Denis: People of Ireland will not be denied peace

Mar 13 2009 By Denis Kilcommons

That history has produced a lot of martyrs, a lot of legends and a lot of emotive songs on both sides.

It also produced the initial split in the Republican movement in 1922 when part of the Irish Republican Army regarded the deal that gave Southern Ireland independence a sell-out and continued to fight for a united Ireland.

During the Troubles that started in the late 1960s, the Provisional IRA fought the British Army, the police and loyalist paramilitaries. Those memories and the bitterness they engendered are still fresh. Everybody knows somebody who was a victim.

The violence stopped with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and ever since then the peace process has attracted criticism and disdain as well as hope. It may not be perfect, but the violence of the last seven days has made everyone suddenly realise one thing – that it has worked. They value what has been achieved and will not give it up easily.