The Good Friday Agreement

by Siobhan Fenton

Twenty years after the Good Friday Agreement, although Northern Irish politics has avoided returning to the bloodshed of the Troubles, by every other metric it has objectively failed. The botched parliament at Stormont lumbers from crisis to crisis and has scarcely passed any laws. At the time of writing, Sinn Féin and the DUP are refusing to share power and Northern Ireland is facing being run directly from London.

This remarkable book examines power-sharing and the peace process in Northern Ireland on the twentieth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and asks what it has achieved beyond an end to violence. She concludes that, although it brought an end to violent blood shed on Northern Ireland's streets, it also failed to create healthy and functional politics.

The Good Friday Agreement served an important purpose in 1998, but has since been out-paced by local and global politics. It is no longer fit to facilitate the peaceful politics it made possible, as the current collapse of power-sharing sadly shows.

Genres: History, Ireland, Nonfiction, Politics

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 2018

About the author

Siobhán Fenton lives in Belfast, where she reports on British and Northern Irish politics for the UK media. She writes for The Independent, The Guardian, The New Statesman and The Spectator and has guest presented for BBC Radio 4 on Northern Irish politics.

Reviews

[Meg ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

a post-brexit and second reformation of stormont addendum would be super interesting

[Sarah Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Now the 'wee ones' are grown up and being arrested for having abortions, treated as lesser if they are LGBT, go to solely 'Protestant' or 'Catholic' schools, live on solely 'Protestant' or 'Catholic' streets and suffer from inter generational trauma. It is in this context, therefore, that I feel it is important for the post-peace generation to take up this ethos of those who brought us peace, not to erase their efforts, but to continue their ethos in pushing for Northern Ireland to do better for the most vulnerable people for whom it is home."

Released near the 20th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Siobhan Fenton wrote her debut book in response to heightened interest in Northern Ireland following the DUP/Tory deal and Brexit. This is a brilliant examination of the legacy of the Agreement, the Troubles and where Northern Ireland is now.

Fenton makes the point that although the Agreement has brought cessation of violence and stability, there is still a lot of work to do to make NI a truly progressive place. The Agreement's focus on the narrow identities of British/Irish/Protestant and Catholic have meant that issues like abortion rights and LGBT rights have taken a back seat. While there is much to celebrate, there is an argument to be made that the Agreement has entrenched ethno nationalist divisions.

The Agreement's silence on legacy has left victims scrambling about to get justice and answers. In one startling chapter Fenton describes a village where a plaque to remember a mass murder attack has been defaced to the horror of locals. It turns out that the victims families are the ones vandalising the memorial. They do it to express their and grief and the fact that they have had no answers or justice.

Fenton puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that the British Government has taken its eye off the ball when it comes to Northern Ireland and has done so, arguably, since 1922. Ignorance about Northern Ireland has had unfortunate consequences, especially when it comes to Brexit.

For anyone in Northern Ireland, this is a good updater on where we are now. For anyone looking to get a good grounding in Northern Irish politics, this is the book for you.

[Ellen Dunne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, very digestible summary of a very complex conflict and it's ongoing legacy for that growing number of readers who weren't old enough to have experienced the "troubles", not even in form of news on TV.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is pleasantly readable, and I suppose for someone without a background knowledge it would be really insightful. For me, however, I found it rather simplistic, which maybe was because it was trying to cover too much and then not looking deep into areas. Additionally, I’d have really valued a list of references or notes, as many claims were made but not backed up (or maybe I’ve been marking too many essays recently....)

[Andy Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The principal strength of this book is its narrative style, which gives the social and political complexities of Northern Ireland an accessibility to a broad audience. Sadly, this is also its principal weakness. As countless journalists and historians (And not a few secretaries of state) will testify, these complexities defy simplification and form an impenetrable minefield of conflicting narratives and unfathomable nuance.

Fenton lays a very basic foundation of events leading up to the Belfast - or Good Friday - Agreement. In the space available to the author, it is only possible to provide the most superficial of background, but the events chosen by her, and those omitted, will inevitably form the basis of some form of bias in the eyes of any reader involved or associated with The Troubles. She does well to examine the Agreement in light of the collapse of power sharing and BREXIT, not least in exposing just how little Little England knows or cares about Northern Ireland and its fragile peace.

Where the book falls down in my view is its examination of the most crushing impediment to lasting progress; dealing with the legacy of the past. Fenton falls into the trap of the predominating narrative in respect of the current bias of judicial inquests. She gets there by first, and correctly, questioning the credibility and impartiality of the Historical Enquiries Team, but then lurches to the opposite extreme in peddling the equally partial view, that the only people set to benefit from the establishment of a comprehensive system for dealing with the past are soldiers and policemen.

The facts of this matter are that there is a statutory obligation upon the state to investigate all killings and not just those in which the state is believed to be involved. In Northern Ireland today there is a list of some 52 judicial inquests on the 'to do' list. These involve some 94 killings, of which 51 are known or thought to have been killed by security forces. Thus some 54% of pending inquests are associated with killings involving the security forces, while the security forces (Army and police) were believed to be involved in fewer that 10% of killings during the troubles. By contrast only 17 killings, or 18% of those currently scheduled for judicial inquests, are believed to involve Republican paramilitaries, while the same group are believed to be responsible for 54% of all killings during the troubles.

The £55 million of funding to clear this cycle of inquests was finally secured in March 2019, but over the 6 years that it will take to complete this tranche of inquests, the narrative will persist that the security forces were responsible for the majority of the killings, while the political successors of those groups which were responsible for the vast majority of the violence are able to weaponise victims and escape the difficult questions regarding the complicity of those who they now represent.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is terrible from start to finish. The book is written with bias and the perspective is very shallow. It is written in such a simplistic narrative, not to try and make it more accessible to a wide audience of outsider perspectives and to educate them with a basic understanding of what it is all about.

The author herself clearly lacks any real knowledge of the event and the years and extent of the trouble prior leading up to the Good Friday Agreement. A very poor choice of subject to write a book on when she herself works as an adviser for Sinn Féin, so political bias is expected, but it doesn't come across strongly biased as she is only 29 years old herself so didn't have any experience of the troubles and was but a toddler when the Good Friday Agreement came about in 1998.

She wrote this with no experience of the times to have an understanding. It would be much more an interesting read if it was written by someone who lived through the troubles and from their perspective, which would be biased but at least real and have some depth and passion put into the writing style.

Siobhan Fenton is being given too much praise; I am really shocked at the high review rating. Her Oxford and Cambridge education clearly shine through as she fails to have any empathy with what she is writing, living a life of privilege and ignorance. Having lived half her life in Oxford, London and Cambridge shows that Northern Ireland is already being "run directly from London" that she be the one to get the backing and authorised publishing on the subject rather than from someone who understands the troubles, the peace it brought about and how extreme and the impact if had on the lives of those in Belfast because it most certainly didn't impact her directly in any way other than her exploiting money out of the people buying and reading it. You'd at least think that she'd be some reasonable research into it to understand the perspectives from all the different historical sources on the events and give an evaluated perspective considering her educational background. As research and study heavy institutes, you'd think that is how she would have gone about writing it and therefore may have had some merit. The educational pool must really be scraping the barrels of the bottom if Oxbridge are admitting and graduating this standard of individuals.

[Maeve McCormack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to the Troubles and some of the challenges in the current political situation in Northern Ireland, but it has the slight feeling of having been rushed out. There are areas where the chapters repeat previous content (they read a little like a series of essays rather than one coherent whole) and there are some factual inaccuracies which should have been corrected in editing (describing Harriet Harman as a former Home Secretary, for example). That said, this is an easy read and the argument running through it is well made - it just could have benefited from better editing and allowing a little more time for the author to explore her themes.

[Holland Stasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tried to cover a bit too much, and as a consequence was a little surface level. I think maybe if you’re looking for a broad overview of post-GFA NI and you don’t have a ton of context, it would be great.

I do appreciate the idea of covering exactly how much of NI is affected by the GFA and how it was more than a peace treaty. Showing the breadth of its influence is important, hence the four stars.

[Olivia Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

SUCH a good book. The nuances of the troubles and their aftermath are so well explained. Really appreciated the insight into how the GFA and recent political troubles in NI has impacted on the rights of marginalised groups (aside from the usual Catholic/Protestant lens on things). 11/10.

[Amanda Gallagher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great retrospective on NI in the years since the Good Friday Agreement and up to the 2018 power sharing failure. Although, I would rate it higher only if it included more citations of the facts, which were opinions, etc., rather than it sounding purely journalistic.

[Astrid Johanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well written book, in a language which is easy to read. It gives a good basic knowledge regarding the Good Friday Agreement and how the troubles affected Northern Ireland.

[Juj · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written insight into the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement, the existing segregation and how it plays out for Brexit.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Educational and specific

[Lisa Fitzpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book! Non-fiction with a narrative that keeps you interested. It is pertinent for anyone with a desire to understand the Troubles.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the many books published on the back of Britain's exit from the European Union, this is a decent primer on post-Agreement Northern Ireland, looking into specific areas of contestation and controversy in the first two decades of peace - for example, policing, historical justice, women, and the larger constitutional issues thrown up by the EU exit. But the book is marred by significant oversights, particularly in its historical overview, that somewhat disbalance history in favour (ironically, given Fenton is a former Sinn Fein advisor) of the Unionist community.

Fenton's book is also one in a line of emerging studies that offer a much more critical look at the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, its aftermath and its limitations. She is clear, of course, that the Agreement was largely successful in ending violence in Northern Ireland after four decades of routine violence, and aimed at redressing eight decades of structural imbalance that had favoured the Unionist-Protestant majority. As Fenton argues in the opening pages, 'Northern Ireland's story did not end in 1998. Arguably, it only entered a different phase of complexity. While the society is no longer engulfed in violent conflict [...] Northern Ireland continues to be home to a deeply unsettled and divided region' (pp.3-4).

None of this, of course, means she regards the GFA as a failure, but rather than the 'peace process is far from resolved and [...] the progress in the region has been hampered by an unwillingness both locally and internationally to look squarely at the kind of peace we have, on what it is based and where it is going' (p.8). Indeed, the road to peace was far from smooth and, in a fact Fenton disregards entirely, further specifics had to be hashed out as part of the St Andrews Agreement in 2006.

Regrettably, this is not the only key omission in the book. In the historical overview near the beginning, in a section headed "The Birth of Northern Ireland", Fenton makes the outrageously misleading assertion that those Protestants/Unionists who took steps to secure Protestant supremacy 'did so in good faith' (p.21). Obviously there is only so much you can discuss in a short historical chapter, but the discussion completely omits any mention of the long war of attrition fostered by the Orangist movement against Home Rule, gunrunning (supported by the UK Conservative Party), and the state-supported repression by the British military apparatus. This is compounded by a total lack of discussion of the Civil Authorities Act, the fundamental piece of legislation that - along with those elements above - all sowed what Fenton calls 'the seeds of long-term alienation and division which eventually sparked the conflict' (p.21). If gunrunning might be overlooked, the failure to mention the Civil Authorities Act is much more significant, given it was this act that provided the power to intern without trial.

Furthermore, while Fenton sets out how the new Northern Irish statement gerrymandered electoral districts in order to cement Unionist ascendency, she does not acknowledge the fact that the entire Northern Irish region was effectively a large exercise in gerrymandering. As scholars like Tonge, Fitzpatrick, and TG Fraser have all shown, there was - in fact - quite an extensive debate within Unionist circles as to the precise boundaries of Northern Ireland (one proposal comprised all nine Ulster counties "nine-countyism"). Fenton also makes the sloppy error in claiming on page 33 that the loyalist paramilitary groups formed with a view to protecting against IRA violence. But this does not make sense, as the UVF (for example) formed in 1966, at which time the IRA posed very little threat of violence. It was 3 years later, following incidents like the Battle of the Bogside, that the Provisional IRA embarked upon its infamous armed campaign.

The space dedicated to exploring the role of the NI Women's Coalition in the Peace Process, however, is to be commended, and the discussion on contemporary issues in the book is much more fruitful than the historical sections. She challenges the prevailing narrative that cold case investigations disproportionately focus on military personnel, and offers a compassionate (albeit now dated) look at abortion access in the territory.

Despite its very serious limitations and oversights, the book does largely succeed in one of Fenton's primary aims - to reinvigorate debate on a too-long neglected part of the UK and its history.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siobhan Fenton provides a unique and intriguing view of Northern Ireland prior to and following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. As conversations about the future of the province seem more prevalent since the UK's decision to withdraw from the EU, she shines light on the complexities of Northern Irish politics and society that we are not necessarily exposed to in Britain. It will be these complexities that will no doubt remain relevant whether the North remains a part of the United Kingdom or at some point in time elects to unify with the Republic.

Fenton provides a rare perspective into the experiences of vulnerable people, both during the Troubles and under power sharing governance since 1998. The accounts of victims' families are difficult to read, including that of Jayne Olorunda. The lack of closure for families is clear. As well as celebrating the obvious achievements of the Good Friday Agreement, Fenton also draws attention to the limits of the treaty and the absence of mechanisms designed to address such issues.

This was an insightful read, from an honest and relatively impartial perspective; a rarity when it comes to issues in Northern Ireland.

4.0*

[Alice O'Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read, especially for anyone who wants to understand the situation in Northern Ireland.

[Olin Moseley · Rating 4 out of 5]

No mention of kneecap