The Conservative Stewardship of Northern Ireland, 1979–97: Sound-Bottomed Contradictions or Slow Learning?

Oscar Wilde thought it took a heart of stone not to laugh at the demise of the heroine of one of Dickens' sentimental novels. The same idea arises when asked to re ect upon eighteen years of Conservative government on the politics of Northern Ireland. Solemnity is called for, but the oddities of these years mean that horselaughs are tempting. Remarkable inconsistencies or contradictions, as Marxists say, have characterized the Northern Irish policy making and implementation of the four Conservative governments since 1979, and provide the food for the occasionally ribald analysis which follows. But, it will be maintained, these inconsistencies and contradictions mask a deeper reality, the slow development of a more consistent and sensitive approach to the management of Northern Ireland ± and for these reasons mockery must be suitably restrained.