Republicanism in transition (I) The need for a debate compiled by Michael Hall ISLAND 96 PAMPHLETS 1 Published February 2011 by Island Publications/Farset Community Think Tanks Project 466 Springfield Road, Belfast BT12 7DW © Michael Hall 2011
[email protected] http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/islandpublications/ ISBN 978-1-899510-89-4 Cover photographs © Michael Hall The project wishes to thank those individuals and organisations who participated in this pamphlet. The project also wishes to thank the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council for their funding support. Printed by Regency Press, Belfast 2 Introduction Among the main outcomes of what is referred to as the ‘Northern Ireland peace process’ were the IRA ceasefires of 1994 and 1997, the Good Friday (or Belfast) Agreement of 1998, and the eventual setting up, in 2007, of new Assembly institutions at Stormont, in which Sinn Féin agreed to share power with the Democratic Unionist Party and other parties. To the general public these developments were greatly welcomed, not least because, with the ‘war’ being finally declared over, it was hoped that the new political dispensation would result in a ‘peace dividend’ which would see steady improvements in those working- class areas which had borne the brunt of the conflict. However, in recent years discontent within sections of republicanism has been growing. Various groupings – Republican Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the Official Republican Movement, éirígí, the 32-County Sovereignty Movement, Republican Network for Unity, as well as groups of individuals who have as yet adopted no organisational name – have expressed disquiet about the policies and strategies adopted by Sinn Féin.