Why Was Stormont Dissolved in 1972?
Why was Stormont Dissolved in 1972?
Eighty- seven years have passed and partition within Ireland still remains the island’s defining feature. Since the six county country of Northern Ireland was formed under the umbrella organisation of the United Kingdom in 1921, Northern Ireland has experienced two periods of its history that are so extreme in their differences. For the first fifty or so years of Northern Ireland’s existence the situation between both sides of the community, the Protestants and the Catholics was peaceful and there was very little hostility or violence between them. Northern Ireland was essentially governed by peaceful co- existence as the government at Stormont ruled with relative ease. However, towards the late 1960s, the history of Northern Ireland changed, as what was to become the darkest period in the country’s short history, ‘the Troubles’, ensued between the Protestant and Catholic sides of the community and threatened to destroy Northern Ireland. In a period that lasted around thirty years, Northern Ireland became a war zone, characterised by bombings, shootings and sectarian violence as the two communities fought to defend their beliefs and protect one another from the so- called ‘other side’. However it is the first three years of ‘the Troubles’, from 1969- 1972 and the dissolution off Stormont that will be the focus of this essay. The dissolution off Stormont in 1972 ended fifty years of Home Rule in the province and led to over two decades of Direct Rule from Westminster. But why was Stormont dissolved in 1972? In this essay I will answer this question but it is important to note that there is no single reason why. The dissolution off Stormont was a multi- causal event brought about, by what I see, as five key causes; the failures of the Unionist Government to reform and control security; the formation of the Provisional IRA (PIRA) and its escalation of violence; Internment and the subsequent PIRA backlash; the formation
Eighty- seven years have passed and partition within Ireland still remains the island’s defining feature. Since the six county country of Northern Ireland was formed under the umbrella organisation of the United Kingdom in 1921, Northern Ireland has experienced two periods of its history that are so extreme in their differences. For the first fifty or so years of Northern Ireland’s existence the situation between both sides of the community, the Protestants and the Catholics was peaceful and there was very little hostility or violence between them. Northern Ireland was essentially governed by peaceful co- existence as the government at Stormont ruled with relative ease. However, towards the late 1960s, the history of Northern Ireland changed, as what was to become the darkest period in the country’s short history, ‘the Troubles’, ensued between the Protestant and Catholic sides of the community and threatened to destroy Northern Ireland. In a period that lasted around thirty years, Northern Ireland became a war zone, characterised by bombings, shootings and sectarian violence as the two communities fought to defend their beliefs and protect one another from the so- called ‘other side’. However it is the first three years of ‘the Troubles’, from 1969- 1972 and the dissolution off Stormont that will be the focus of this essay. The dissolution off Stormont in 1972 ended fifty years of Home Rule in the province and led to over two decades of Direct Rule from Westminster. But why was Stormont dissolved in 1972? In this essay I will answer this question but it is important to note that there is no single reason why. The dissolution off Stormont was a multi- causal event brought about, by what I see, as five key causes; the failures of the Unionist Government to reform and control security; the formation of the Provisional IRA (PIRA) and its escalation of violence; Internment and the subsequent PIRA backlash; the formation