RAINBOW COALITION, CEASE-FIRE BREAKDOWN, AND PEACE AGAIN

The Fianna Fail-Labour coalition government broke up in November 1995 because of Labour displeasure at the appointment of the attorney general, Harry Whelehan, to the Supreme Court. The source of the displeasure was Whelehan's failure to extradite to Northern Ireland a priest accused of pederasty. Following a vote of no confidence, Reynolds resigned as Taoiseach. Bertie Ahern, a TD for Dublin Central and the minister for finance, succeeded him as caretaker Taoiseach until the following month. Subsequently, several of the opposition parties, the more conservative Fine Gael, Labour, and the radical Democratic Left, came together to form a "Rainbow Coalition." John Bruton of Fine Gael became Taoiseach, Dick Spring of Labour served again as Tanaiste and minister for foreign affairs, and Proinsias de Rossa, TD for Dublin Central and leader of the Democratic Left, became minister for social welfare. In February 1995 Bruton and British prime minister John Major issued a Frameworks Document on the future of Northern Ireland, asserting the principle of consent (that is, the wishes of the majority of the province would be required to change its status), the use of exclusively democratic and peaceful methods, and the parity of esteem for both traditions, unionist and nationalist, as guides for any arrangement for the province in forthcoming negotiations. They hoped that negotiations would formulate an agreement to create local institutions with elected officials sharing administrative authority over various matters, North-South institutions to harmonize, consult, and, in some cases, wield executive authority over matters of agreed mutual concern, and East-West structures, including an intergovernmental council in which the Irish government's role with regard to Northern Ireland would be given expression.

In keeping with the optimism following the cease-fire of the previous summer, President Clinton allowed Gerry Adams and other Sinn Fein figures to raise funds in the United States and to attend the celebration of St. Patrick's Day in the White House. In July the RUC forbade an Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road, Portadown, which adjoins a nationalist neighborhood, but then rescinded the prohibition provided no bands took part in the march. In September David Trimble, whose earlier political roots included membership in the militant Vanguard movement, replaced James Molyneaux as the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. In November President Clinton visited both Northern Ireland and Dublin and was received in a celebratory fashion in both communities in Northern Ireland as well as in the republic for his commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The next month the president's special ambassador for Northern Ireland, former senator George Mitchell, chaired a panel to arrange the preliminaries for negotiations regarding Northern Ireland. Unionists remained reluctant to participate in such talks while Sinn Fein and the IRA had not made a permanent renunciation of the use of force. In January, the Mitchell panel, whose recommendations became known as the Mitchell principles, called for the beginning of all-party talks simultaneous with agreement by all participants to renounce violence together with commencement of the decommissioning of illegally held weapons. The British government, which had retreated from earlier insistence on permanent rejection of violence and on decommissioning as preliminary to negotiations, called for an election of an assembly for Northern Ireland as a framework in which the negotiations for settlement could take place. But the next month, the IRA broke the cease-fire with the bombing of Canary Wharf in London, which produced several fatalities. Later in the year there was a more destructive IRA bombing in Manchester in which casualties were fortunately limited. The Northern Ireland Forum, that is, the assembly called for by the British government, was elected in May. The party breakdown was predictable: the Unionists won 30, the DUP 24, the SDLP 21, Sinn Fein 17,

Alliance 7, independent unionists 7, and 4 others. However, the SDLP withdrew from the forum in July. That month the RUC again reversed itself in first banning and then allowing an Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road, with subsequent rioting. However, in June, Mitchell began multiparty negotiations with Sinn Fein excluded.

The coalition government in Ireland was united with regard to the prerequisite of full rejection of violence and decommissioning of weapons by paramilitaries as central to a solution on Northern Ireland. But there were inevitable ideological differences among the partners. Fine Gael advanced serious reductions in capital gains taxation, which contributed immensely to the economic boom that would shortly occur in Ireland leading to the republic's designation as the "Celtic Tiger," while Labour and the Democratic Left promoted substantial social benefits, including free university education. Perhaps the most symbolically significant measure was a constitutional amendment narrowly approved in a referendum in November 1995 allowing divorce in Ireland.

In a general election held in May 1997, Fine Gael actually gained nine seats over its earlier total, but Labour representation in the Dail was cut almost in half, and Fianna Fail recovered its loses from the previous election. With the support of a number of independents, Ahern formed a coalition government with the Progressive Democrats. The PD leader, Mary Harney, who had succeeded Desmond O'Malley in 1993, became Tanaiste and minister for enterprise and employment. The previous month in Britain, the Labour Party returned to power after 18 years in opposition with a massive victory over the Conservatives. Ten Unionists and two members of DUP were returned for Northern Ireland constituencies as well as three members of the SDLP and two Sinn Feiners (including Gerry Adams, who was returned again for West Belfast).

In June Prime Minister Tony Blair announced his intention to resume the all-party talks in September and he gave the IRA a deadline of five weeks to return to a cease-fire. In July, rioting followed an Orange March down the Garvaghy Road, which was permitted by the RUC. Nevertheless, the IRA did proclaim a cease-fire. By September Sinn Fein was admitted to the all-party talks chaired by Senator Mitchell after Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam declared the IRA cease-fire to be authentic, and after having accepted the Mitchell principle calling for commitment to nonviolence. However, the unionist parties refuse to participate, as they insisted on decommissioning being settled before negotiations. But by December Ulster unionists dropped that condition. However, an international decommissioning body under Canadian general John de Chastelain was established. In December Adams led the first Sinn Fein delegation to talks at 10 Downing Street. Intensive negotiations at Stormont finally led to the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998, which was accepted by the British and Irish governments, the Unionists, the SDLP, Alliance, and Sinn Fein, but not the DUP.

Central points in the Good Friday Agreement included the establishment of an elected Northern Ireland Assembly and its appointment of a power-sharing executive, formation of cross-border and cross-channel bodies, acceptance of the principle of consent for determining the status of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland police reform, commencement of the release of prisoners convicted of politically inspired crimes, changing the Irish constitution to remove territorial claims on Northern Ireland, and urging the decommissioning of weapons by paramilitary organizations. The agreement was approved in subsequent referenda in Northern Ireland (by 71.1%) and in the republic (by 94.4%). A Northern Ireland Assembly was elected in June in which the party breakdown was as follows: Unionists 28, SDLP 24, DUP 20, Sinn Fein 18, and 18 among assorted other groups.