FitzGerald is all too familiar with the consequences of over-reaction. Just over two decades ago, terrorism brought Ireland closer to civil war than most people realise, he says.

Former Prime Minister Dr. Garrett Fitzgerald delivered the UNSW / Australian Ireland Fund Peace Oration 'Northern Ireland- A Catalyst for Anglo-Irish Relation'. Over 200 people were in attendance including his Excellency Ambassador to Ireland Mr. Declan Kelly, Chairman of the Australian Ireland Fund Charles Curran AO, Irish Consul General Anne Webster, Professor John Ingleson, Mr John Fahey AC, Susan Ryan AO.

Dr. Fitzgerald delighted his audience with an aspect of Irish Independence that has been totally ignored by our political historians. The Irish – British Relationship is usually seen in exclusively politico-cultural terms, which ignores the existence of a fundamental economic imbalance between the islands. The recent achievement of what may soon become an enduring political settlement of the Northern Ireland problem was facilitated by common Irish and British membership of the E.U. However, Dr. Fitzgerald stated that a solution to the domestic economy of Northern Ireland, which has a strong degree of dependence upon Britain, has yet to be found.

We went back to the 17th Century – when the Ulster settlement element of the gradual conquest of Ireland by England climaxed. A comparison was made with the North American situation where a combination of technological superiority of the conquerors, and the genetic vulnerability of the indigenous population, led to the almost complete disappearance of the latter. Ireland on the contrary, showcases a situation where both the indigenous and settler populations had a common epidemiological experience, having survived similar European infections in their pasts. In Ireland, conquest took the form of a transfer of the ownership of land as opposed to actual land settlement. This problem was capable of eventual resolution by land reform – a process that was accomplished by considerable cost by the British Government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

By the end of the 1890’s Britain had become the slowest-growing economy in Europe – which was to continue to be the case until about 1980. This sluggish market was the only European one that was open to Irish exports for half a century after independence. So Irish independence failed to change the unfavourable economic situation of Ireland. It was the opening of continental European markets to Irish agricultural and industrial products that boosted the Irish economy. This involvement in the European Economical Community (as it was known at the time) enabled Ireland for the first time to achieve a growth rate comparable to its Continental neighbours, Emigration fell and for the first time in 10 years the population rose. In the 1990’s the level of Irish output and incomes began to catch up with those of Britain and the rest of Europe.

Membership of the EU helped to transform the Irish economy, which in turn impacted positively upon the Irish – British relationship in a number of ways. It gave Irish agriculture a major boost, it benefited from the EU structural funds and the Continental European Market was opened to Irish industrial products and industrial investment. This all enabled the Irish economy to expand by 8% a year from 1993-2001. These developments ended Irish economic dependence on the UK, to which it now sends less than 20% of its exports.

How does the Northern Ireland problem impact on all of this?

Since the 1921 Treaty was created, several Irish Governments failed to pursue with sufficient vigour discrimination by Northern Unionist politicians against the Catholic minority. Until the outbreak of violence in Northern Ireland in 1969, British Governments did not want to take their responsibilities in Northern Ireland for fear of being dragged back into Irish affairs. These fears also contributed to the extraordinary, and very dangerous decision to rule out any parliamentary questions in the House of Commons on Northern Ireland affairs.

The political relationship between Ireland and Britain was tenuous and often tetchy. There was extraordinarily little contact between the two governments. Irish wartime neutrality had a long-lasting negative impact on British political and public opinion. However, it also meant that the British did not have to extend protection of their forces to Ireland. It was only in the 1990’s with PM John Major and PM Tony Blair, that a psychological barrier to a normalised relationship with Ireland finally disappeared.

The longer-term consequences of persistent British failure to tackle the problem of discrimination in Northern Ireland were the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement and the Provisional IRA. Nobody in politics in Ireland had given serious thought to the Northern Ireland problem until then. Several years elapsed before the political system in the Republic of Ireland came firmly to grips with the Northern Ireland situation – starting to work with the British Government establishing a power-sharing government in the North and confronting the IRA and their supporters in the United States as well as at home. However, although reforms were introduced in the North, there was little handle on the emergency of the situation by the British Government…. And thus increasing support in the IRA and Nationalist communities.

Dr. Fitzgerald was quite passionate when speaking of the failed attempts to find a political solution between 1973 and 1981. The IRA Hunger Strikes won the IRA sufficient support to encourage its party Sinn Fein, to adopt a policy whereby they put forward candidates for election whilst continuing with the campaign of violence, which eventually cost the lives of 3,500 lives. The Tory Government at the time handled extremely badly 2 IRA hunger strikes which caused this increase in popularity for Sinn Fein and indeed the IRA in Ireland.

Dr. Fitzgerald told the audience about his move as Taoiseach in 1983 to establish a New Ireland Forum. The aim was to seek negotiations with the British Government to introduce an Irish government involvement in Northern Ireland. A strained 15 years of Anglo-Irish relationship followed where the common interests of both governments in securing Peace and Stability in Northern Ireland would remain within the UK unless there was a majority of its population. This led to the meeting of both governments in 1985 to produce the Anglo-Irish Agreement. That agreement led to a decline in nationalist support and tolerance of the IRA and five years later the Belfast agreement was signed.

Dr. Fizgerald claims that this outcome would never have occurred had not the members of successive Irish and British Governments come to know and work closely with one another in the context of European Ministerial Councils. The positive impact of this involvement at a personal level must not be underestimated.

“The unique and seminal achievement of the IRA has been to have brought Ireland and Britain, and particularly the governments of these two states, closer together than had ever seemed possible in the past – in a common search for a solution that would give peace and stability to Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland had become in the end a catalyst to a positive transformation of the Irish-British relationship : history sometimes develops very surprising turns and twists!

The Chair of Modern Irish Studies at UNSW is one of a small number of projects The Australian Ireland Fund supports in Australia. Peace Orations are designed to create awareness of the work of The Fund and to inform the community about the progress of peace in Northern Ireland.

-----------------Event over---------------Event over----------------------

Former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland
Dr. Garret FitzGerald

“ Northern Ireland: A Catalyst for Anglo-Irish Relations”

The Australian Ireland Fund and UNSW
presents its second Peace Oration

on

Thursday 16 September
5.30pm for 6pm

Leighton Hall, The Scientia
The University of New South Wales

Admission is free
However seats must be reserved with
Donna Mullins, The Australian Ireland Fund
Fax: (02) 8233 6227
E-Mail: infoireland@ozemail.com.au

OR

Dr. Peter Kuch, UNSW. Fax: (02) 9385 1047

We would like to thank APN News and Media for sponsoring this event

Free Parking at UNSW from 5.15pm: Enter via gate 11 on Botany Road

Biography of Dr. Garret FitzGerald

A native of Dublin, Garret FitzGerald was born in 1926. He obtained a BA (1946) and a PhD (1968) from University College Dublin and also graduated from Kings Inns, Dublin and was called to the Bar.Having worked in Aer Lingus for a number of years, Garret FitzGerald began a new career in 1958 as an Economic Consultant and Academic. He lectured in Economics and in the Affairs of the European Economic Community (EEC) at University College Dublin.

He entered politics in 1965 upon his election to the National Senate, and was subsequently elected to the Dáil in 1969.

Dr FitzGerald was twice elected as Taoiseach - in 1981 for nine months and in 1983 for four and a half years. In 1987 he resigned as leader of the Fine Gael party, and in 1992 retired from the Dáil.

Dr. FitzGerald is currently Chancellor of the National University of Ireland, elected in November 1997, upon the resignation of Dr T K Whitaker. He continues to be involved in a number of private companies as Director, in several consultancies, in lecturing and in journalism; he was the Ireland correspondent for the BBC, the Economist and the Financial Times and continues to write a weekly column in the Irish Times.

Dr FitzGerald is the author of books on a range of political and economic issues. In 1991 he published his autobiography - "All in a Life".

Some Information on the University of New South Wales and The Australian Ireland Fund

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of New South Wales is to establish a Chair in Modern Irish Studies. This initiative has the support of the Irish community in Australia and was launched by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, at the Sydney Opera House on 8 September 1998.

The Chair will focus on modern Ireland, from the 17th Century onwards and will investigate its relationships with Australia and with Europe.

The Australian Ireland Fund welcomes this initiative and has been a major contributor to the Chair.

The Australian Ireland Fund is part of the worldwide Ireland Funds set up in 1976 by Sir Anthony O’Reilly. It is a non political and non sectarian global network active in 11 countries around the world. In Australia it raises funds for projects of peace and reconciliation, community development and integrated education mainly in Northern Ireland.

The Chair of Modern Irish Studies at UNSW is one of a small number of projects The Australian Ireland Fund supports in Australia. Peace Orations are designed to create awareness of the work of The Fund and to inform the community about the progress of peace in Northern Ireland.