Thy Good Friday agreement
Northern Ireland has been subject to much conflict throughout the 20th century, the Good Friday agreement of April 10th 1998 was the latest attempt at bringing peace to the troubled nation. Its aim was to set up a power sharing assembly to govern Northern Ireland, by cross community consent; so essentially, Ireland could run itself again. It was reached after two years of talks, because the key decisions needed the consent of both the Dup and Sinn Fein. Its aim was to put an end to the conflict and in order to this it: reviewed policing in northern Ireland because there were claims that it was unfair, it started the decommissioning of weapons …show more content…
The Pattern report came in the year 2000. It aimed to introduce not just a new badge and a new name and most importantly the recruitment of more Catholics into the force. The proposal was initially rejected by the unionists and the republicans because it was too British, but a year later the police service of Northern Ireland was formed. On the 30th of April 2014, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was arrested on charges of murder during the troubles. This brought the new police force under scrutiny because he felt that the arrest was politically motivated. Adams was arrested for his alleged role in the murder of Catholic convert: Jean McConville during the troubles. Gerry Adams protested his arrest as he thought that the arrest was ‘politically motivated and designed to damage’ the party and its leader. However the head of the police service Matt Baggott, said that it was ‘unfair and inappropriate’ for Adams and his supporters to claim that there were "dark" elements opposed to the peace process and that ‘the arrest and questioning of Mr Adams was legitimate and lawful.’ The statement from Bagott isn’t entirely trustworthy because he isn’t likely to admit that the arrest was politically motivated. The change in the police force in Northern Ireland has helped to resolve some of the conflict because making it less biased meant that more people would be able to trust