# Northern Ireland: the Troubles and collusion Three decades of conflict and the state's hidden hand: partition and the civil-rights spark, internment, Bloody Sunday and the Saville findings, the hunger strikes and the bombings, and the collusion between British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries, from the Glenanne gang to Pat Finucane, through to the Good Friday Agreement. *This story parallel: Agent provocateurs and false flags* *This story parallel: MI5, MI6, and British intelligence* *This story part of: Military and security* *Commissions of inquiry: the UK and the US parallel this story* *Paramilitaries: the armed force between soldier and police parallel this story* *Ireland: from the island of saints to the Republic continues this story* *The Home Guard: citizen defence then and now parallel this story* ## 3 May 1921 — Partition of Ireland The Government of Ireland Act 1920 took effect, dividing Ireland into Northern Ireland (six counties of Ulster) and Southern Ireland. Northern Ireland's boundary was drawn to secure a Protestant and Unionist majority who wished to remain part of the United Kingdom, while the mostly Catholic and nationalist south moved toward independence. The settlement left a large nationalist minority inside Northern Ireland who did not accept the new state. This division set the stage for decades of communal tension. ## 22 June 1921 — Opening of the Northern Ireland Parliament King George V formally opened the new Northern Ireland Parliament at Belfast City Hall. The Ulster Unionist Party would go on to govern Northern Ireland without interruption for the next fifty years. Nationalist and Catholic representation in this system remained marginal from the outset. ## 7 April 1922 — Special Powers Act The Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922 gave the Unionist government sweeping powers, including internment without trial, curfews, and bans on meetings and publications. It was renewed repeatedly and made permanent in 1933. Critics, including later official inquiries, documented that it was used disproportionately against the Catholic and nationalist community. ## 26 June 1966 — Modern UVF re-formed Gusty Spence and others revived the Ulster Volunteer Force, a loyalist paramilitary group taking its name from the pre-partition militia. On 26 June 1966 the group shot dead a Catholic civilian, John Scullion, in Belfast, followed shortly after by the killing of three more men at Malvern Street. The UVF was banned by the Northern Ireland government days later, but continued as one of the main loyalist paramilitary organisations of the Troubles. ## 29 January 1967 — Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association founded The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was founded to campaign against discrimination in housing, employment, and local government voting rights, which were restricted by property qualifications that disadvantaged poorer Catholics. It drew on the model of the American civil rights movement and organised marches demanding "one man, one vote" and fair allocation of public housing. Its campaign, and the government's response to it, is widely seen as the immediate lead-up to the Troubles. ## 5 October 1968 — Derry civil rights march baton charge A civil rights march organised in Derry was banned by the government and then broken up by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), which baton-charged marchers on Duke Street in front of television cameras. Images of the violence were broadcast internationally and are widely regarded as a turning point that accelerated the slide toward open conflict. Rioting followed in Derry over the following days. ## 12 August 1969 — Battle of the Bogside Three days of intense rioting broke out in Derry's Bogside area after an Apprentice Boys of Derry parade passed near the Catholic Bogside district, with residents clashing with the RUC using stones and petrol bombs. The RUC's use of CS gas and its inability to contain the disorder helped trigger sympathetic rioting elsewhere in Northern Ireland, including severe violence in Belfast. The scale of the disorder led the Northern Ireland government to request British troops. ## 14 August 1969 — British Army deployed to Northern Ireland British troops were deployed onto the streets of Derry, and the following day Belfast, at the request of the Northern Ireland government, beginning what would become Operation Banner. Troops were initially welcomed by many Catholics as a more neutral force than the RUC, but relations deteriorated over the following years. Operation Banner became the longest continuous deployment in British military history, lasting until 2007. ## 12 September 1969 — Cameron Commission report published A government-appointed commission chaired by Lord Cameron reported on the causes of the disturbances of 1968 to 1969. It documented discrimination against Catholics in the allocation of public housing and in local government employment, and found that electoral boundaries in some areas, notably Derry, had been drawn to keep Unionist control despite a nationalist majority in the population. The findings confirmed many of the civil rights movement's central complaints. ## 28 December 1969 — Provisional IRA formed The Irish Republican Army split into two factions, the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA, over disagreements about political strategy and how to respond to the violence of August 1969. The Provisional IRA, formed with the stated aim of defending Catholic areas and pursuing a united Ireland by force, went on to become the largest and most active republican paramilitary group of the Troubles. Its political wing, Provisional Sinn Féin, also split from the party at the same time. ## 9 August 1971 — Internment without trial (Operation Demetrius) The British Army and RUC launched dawn raids arresting 342 men suspected of IRA involvement and interning them without trial under the Special Powers Act. Intelligence was poor and outdated, and the operation initially targeted only nationalists, since loyalist paramilitaries were not interned until 1973. Some detainees were subjected to interrogation techniques later ruled by the European Court of Human Rights to constitute inhuman and degrading treatment. Internment intensified the conflict and boosted recruitment to the IRA. ## c. September 1971 — Ulster Defence Association formed The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was formed from local loyalist vigilante groups in Belfast, becoming the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation of the Troubles. It operated openly and legally, using the cover name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) to claim responsibility for killings, until it was proscribed by the British government in 1992. Alongside the UVF, it carried out a long campaign of attacks, mostly targeting Catholics. ## 30 January 1972 — Bloody Sunday British Army paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march in the Bogside, killing 13 people outright and wounding a 14th who died later; none of those killed were found to be armed. The Saville Inquiry, reporting in 2010 after a twelve-year investigation, concluded that the killings were unjustified and unjustifiable, that soldiers had lost self-control and fired first, and that none of the victims posed a threat. Prime Minister David Cameron apologised in Parliament on the day the report was published. The event became one of the most significant single episodes of the Troubles, driving a surge in IRA recruitment. ## 30 March 1972 — Direct rule imposed on Northern Ireland The British government prorogued the Stormont Parliament and imposed direct rule from Westminster, ending fifty years of unbroken Unionist government. The move followed the crisis over Bloody Sunday and the Unionist government's refusal to hand security powers to London. Northern Ireland would be governed directly by a Secretary of State, with only brief interruptions, until devolved government was restored under the 1998 peace settlement. ## 21 July 1972 — Bloody Friday The Provisional IRA detonated around twenty car bombs across Belfast within about an hour, with little or no effective warning for several of them. Nine people were killed and around 130 injured, several so severely that body parts had to be gathered by emergency workers. The attack caused widespread public revulsion and is regarded as one of the most notorious IRA actions of the conflict. ## c. 1972 — Glenanne gang collusion campaign A loyalist paramilitary group linked to a farm at Glenanne, County Armagh, carried out a sustained campaign of attacks on Catholics and nationalists through the 1970s, drawing members from the UVF, the Mid-Ulster UVF, and other loyalist groups. Subsequent investigations, including the Historical Enquiries Team review and journalistic and legal inquiries, documented that some members were serving RUC officers and Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers, and found evidence that security-force personnel supplied weapons, intelligence, and in some cases direct participation. The gang has been linked to dozens of killings, including the Miami Showband massacre and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. ## 9 December 1973 — Sunningdale Agreement The British and Irish governments, together with moderate Unionist, nationalist, and cross-community parties, agreed a settlement establishing a power-sharing executive for Northern Ireland and a Council of Ireland with an all-island dimension. It was the first attempt at power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. It collapsed within months in the face of Unionist opposition and a general strike. ## 15 May 1974 — Ulster Workers' Council strike A general strike organised by loyalist workers and paramilitaries, backed by intimidation and paramilitary enforcement of power cuts and roadblocks, brought Northern Ireland to a standstill for a fortnight. The strike was intended to bring down the Sunningdale power-sharing executive, and it succeeded: the executive collapsed on 28 May 1974 and direct rule resumed. Power-sharing would not be attempted again until the Good Friday Agreement almost a quarter of a century later. ## 17 May 1974 — Dublin and Monaghan bombings Loyalist car bombs exploded without warning in Dublin and Monaghan, killing 33 people and an unborn child, the highest death toll of any single day of the Troubles. The UVF admitted responsibility in 1993. The Irish government's Barron Report (2003) and a subsequent parliamentary inquiry found evidence, though not conclusive proof, suggestive of collusion by British security force personnel in the planning or execution of the attacks; no one has ever been charged. ## 5 October 1974 — Guildford pub bombings The IRA bombed two pubs in Guildford frequented by British soldiers, killing five people and injuring dozens more. Four people wrongly convicted of the bombings, who became known as the Guildford Four, were arrested and prosecuted the following year based on confessions later shown to have been coerced. The real perpetrators were never convicted for the attack. ## 21 November 1974 — Birmingham pub bombings Bombs planted in two Birmingham pubs killed 21 people and injured around 180. The attack was attributed to the Provisional IRA and led to a notorious miscarriage of justice. ## 15 August 1975 — Birmingham Six convicted Six Irish men were convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings and sentenced to life imprisonment, based largely on confessions extracted under duress and flawed forensic evidence. The men consistently maintained their innocence. Their case became one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in British legal history. ## 22 October 1975 — Guildford Four convicted Four people, three of them Irish, were convicted of the Guildford pub bombings and given life sentences after confessions later found to have been obtained through oppressive police interrogation and, in some cases, physical abuse. All four consistently denied involvement. The convictions were part of a wider pattern of wrongful convictions of Irish people in Britain during the 1970s. ## c. 1975 — Shankill Butchers murder campaign A UVF gang based on the Shankill Road, led by Lenny Murphy, carried out a series of sectarian murders of Catholic civilians noted for their extreme brutality, many victims being abducted at random and killed with knives. The gang was linked to at least 23 murders before Murphy's death in 1982 and the conviction of several members in 1979. The killings became emblematic of the sectarian violence targeting ordinary civilians on both sides of the conflict. ## 27 August 1979 — Mountbatten assassination and Warrenpoint ambush On the same day, the IRA bombed the boat of Lord Mountbatten, a member of the British royal family, off the coast of County Sligo, killing him and three others. Hours later, IRA bombs killed 18 British soldiers in an ambush near Warrenpoint, the British Army's highest death toll in a single incident during the Troubles. The attacks demonstrated the IRA's continued capability more than a decade into the conflict. ## 5 May 1981 — 1981 hunger strike and death of Bobby Sands Republican prisoners, protesting the removal of political status, began a hunger strike on 1 March 1981 led by IRA prisoner Bobby Sands. While on hunger strike, Sands was elected as a Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in a by-election on 9 April, giving the protest international attention. He died on 5 May 1981 after 66 days without food; nine other prisoners died before the strike ended in October, and it drew a wave of recruitment and international sympathy for the republican cause. ## 15 November 1985 — Anglo-Irish Agreement British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald signed an agreement giving the Irish government a formal consultative role in Northern Ireland's governance for the first time, while confirming that no change in Northern Ireland's status could occur without majority consent. Unionists reacted with fury, staging mass protests under the slogan "Ulster Says No." The agreement is generally seen as an important step toward the later peace process, establishing the principle of Irish involvement that would shape subsequent negotiations. ## 8 November 1987 — Enniskillen (Remembrance Day) bombing An IRA bomb exploded at a Remembrance Sunday commemoration in Enniskillen, killing 11 civilians and injuring more than 60; a twelfth victim died from his injuries in 2000. The IRA later said the bombing had not been sanctioned as planned and expressed regret, but the attack caused widespread revulsion and significant damage to republican support both in Northern Ireland and internationally. It is remembered as one of the most condemned attacks of the Troubles. ## 12 February 1989 — Murder of Pat Finucane Pat Finucane, a Belfast solicitor who had represented republican clients including hunger strikers, was shot dead in front of his wife and children by UDA gunmen. Later official reviews established that a British Army intelligence agent inside the UDA was involved in the killing and that security force personnel supplied information used to target him. The case became the most prominent single example of alleged state collusion in loyalist violence. ## c. May 1989 — Stevens Inquiry launched British police officer John Stevens was appointed to lead an investigation into allegations that British Army intelligence and RUC Special Branch had colluded with loyalist paramilitaries by leaking security force intelligence on republican and nationalist targets. It was the first of what became three linked Stevens Inquiries over the following fourteen years, examining collusion in a series of loyalist killings including that of Pat Finucane. Investigators later reported that their work was obstructed, including by a fire that destroyed the inquiry's Belfast office in 1990. ## 19 October 1989 — Guildford Four convictions quashed The Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of the Guildford Four after new evidence showed police had fabricated interview notes and withheld evidence supporting the defendants' alibis. All four had spent fifteen years in prison for a bombing they did not commit. The case, alongside the Birmingham Six case, prompted a broader reckoning with wrongful convictions of Irish people during the 1970s and reforms to police interrogation and disclosure practices. ## 14 March 1991 — Birmingham Six convictions quashed The Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of the Birmingham Six after forensic evidence used at trial was discredited and police were found to have fabricated evidence and coerced confessions. The six men had spent sixteen years in prison. Their release, following that of the Guildford Four, further undermined public confidence in the safety of terrorism-related convictions from the 1970s. ## 31 August 1994 — IRA ceasefire declared The Provisional IRA announced a "complete cessation of military operations," ending its armed campaign after twenty-five years, following months of secret contacts involving the British and Irish governments, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and Sinn Féin. The ceasefire broke down in February 1996 with the Canary Wharf bombing in London, but was restored in July 1997 and held through the subsequent peace negotiations. ## 13 October 1994 — Loyalist ceasefire announced The Combined Loyalist Military Command, representing the UVF, UDA, and Red Hand Commando, announced a ceasefire six weeks after the IRA's, expressing "abject and true remorse" to all victims of loyalist violence. The announcement removed one of the last major obstacles to political negotiations. Loyalist paramilitary structures nonetheless persisted, and sporadic violence, including feuding between paramilitary groups, continued for years afterward. ## 10 April 1998 — Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement signed The British and Irish governments and most of Northern Ireland's political parties signed the Good Friday Agreement, establishing a power-sharing assembly, cross-border institutions, and a framework for policing and human rights reform. The agreement enshrined the principle that Northern Ireland's constitutional status could only change with the consent of a majority of its population. It is generally regarded as the foundational document of the Northern Ireland peace process. ## 22 May 1998 — Good Friday Agreement referendums Voters in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland approved the Good Friday Agreement in simultaneous referendums, with 71 percent support in Northern Ireland and 94 percent in the Republic. The Republic's vote also approved amending its constitution to remove its territorial claim over Northern Ireland. The results gave the agreement a strong democratic mandate on both sides of the border. ## 15 August 1998 — Omagh bombing A car bomb planted by the Real IRA killed 29 people in the town of Omagh. It was the deadliest single attack of the Northern Ireland conflict and came months after the Good Friday Agreement. ## 4 November 2001 — Police Service of Northern Ireland established The Royal Ulster Constabulary was renamed and reformed as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), implementing recommendations of the 1999 Patten Report commissioned under the Good Friday Agreement. The reforms introduced new recruitment targets to increase Catholic representation in a force that had been overwhelmingly Protestant, along with new oversight and accountability structures. The change was intended to build cross-community confidence in policing. ## 17 April 2003 — Stevens 3 report published John Stevens published the findings of his third and final inquiry into collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. He concluded that there had been collusion in the murders of Pat Finucane and others, including the passing of intelligence to loyalist gunmen, failure to arrest known killers, and the destruction of evidence. Stevens stated plainly that his investigation had been obstructed throughout its fourteen years. ## c. May 2003 — Stakeknife exposed as Freddie Scappaticci Media reports publicly named Freddie Scappaticci, a senior figure in the IRA's internal security unit responsible for interrogating and executing suspected informers, as the British Army agent codenamed Stakeknife. Scappaticci denied the allegation but fled Northern Ireland shortly afterward. His alleged dual role raised the possibility that British intelligence had allowed informer killings to proceed, or been complicit in them, in order to protect its highest-placed agent inside the IRA. ## 26 September 2005 — IRA decommissioning completed The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, headed by General John de Chastelain, announced that the IRA had put its entire arsenal of weapons beyond use, witnessed by independent clergy observers. The move followed the IRA's July 2005 statement formally ending its armed campaign. Decommissioning removed a major obstacle to restoring the power-sharing institutions set out in the Good Friday Agreement. ## 15 June 2010 — Saville Inquiry report published Lord Saville published the report of his twelve-year public inquiry into Bloody Sunday, finding that none of those shot by paratroopers had posed a threat, that soldiers had given false accounts afterward, and that the killings were unjustified and unjustifiable. It overturned the findings of the original 1972 Widgery Tribunal, which had largely exonerated the soldiers. Prime Minister David Cameron apologised in the House of Commons on the day of publication, and a police investigation into the killings was subsequently opened. ## 12 December 2012 — De Silva Review published Sir Desmond de Silva published his government-commissioned review of the murder of Pat Finucane, finding "shocking levels of state collusion" involving the Army's Force Research Unit, RUC Special Branch, and MI5, including the supply of intelligence used to select him as a target. Prime Minister David Cameron apologised for the collusion but the review fell short of a full public inquiry, which the Finucane family and human rights groups had long demanded and continued to seek afterward. The family rejected the review as inadequate compared to a full statutory inquiry. ## c. June 2016 — Operation Kenova launched Bedfordshire Chief Constable Jon Boutcher was appointed to lead Operation Kenova, a large-scale investigation into the activities of the Army agent known as Stakeknife, including killings and abductions carried out by the IRA's internal security unit while it was allegedly under British intelligence direction. The investigation examined whether British authorities had known of or facilitated murders in order to protect their agent. It was the largest and most complex investigation of its kind into the intelligence services' conduct during the Troubles.