How a 17-month ceasefire collapsed into a £150 million London explosion

Cultures · Published 1 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The path to the Good Friday Agreement was anything but linear. Between 1994 and 1996, the Northern Ireland peace process swung violently between historic ceasefires and devastating bombings, driven by fragile political promises, secret back-channel negotiations, and the high-stakes struggle for political legitimacy.

The peace process was anchored by the 1994 Provisional IRA ceasefire, which followed a brief three-day cessation of hostilities in April 1994. While the August 31 announcement of a permanent cessation of military operations was accepted by Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds as a lasting peace, many unionists remained deeply skeptical. The stability of this period was shattered on February 9, 1996, when the IRA ended its 17-month, 9-day ceasefire with a massive lorry bomb in the London Docklands, causing £150 million in damage and killing two people.

Negotiations relied on complex, often secret, diplomacy. Since the late 1980s, leaders like John Hume (SDLP) and Gerry Adams (Sinn Féin) engaged in talks facilitated by the priest Alec Reid, with the backing of the Irish government. Even the British government, despite long-standing denials, was revealed to have been in discussions with the Provisional IRA by November 1994. A pivotal moment arrived with the 1993 Downing Street Declaration, issued by UK Prime Minister John Major and Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, which committed the British government to having no selfish strategic interest in the region and upheld the right of the people to decide their constitutional status.

The process was further complicated by the 'twin-track' approach proposed in late 1995, which sought to advance both decommissioning and all-party negotiations simultaneously. This was guided by the Mitchell Report, which introduced six 'Mitchell Principles' for entering talks. However, political fragmentation persisted; during the 1996 Forum elections, the UUP won 30 seats while Sinn Féin won 17, yet Sinn Féin was repeatedly excluded from the initial Stormont talks due to ongoing violence.

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