Ben Lowry: The coming 40th anniversary of the disastrous Anglo Irish Agreement
Saturday is the 40th anniversary of the Anglo Irish Agreement (AIA).
Since then, influential political and official voices have slyly given credence to that disastrous deal, although mostly it is ignored in favour of celebration of the later Belfast Agreement. But unionists had to concede very bad things in 1998 due to what Margaret Thatcher forced on them in 1985.
The AIA has, over time, helped the IRA, although I accept that its authors – on either side of the Irish Sea – did not seek that outcome.
Most of the problems that unionists face today were sown that day, November 15 1985: above all the incessant, as-of-right interference in Northern Ireland affairs by hypocritical Irish politicians. This has led to other horrors, including the legacy catastrophe and betrayal, in which the UK security forces who prevented civil war face, at best, denunciation, at worst criminal trial – while IRA enjoy de facto amnesty on both sides of the border. Also the provocative and triumphalist (and, again, hypocritical) use of Gaelic.
The immediate impact of the deal was minimal. It was the long-term impact that mattered. A decade ago I wrote that it had taken me 30 years to understand the AIA’s implications. Next week I will give updated thoughts on it.