Editing Northern Ireland peace process (section)

===Towards another ceasefire===
*Friday 16 February 1996: There was a large peace rally at City Hall, Belfast, and a number of smaller rallies at venues across Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Breen |first1=Suzanne |title=Call for IRA to renew ceasefire at Belfast peace rally |work=The Irish Times |issue=46446 |page=6}}</ref>
*Wednesday 28 February 1996: After a summit in London, the British and Irish prime ministers set a date (10 June 1996) for the start of all-party talks, and stated that participants would have to agree to abide by the six [[Mitchell Principles]] and that there would be preparatory 'proximity talks'.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Millar |first1=Frank |title=Date for all-party talks provides paramilitary 'moment of truth' |work=The Irish Times |date=29 February 1996 |pages=1}}</ref>
*Monday 4 March 1996: Proximity talks were launched at [[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Stormont]]. The Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party refused to join, and Sinn Féin were again refused entry, ostensibly because of IRA violence.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Moriarty |first1=Gerry |title=Stormont talks start new phase of peace process |work=The Irish Times |date=4 March 1996 |pages=1}}</ref>
*Thursday 21 March 1996: Elections to determine who would take part in all-party negotiations were announced. The elections would be to a Forum of 110 delegates, with 90 elected directly and 20 'top-up' seats from the ten parties polling the most votes.
*Thursday 18 April 1996: The ''Northern Ireland (Entry to Negotiations) Act'' was passed at Westminster. 30 parties and individuals were to take part in the election.<ref>{{cite news |title=North's voters to make one choice |work=The Irish Times |date=22 March 1996 |pages=8}}</ref>
*Monday 20 May 1996: [[Gerry Adams]], President of Sinn Féin, said that SF was prepared to accept the six ''[[Mitchell Principles]]'', if the other parties agreed to them.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Maol Muire Tynan, Geraldine Kennedy and Gerry Moriarty |title=IRA ceasefire still required despite Adams acceptance of Mitchell report |work=The Irish Times |issue=44526 |date=21 May 1996 |pages=1}}</ref>
*Thursday 30 May 1996: In the Forum Elections, with a 65% turnout, the UUP won 30 seats, the SDLP 21, the DUP 24, Sinn Féin 17, the Alliance Party 7, the [[UK Unionist Party]] 3, the [[Progressive Unionist Party]] 2, the [[Ulster Democratic Party]] 2, the [[Northern Ireland Women's Coalition]] 2, and Labour 2 seats.
*Tuesday 4 June 1996: The [[Northern Ireland Office]] invited nine political parties to attend initial talks at [[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Stormont]]. Again, Sinn Féin were not invited to the talks. [[Mary Robinson]], then [[President of Ireland|President of the Republic of Ireland]], began the first official state visit to Britain by an Irish head of state.
*Friday 7 June 1996: IRA members [[Killing of Jerry McCabe|killed Jerry McCabe]], a Detective in the [[Garda Síochána]] (the Irish police service), during a post office robbery in [[Adare]], [[County Limerick]], in the Republic.
*Monday 10 June 1996: All-party negotiations (the 'Stormont talks') began in Stormont. Sinn Féin were again refused entry.
*Friday 14 June 1996: The [[Northern Ireland Forum]] met for the first time in Belfast. Sinn Féin declined to take part due to their policy of not taking seats in either the Westminster parliament or a regional "partitionist" Northern Ireland parliament (latter policy changed in 1998).
*Saturday 15 June 1996: The IRA exploded a [[1996 Manchester bombing|bomb in Manchester]], which destroyed a large part of the city centre and injured 212 people. Niall Donovan (28), a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] man, was stabbed to death near [[Dungannon]], [[County Tyrone]] by the loyalist [[Ulster Volunteer Force (1966)|Ulster Volunteer Force]] (UVF).
*Thursday 20 June 1996: An IRA bomb factory was found by [[Garda Síochána|Gardaí]] in the Republic. In response the Irish government ended all contacts with Sinn Féin.
*Sunday 7 July 1996: As part of the ongoing [[Drumcree conflict]], the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC) prevented a march by [[Portadown]] [[Orange Order|Orangemen]] from returning from [[Drumcree Church]] via the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road. This decision was followed by widespread protest in the unionist community, and by rioting in unionist areas.
*Thursday 11 July 1996: [[Hugh Annesley (police officer)|Hugh Annesley]], then Chief Constable of the RUC, reversed his decision and ordered his officers to allow the Orange march to pass along the Garvaghy Road in [[Portadown]]. No music was played as the parade passed the disputed area. This was followed by nationalist protests, and riots in republican areas.
*Saturday 13 July 1996: A republican car-bomb attack on a hotel in [[Enniskillen]] injured 17. The [[Continuity Irish Republican Army]] later claimed responsibility. The SDLP announced that it would withdraw from the Northern Ireland Forum.
*Monday 15 July 1996: A committee to review parades in Northern Ireland (the Independent Review of Parades and Marches) was announced.
*Thursday 30 January 1997: The Report of the Independent Review of Parades and Marches (The ''North Report'') recommended setting up an [[Parades Commission|independent commission]] to review contentious parades. Most nationalists welcomed the review but unionists attacked it as an erosion of the right to [[freedom of assembly]]. A period of "further consultation" was announced.
*Wednesday 5 March 1997: Stormont Talks adjourned until 3 June, to allow the parties to contest the forthcoming general election.
*Monday 7 April 1997: ''The Belfast Telegraph'' published the first of three articles over three days with results of an opinion survey it conducted in collaboration with Queens University. Survey questions were developed in cooperation with the 10 leading parties in Northern Ireland. Ninety-three per cent of Protestants and 97 per cent of Catholics said they "support the principle of a negotiated settlement for the political future of Northern Ireland," but only 25 per cent of Protestants and 28 per cent of Catholics believed the "Talks" would lead to a settlement.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.peacepolls.org/cgi-bin/generic?instanceID=10|title=Peace Polls, Northern Ireland|access-date=9 February 2021|archive-date=14 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214225005/http://www.peacepolls.org/cgi-bin/generic?instanceID=10|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Sunday 27 April 1997: In Portadown [[Killing of Robert Hamill|Robert Hamill]], a Catholic, was severely beaten in a sectarian attack by a gang of loyalists. Hamill later died from his injuries.
*Thursday 1 May 1997: A general election was held across the UK. The [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] won a majority and formed a government for the first time since 1979. In Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin had increased its share of the vote to 16%, becoming the third largest party in the region, and winning two seats: [[Gerry Adams]] and [[Martin McGuinness]] were their new MPs. The Ulster Unionist Party won 10 seats, the Social Democratic and Labour Party 3, the Democratic Unionist Party 2, and the [[UK Unionist Party]] 1.
*Monday 12 May 1997: Sean Brown, a 61 year old father of six from Bellaghy, County Londonderry, was abducted and murdered on May 12 1997. An instructor at the Ballymena Training Centre, Mr Brown played an active role in the GAA.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Macauley |first1=Conor |title=O'Neill calls UK decision to appeal Brown ruling 'cruel' |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/ulster/2025/0430/1510365-sean-brown/ |access-date=1 May 2025 |date=30 April 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bruton voices grave concern over continued North attacks |work=The Irish Times |date=14 May 1997 |page=6}}</ref>
*Friday 16 May 1997: [[Tony Blair]], the new British Prime Minister, endorsed the Framework Documents, the Mitchell Report on decommissioning, and the criteria for inclusion in all-party talks. He stated that he valued Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom, and suggested that the Republic of Ireland should amend [[Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland|Articles 2 and 3]] of its constitution, and indicated that officials would meet Sinn Féin to clarify certain issues.
*Wednesday 21 May 1997: In local government Elections the UUP remained the largest unionist party, and the SDLP the largest nationalist party, though they lost control of [[Belfast]] and [[Derry]] city councils respectively.
*Sunday 1 June 1997: Gregory Taylor, an off-duty RUC constable, died following a beating he received from a loyalist mob. It was later disclosed that Taylor had used his mobile phone to try to summon help from the local police station but no car was available to come to his aid.
*Tuesday 3 June 1997: The talks resumed at Stormont. The [[Loyalist Volunteer Force]] (LVF) and the [[Continuity Irish Republican Army]] (CIRA) were both proscribed.
*Friday 6 June 1997: There was a general election in the [[Republic of Ireland]]. The ruling coalition government of [[Fine Gael]], [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour]] and [[Democratic Left (Ireland)|Democratic Left]] was defeated by a coalition of [[Fianna Fáil]], [[Progressive Democrats]], and independent members. [[Sinn Féin]] won its first seat in the [[Dáil Éireann]], since it had ended its policy of [[abstentionism]] in 1986.
*16 June 1997 Two members of the RUC, Roland John Graham and David Johnston, are murdered in Lurgan.
*Wednesday 25 June 1997: The British and Irish governments gave the IRA 5 weeks to call an unequivocal ceasefire. 6 weeks later Sinn Féin would be allowed into the talks (due to resume on 15 September).
*Sunday 6 July 1997: The Orange Order parade at Drumcree was again permitted to go ahead, after a large operation by the RUC and [[British Army]]. This was followed by [[1997 Northern Ireland riots|violent protests in nationalist areas]].
*Saturday 12 July 1997: After an earlier decision by the Orange Order to reroute seven of their marches, [[the Twelfth]] parades across Northern Ireland passed off peacefully.
*Wednesday 16 July 1997: The DUP and the UKUP left the Stormont talks in protest at what they claimed was a lack of clarification by the British government on [[Decommissioning in Northern Ireland|decommissioning]].
*Friday 18 July 1997: [[John Hume]] and [[Gerry Adams]] issued a joint statement. Gerry Adams and [[Martin McGuinness]] called on the IRA to renew its ceasefire.<ref>{{cite web |title=CAIN: Events: Peace: Joint Statement issued by John Hume and Gerry Adams, 18 July 1997 |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/peace/docs/ha180797.htm |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |access-date=1 May 2025}}</ref>
*Saturday 19 July 1997: The IRA announced the renewal of its 1994 ceasefire as of 12.00pm on 20 July 1997.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/19/newsid_2450000/2450845.stm|title=1997: IRA declares ceasefire|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=19 July 1997|access-date=22 October 2019|archive-date=7 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307132814/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/19/newsid_2450000/2450845.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>