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Author: Brian Rowan

Ceasefire anniversary in Northern Ireland: 30 years of an impossible peace

Updated Thursday, 8 August 2024

A story of change, drawing on the thoughts of some of those who made the ceasefires and the political agreement in Northern Ireland possible.

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Video: Brian Rowan introduces the Northern Ireland Ceasefire 30 anniversary project

Word 2007 document Video transcript 49.0 KB


Thirty years ago, in Northern Ireland – or in the North – it was hard to believe in peace. The horror of one week in October 1993 is implanted in our memories. A bomb on the Shankill Road in Belfast. The dead of that day, and what followed. Within weeks, a huge arms shipment destined for loyalists was intercepted. Then, news broke of secret contacts between the British Government and the IRA. There was talk of a sell-out, and of more war. And in that darkness, peace was unimaginable. Yet, within a year, the IRA and the Combined Loyalist Military Command had announced ceasefires.

I was a BBC correspondent in Belfast then, reporting the headline moments of those statements in August and October 1994. Three decades later, “Ceasefire 30” is an analysis of the long process of peace, drawing on the thoughts of some of those who made it possible. As the story of those thirty years develops, we arrive at a moment when history meets a new generation.


“Impossible Peace”

Impossible Peace was published by Brian Rowan in August 2024. The project is a marrying of spoken and written words that help tell the story of what the former Clinton adviser Nancy Soderberg describes as a ‘miracle’ emerging out of leadership and vision; that moment, to borrow a thought from Miriam Reynolds, daughter of the late Albert Reynolds, when an impossible peace began to look possible.


Listen to the Ceasefire Tapes

These are excerpts from seven conversations recorded by Brian Rowan during his research. Some of the recordings date back to 1994.

Click or tap the image to open the activity.

Activity banner with link to interactive activity - ceasefire tapes

Activity transcript (Word 2007 document53.9 KB)


Photo gallery - the faces of “Impossible Peace”





Click to download the full version of "Impossible Peace"


“Impossible Peace” - read the sample chapter





Acknowledgements

All photographs by Marie Therese Hurson, Stills Photographic - used with kind permission.

Funded with support from the Reconcilliation Fund

the Reconcilliation Fund logo
 

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