are over here not only does the British taxpayer pay a million a day for the ru and on top of that the British army but they

Are also actually paying for the bullets and the bombs that are used to kill the people who are sent over here to defend Northern Ireland these days most of Belfast looks like any other modern bustling City but beneath the surface there’s a subculture reminiscent of the mafia in the

1920s paramilitaries on both sides of the divide both loyalist and Republican have become racketeers extortion contract killings blackmail forgery gaming machines bank robberies smuggling and kidnapping you name it they are doing it a bullet costs roughly 30 but the real cost of the logistical support for each paramilitary bullet fired in anger

In ster is approximately 100,000 a number of very brave people have risked their lives to take part in this program some of them like this former Builder have asked that their appearance and their voices be disguised what this building complect in the shanko and uh after being there for

About two two to three weeks I got a phone call from the Forman to call and meet two men want to see the S regarding security but I was advised that it would be with me best interest to go so I went around with the two men to human

Securities which was upstairs and a fairly rown premises s do you know why you’ve been brought here no we control this area you don’t build anything he asked me for 5,000 lb down plus 150 a week so refused to pay and I told them that I

Might as well pull off the site now rather than continue with it so after a long discussion they forgot about the 5,000 and they asked me for originally was was £90 week which free to pay for that they would give me complete protection no trouble at all well Shake on it

That the deal which was soon to turn sour was struck in an office at the uda’s local headquarters in the Shankle Road from which Newman Securities is controlled and run after about two months in the sou then this went up to £ 110 per week were paid to 10,000 on that

Side the time we on it and we would lost something the reason I think was £34,000 of the materials During the period were on it and then one of the workmen was shot he was leaving the side as usual and uh he was going to the small side

Gate there was two men standing as he brushed past them they pulled out a g and shot him on the head he was taken them to the hospital be died about 3 or 4 days after he couldn’t get anyone to work for him anymore and his business collapsed he lost

Everything these checks represent the payoffs made to the UDA over a period of 8 months by just one building firm there are many many more well over a number of years um I’ve had an awful lot of money to the paramilitaries uh I was pressurized on virtually every building site that I

Ever did work on and uh always had to pay there was no way of getting out of out of it and uh also life life was threatened as well on occasions what sort of money have you coughed up over the years do you think R the some regon of

£30,000 and did you ever try not to pay I did yes with what result with the threats of my life these people come on sight and make their demands on site now it may be a very friendly first meeting uh and the pressures don’t seem very great uh but

If you know for instance that the day prior that some building contractor has been shot and the racketeers arrive with you next day you don’t need a crossword said to you you know what they mean but sometimes perhaps a contractor will be taken into a local Club and he will have

A barrel of a gun stuck three Ines down his throat and they will explain to him the merits of having a private security firm operated by the paramilitaries uh look after his particular business and you may still find not a cross word spoken councelor Brian feny says the

Grip of the terrorists is now almost unbreakable the control that these people have on everyday lives of Ordinary People is the most serious problem because to deal with it you’re going to have to confront the fact that any anyone who gives information will be killed it’s as simple as

That one of those who paid the ultimate price was the Reverend Robert Bradford the Westminster MP for South Belfast whose Widow Norah says he was preparing to expose Republican racketeering before his murder in 1981 he lived under a continual threat in the last I suppose 6

Months we had um reports of of threats every week at least if not a couple of times a week he uh had decided that the best way to get up the terrorist organizations was to get out their funding he felt that the only way to undermine that type of

Of organization was to stop the funds so he had worked on that Avenue for quite a while for really a couple of years before he died he felt that um there was an awful lot of money coming through Belfast and through the uh Bandit machines through different Mafia style

Organizations the cost to both sides of running paramilitary activities totals £15 million a year £1 13 million comes from sources like the building industry drinking clubs and black taxis the taxis began in the early ’70s when there was consistent civil turmoil which meant that buses were being

Hijacked or stoned or burnt and people couldn’t get up from the center of belf men then started taxiing up and down the fs Road taking their own routes through back streets and avoiding the the turmoil on the the front of the road once again the IRA took over the taxes

And exact a weekly toll from the the drivers pretty soon they found they were making so much money out of running the taxis that when normality began to return and buses started to run again on the Falls Road uh people burnt the buses and hijacked them and it was impossible

For the buses to compete the black taxis largely operate through two associations controlled by the paramilitaries the Republicans on the Falls Road and the Loyalists on the shankill a campaign of bombing pubs and hotels led to a situation where the Conway Street Mill officers of the association of drinking clubs now

Control scores of seemingly shabby but highly profitable drinking clubs like this one in the ardoin at the moment it grosses over 90,000 a year in there in there it never had planning permission the police never objected to it now it is the full paraphanalia of surveillance cameras

This road had to be bent round curved the idea was to demolish this place and drive straight through but the doe and housing executive couldn’t do that because they were afraid of the people who control this club shows what power they’ve got that’s right um they

Dominate this area and most of the money that’s taken in this club that’s profit um goes to the support of the IRA on the skyline of Belfast stands the City Hospital a monument to paramilitary profiteering from the building industry it should have cost £9 million but

Actually cost 65 paying off the boys is an established practice in the vast bulk of uh the building industry in Northern irand depends on government or public authorities and consequently built into every contract is the amount of money uh going to the paramilitaries and that’s coming directly from the British

Government and from the British taxpayer in an effort to erase some of the worst housing conditions in Europe the government spends 475 million every year so much of the money was going astray that four years ago the northern irand housing executive called a secret meeting at its headquarters we were very conscious of

The threat to the whole future of the housing effort in Northern AR from paramilitaries we being trusted with very large and increasing sums of money clearly if money was being seen to be being misdirected not simply being being being defrauded but being used to buy bullets

And and and guns and bombs then the British public was going to take a poor view of the northernland housing exective and thus our future really depended on on doing what we could to rid the housing market here in Northern island of this threat but what they did do was too

Little too late according to Robert McKuen the former Republican Mastermind of the biggest building industry fraud so far he managed to exploit a government tax exemption scheme to allow building contractors to delay paying their tax when payday came the Republican front companies had disappeared we tracked him down in

Hiding and persuaded him to explain for the first and only time how the fraud worked false companies were set set up and they were issued with authentic Inland Revenue documents tax certificates and these were produced to the building contractors and they were told to accept them and to take them

Even though they knew who they were for and payments were made each week on that anything from 10,000 and when you added all that up over a period of a year what sort of money are we talking about well I couldn’t give you a total figure but I’ve heard that it was about5

Million this little plastic card is the key to the paramilitary biggest money-making scheme and it was years before the authorities and the police realized just how sophisticated and how vast the scam really was it All Began here on The Terraces at Aston Villa football ground during a home match when

Little cards like this and certificates like these were given to an IRA man in return for £10,000 the money to buy the documents needed to make the fraud work was sent from Belfast to this Bank in Birmingham and in November 1983 paid into the account of the then manager of the

Victoria Pub in Bol Heat this money obviously must be laundered and they have legitimate businesses they have legitimate accountants Chartered Accountants solicitors to advise him the police have begun to crack down on fraudsters and the government proposes new legislation to introduce tighter controls so far most new efforts

Have been Sid stepped by the paramilitaries so will the new measures work any better I don’t think so certainly they had success within it but people altered and changed the system to suit themselves they dug in deeper and they enforced more secrecy among the contractors to ensure that the flow of

Information wasn’t going back to the place is there any comparison you could make that the rest of us would understand as to how the the scene operates in well now I suppose that the one comparison that would come to mind would be America in the 1920s and the

30s when the mafia was in his infancy and look how sophisticated they became of course there was no political philosophy involved with the mafia was purely rackets and finance but that seemed to be the trend with the paramilitaries especially the inla UDA the provos I think they’re into Top Gear I am with

Sophistication the money doesn’t only go to finance terrorism with the Loyalists especially greed has overtaken politics and a large percentage of the takings ends up in criminals back pockets a major source of income for the law loyalists is the bogus security firm we telephoned one such firm posing

As English property developers about to win a big contract hello Rogers hello uh my name is John Davis uh Mr gam yeah I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you called before that’s okay we traced The Firm bought line Securities to a farm near the border in Omar where you understand the score then

I do well as you know my name is John Davis and it’ll be me you will be deal with that is my AR okay okay then I’ll tell you what I’ll meet you tomorrow wherever you want at whatever time you want but I wouldn’t mention to anybody else you

Know a meeting was arranged for the next day in a deserted car park near the proposed building site you don’t actually know who you are I’m sers Mr sers yes that’s me right name do way so I don’t want you to quote it please uh we work for an

Organization right and uh you you better tell me if you can who you which organization you’re working for UDA Eddie Sayers on the right is important enough within the UDA to appear at a major press conference he’s with two of the top men John McMichael on the left and Tucker little in the

Middle what’s your of money is in for well it could be as much as about 3 and a/4 million the uh then the M that we would be hoping to get from you would be uh say about 9,000 per million 9,000 per million no we’re prepared to work with

You you haven’t got the contract and what we have said is uh don’t last the contract if you can get it oh because we prefer say somebody else comes on here and we’ve got to go hassling them it means hassle for us and we prefer not have that you’re not saying you’re

Giving me a discount are you yes yes that’s what it me to that’s what it me to no but we work with you but you please tell me what I get for this what do you want for it well what what do we get for it most of them get nothing only

We make sure there’s no hassle from our anybody at weekend and if they are getting hassle where we call on the ones who given them the hassle it’s a simp that why do we have to pay anything at all what happens if we don’t in other words I couldn’t answer that your

Imagination uh yesterday at the time you were sort of ringing us uh they were putting a firm off sight something because he wouldn’t cooperate it’s as simple as that so that’s one of the things that could happen to us if we don’t we wouldn’t we you wouldn’t work we wouldn’t

Work there no all right thank you very much thank you very much thank you back seers came armed with a calculator and no doubt a gun death threats followed his discovery that we’d rumbled him and knew that borderline Securities was run from his Omar home the nerve center of the loyalist

Protection rackets is here at UDA headquarters in Gorn Street Belfast the uda’s extortion specialist is Jimmy Craig we filmed him in the peaceful surroundings of the wedding of his minder fee Craig’s many critics paint a very different picture there’s one pair of men who would come on the site and uh that’s the

Wellknown ger minority they would tell you you know we shoot PS and they say what do you mean by that if you think of going to court or anything like that or talking to the police you’ll be shot when they come in the site the men know

Him very well and they are a frightening pair they have a an atmosphere about them and way of going that is a threat in itself men do get frightened with this of course and I say to him these men are after money not blood but if the

Truth be known they have to have a bit of blood now and again to get the message through Jimmy cig came on the site with a couple of his Pals um on one occasion and uh actually produced a gun and said that if uh we didn’t pay up

That he would use it that he had used it in the past and of course you then paid did yeah 20 major building firms have admitted to us on a confidential basis that they all paid Craig and his loyalist cronies amounts ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds

To these businessmen Craig’s message was all too plain talk generally about har many murders they were wanted for just to get the message over it sounds a bit like a joke but it’s not Craig is Vicious he’s been no was The Hard Man of the Shankle Road he looks a hard type of

Man when you meet that type of guy you know that he’s vicious ruthless and we stop at nothing including involvement in Murder according to those convicted of the killing of Mary Blake’s son Paul who was gunned down in the street near his home well I was just happened to become

An under Ro at the same time well I knew then but I said that he was dead cuz there was so much blood all over his chest was brought out in court Jim Craig PA them 27 after was shooting was this allegation made in open court made in open

Court that’s that’s all my son’s life was wife n po the Two Fellas got left Craig who’ already served a prison sentence for extortion was back in court for what became known as the hooded Witnesses trial he stood accused of operating a protection racket on the building sites

But the Witnesses were so frightened they would only appear in balac clavas and hoods and on this basis their evidence was ruled inadmissible and the case collapsed Jimmy Craig his minder artti fee and another cohort were jubilant as they ripped up the charges obviously were elated to be

Released but we’re very embittered of having to spend 6 months in K separated from our Wes and family on such fictitious charges not only were the charges fictitious the witness were also fictitious when the they were nameless hated men were brought into the court of law never never before known

And brsh Justice and Bush looking for justice is Barbara McCulla whose husband Bucky was the finance officer of the loyalist UDA and Craig’s onetime best friend m in France for a lot of years we all went out together and went holidays together and the last time Jimmy was in

Jail there had been a meeting and Bucky had had discovered that there was money going the wrong way and Bucky went up that Monday the confront jamy W up and they told him that when he get out he was to be off the road and then Friday morning Roy was

Murdered and it was M GDA come the LA so two mortal enemies actually cooperated to kill your husband yes is there cooperation between people on either side of the political divide giving up very much so especially among the inla and the UDA it is it does seem

To be a formal and ongoing Arrangement you can go to certain bars in Belfast and you can see people drinking together obviously there’s agreement on particular sites about who shall operate which racket and uh there generally is little competition between uh the paramilitary organizations in both sides within the

Same field of operation that’s why you find the building industry uh almost dominated by the loyalist paramilitaries and certain other rackets almost entirely dominated by the Republican paramilitaries the in La had two men that were operating for them mcon and Maxwell they were the two big men two

Big operators and they worked with the UDA carving up building sites and SP in the prophets seems extraordinary that sworn political enemies should actually be working together makes you think the politics come second yes the trend seems to be that way that the criminal elements are taken over and the

Political philosophy has taking a back seat if the troubles as they are colloquially called in Northern irand ever cease the ever ending problem that we are going to have is a well organized entrenched protection system it’s the par militaries now who call the tune and the politicians banned to the par

Militaries and if they don’t get a grip of the situation how far might it spread well it’s quite possible that it’ll spread to the mainland Milan Britain I don’t believe that is politics I believe it is pure [Applause] gangsterism The history of the Irish Republican Army Ira encapsulates the century long struggle for Irish nationalism and Independence marked by a series of violent and nonviolent efforts internal splits and political negotiations from its early 20th century routs in the ISA Rising through to the turbulent period of the troubles to the eventual peace

Process leading to the Good Friday agreement the Ira’s activities have been Central to The Narrative of Irish British relations the organization’s Evolution from armed Insurrection to participating in peace processes underscores a broader shift towards seeking political solutions to deeply entrenched conflicts this history raises important questions about the nature of

Resistant movements and the challenges of transitioning from armed struggle to political engagement it also prompts reflection on how societies can reconcile after prolonged periods of conflict addressing issues of Justice memory and Reconciliation how do the actions of the IRA during the troubles compar to other nationalist movements globally what lessons can be learned

From the peace process in Northern Ireland that might apply to other regions experiencing sectarian or nationalist conflicts in what way have former combatants been integrated into Political processes and what challenges does this pose for postconflict societies how does the Legacy of the IRA influence contemporary Irish politics and Society particularly in Northern

Ireland exploring these questions can provide deeper insights into not only the history of the IRA but also the broader dynamics of conflicts and peace building in divided societies