What unfolded in Ulster in the 1960's was that the catholic minority in became the main casualties with Ireland becoming a Republic. Now a well-entrenched minority, politically isolated from the south, they were abused and humiliated in their own communities by the protestant majority. They became second and third class citizens which resulted in them being cut off from educational and employment opportunities as well as decent housing. So by 1968, twenty years after things came to a head with the civil rights marches in Ulster. Ultimately the back lash from the RUC and the protestant majority, attacked the marchers and many catholic family's were forced out of their homes. This created civil unrest in Catholic areas and the IRA reconstituted itself in the north and "the troubles" as they were known, started. Although the British army was initially well received by the Catholics, eventually they were seen as another oppressive weapon by the British state alongside the mostly protestant RUC and the UDF. Twenty years on, it all seemed like a very unsatisfactory outcome, the only winners being the Irish Republic. Its constitution claimed the counties in the north, but they just got on with its affairs and Northern Ireland became something of a tragedy that didn't directly effect them. However, the goal of a United Ireland just seem further away than ever and the hatred between the loyalists and republicans was unsurmountable.
From the late 1960's to the early 1990's the "troubles" in Northern Ireland was a headache for successive British governments. With the Provisional IRA reconstituting itself in the north, the loyalists had the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defense Force (UDF) and alongside the Ulster Defense Regiment (UDF) part of the British army and of course the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). These names would all be synonymous with the troubles and would become very recognizable in the newspapers and the daily news broadcasts throughout the 1970's and 80's. Bombs would be part of the IRA's campaign, but after the pub bombings in Britain where many Saturday night revelers were killed and maimed, the IRA shifted their approach and went after the British army, police and security forces in Northern Ireland and on the British mainland. If anybody thought that the 1970's were bad, it was only going to get worse in the 1980's.
By 1985, London and Dublin introduced the Anglo-Ireland agreement 1985 over Ulster which in many ways was a major turning point in Northern Ireland. It signaled that the UK government would consult Dublin over policy changes and although the IRA publicly condemned the agreement, privately they understood that this was a declaration of intent that the British were able to compromise over the status of Ulster. Not everyone was on board, the Unionists who weren't consulted over this were furious.
By this time members of the British political establishment were now fair game. Although the IRA often gave warnings in advance to newspapers about a bomb, which allowed the police to evacuate the area, when it came to certain events there were none. The most depressing part of the conflict was that any civilians that were in any way associated with Sinn' Fein, RUC, UDR or were employed as menial workers for the RUC or the British were also targeted regardless of what religion. Reprisals and tit for tat killings between Catholics and protestants were all too common in the daily news broadcasts. One of the most notorious and heinous acts act was the murder of Patsie Gellespie, cook and father of two who was forced to drive up to an army checkpoint with a bomb it that was going to be detonated via remote control, the catch was he was chained to the drivers seat while his wife and two young children were being held at gunpoint. He was killed alongside some soldiers, Gillespie's only crime, cooking food for the British soldiers so he could support his family, what a cowardly act on a soft target.
In international as domestic politics, the ground can shift from underneath you and to a large extent this happened by the 1990's. With Margret Thatcher leaving office and the cold war finishing, this created a different global political environment for hope. With both sides in Northern Ireland punching themselves to a standstill and the enormous cost becoming an issue in British politics, this all created the conditions for compromise between all sides. The case was made by the British to Sinn Fein (via back channels) the British governments position was clear, the IRA has to call off its campaign of violence and intimidation to be able to enter into the political process. They would have to get through to the more extreme elements in their organization, that the war couldn't be won by either side and continuing for no reason would prolong the hatred between both communities. So in the end by the time of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, all parties were ready for a different course. In the end the republicans had to settle for a power sharing government in Stormont rather than a united Ireland, with no real guarantee of being part of a unified Ireland in the future. Ironically, after the IRA gave up its campaign of violence, the political fortunes of Sinn' Fein took an upward curve, whereby they eventually became the largest republican party in the Northern Ireland assembly.
As for the Loyalists, they gave up on the RUC and the UDR and entered into "real" power sharing with all the nationalist parties. Perhaps seeing the tide coming in, they were persuaded that with good will being offered by the Irish Republic, the British government and the USA all at the same time, that might have been the best opportunity to get the best power sharing agreement for themselves. Instead they changed their position and were encouraged to go down this route, believing that it would be the best option to take to preserve Northern Irelands position in the UK.
One of the main provisions was the ability to call a referendum for Northern Ireland to vote for a return to unite with Ireland in the south and become a Republic. This is obviously a major issue as demographically Ireland is now majority Catholic. However, it's not clear that Ulster would vote to leave the union. After two decades of relative stability, why would the moderates vote to possibly end the current situation and go back to sectarian conflict. Be that as it may, the Loyalist hard liners accused the agreement as a betrayal and was designed to jettison Ulster from the UK to Ireland. Many in the provisional IRA said it was an agreement designed to keep Ulster in the UK indefinitely. Nobody for sure where the wind is going to blow in this, however, these two groups were hostile to the Good Friday agreement, but for the opposite reason.
In conclusion, the real tragedy of Ireland was nobody in 1922 could see the future and the result of partition. However, the Irish delegation in London realized that being objective, the partitioning of Ireland was a logical choice for the time and probably on balance might have been the right one under the circumstances. They realized that they were living in 1922 not 1822. What was obvious about the "Good Friday" agreement is that both sides (including the Irish Republic and the British) never argued from a mind set of it being 1968, or 1922. The Loyalists politicians realized that they had to back down from the previous position of refusing to compromise. Instead of Sinn Fein arguing over the mistake of 1922 or that Britain should leave lock stock and barrel as if it was 1900 the pragmatic negotiators accepted that it was the late 1990's that any agreement between all sides had to reflect that.
