Autor: Hendrik Mann

The Sinn Féin Party, the IRA
 and the development of the conflict in Ireland from 1949 to the present

- Historical Developement & IRA campaigns of violence

· 1949 - Proclamation of the Repulic of Ireland, Ireland is ejected from the Commonwealth
· 1956 - IRA begins a series of attacks, but the campaign is abandoned later for lack of support
· 1968/69 - Battle of the Bogside, parade of the Orange Apprentice Boys of Londonderry, rioting breaks aout and 1,000 policemen arrive, Bogside marks a point where troubles in Ireland move away from civil rights issues and toward religious and national identities. A few days later, the British Army arrives to maintain order.
· 1972 - Bloody Sunday (Londonderry) During a civil rights march in Derry involving thousands of people, British paratroopers shoot thirteen Roman Catholics.
· July 1972 - Bloody Friday The IRA sets off 26 bombs in Belfast killing nine people and injuring 130
· 1974-75 - Sinn Féin legalized; Cease-fire_ IRA members believe British withdrawal from Northern Ireland will follow soon
· 1976/78 - Blanket Protest / Dirty Protest, Kieran Nugent is the first prisoner convicted and not given Special Catergory status, refuses to wear uniform and wears a blanket / Protesters wear only blankets and smear the walls in their cells with excreta.
· 1979 - Mountbattan Assassination, Lord Mountbatten, uncle of Queen Elizabeth II, is murdered along with three others when his boat is blown up by an IRA bomb _ British authorities were able to make much propaganda out of the death of two young boys
· 1980/81 - Hunger strike, Bobby Sands begins a hunger strike in prison, after forty days he wins the seat in Parliament, after 66 days he dies. His death causes riots of 100,000 people. Another nine IRA members fast to death
· 1985 - Anglo- Irish Agreement
· 1987 - members of IRA Brigade are gunned down by SAS while bombing Loughhall Royal Ulster Constabulary station.
· November 1987 - huge consignment of Lybian arms and ammuntion (surface-to-air missles) for the IRA are discovered on board of a ship called Eksund
· 1988 - two British soldiers are killed (TV cameras record how the soldiers are dragged from their car, beaten by the crowd, and then shot dead by the IRA)
· 1991-93 - mortar bomb 15 yards from cabinet, IRA bomb kills seven Protestants, IRA bomb containing one ton of fertilizer explosives goes off at the NatWest Tower, one is killed , 30 injured and damages amount to $1 billion.
· 1993 - Downing Street declaration, "the ending of divisions can come about only through the agreement and co-operation of the people, North and South, representing both traditions in Ireland."
· 1994 - Sinn Féin leader Adams visits Bill Clinton, Clinton hopes that would help the peace process
· August 1994 - cease-fire, IRA says there will be an end of military operations
· 1996 - Canary Wharf bomb, bombing kills two and injuring over a 100, cease-fire ends
· 1997 - all party Peace talks resume, Another IRA cease-fire is established and, for the first time since Ireland was divided in 1922, the Irish Free State, Ulster (British Province) and Sinn Fein sit down.
· 1998 - Catholic man is killed _ first killing since IRA cease-fire in July 97; on the eve of peace talks in January a roman catholic doorman at a night-club is killed, after seven more killings the Ulster Democratic party leaves the peace talks, in February Sinn Féin is temporarily expelled by Irish & British Governments for two killings.
· April 1998 - good Friday Agreement
· August 1998 - 29 people are killed and over 200 wounded when a bomb explodes in Omagh. It is Northern Ireland′s most deadly paramilitary attack. The blast is blamed on the Real IRA, a splinter group of the IRA.
· July 1999 - Significant setbacks occur that month for implementing the peace agreement. The main Protestant politicians, the Ulster Unionists, announce they won′t share power with Sinn Fein in a Protestant-Catholic coalition Cabinet, as envisioned in the peace accord, so long as the IRA refuses to begin disarming. And Sinn Fein rules out IRA disarmament by May 2000 which is the deadline set by the peace accords for the IRA and pro-British Protestant paramilitary groups to surrender all weapons.

- Language and Religion

· Language
- Northern Ireland: Gaelic language is not supported, english is official language
- Republic of Ireland: In 1830, half of Irish population spoke Gaelic. 
In order to preserve the Gaelic language, it was next to English an offical language (1921), then in 1922 it was a main subject in school

· Religion
- Northern Ireland: 28% are roman Catholics, biggest protestant denominations are: Presbyterians (23%), 
Church of Ireland (19%) und Methodists (4%)
- Republic of Ireland: 93% are roman Catholics

Sources: 
Ireland guide Dumont visuell, 
Microsoft Encarta 98 Enzyclopedia, 
Internet: www.frontline.com: 
The IRA & Sinn Féin chronology, 
Skyline Edition B