On the 28th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement, Aileen Quinton, who was 29 when her mother was murdered by the IRA in the 1987 Poppy Day Massacre in Enniskillen, sets out its disastrous consequences. In this three-part series she argues that appeasing Sinn Féin/IRA (SF/IRA) through mechanisms such as the Belfast Agreement has compromised fundamental moral principles, emboldened terrorist groups globally and fostered a dangerous precedent that undermines democratic stability. Indeed, she concludes, it has encouraged further criminality, notably Hamas and Islamic terrorism. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
A CORE part of the normalisation and sanitisation of terrorism has been the persistent use of the euphemism ‘paramilitaries‘ in official documents, inquiries and media. ‘I was’, I wrote in a submission to the Northern Ireland Advice Quality Service (NIASC) ‘quite frankly, disgusted’ by the title of the 2024 House of Commons Northern Ireland Committee Report into the legacy of the Troubles: ‘The effect of paramilitary activity and organised crime on society in Northern Ireland‘.
It makes the rapporteurs and anyone who buys into this characterisation part of the problem. They are not to legitimate military personnel what paramedics are to medical doctors, no matter how much they want to justify themselves as such. By definition, it fails to define the terror they continue to practise and represent. They are terrorists. My mother was not murdered by ‘paramilitaries’. She was murdered by terrorists. The term panders to terrorists’ self-image of legitimacy, to the sick sense of their validity and importance. It equates them with something quasi-military rather than criminal thugs, and insults victims by refusing to name the evil that was their occupation. Reports such as that of the House of Commons NI Committee mainstream the soft pedalling and tolerance, encourage criminality and make the UK unsafe by prioritising terrorists over votes.
‘Reconciliation’ is yet another buzzword in the appeasement lexicon, trotted out to sound noble while conveniently downplaying ongoing support for terrorism and refusing to condemn past atrocities unequivocally. It is used to pressure victims into forgiving without justice, to normalise former terrorists in public life and to obscure the moral rot of refusing to denounce IRA violence. True reconciliation cannot be built on moral equivalence, selective amnesia or the pretence that terrorism was just ‘politics by other means’.
Real reconciliation must start with an unequivocal renunciation of terrorism by those who committed or supported it – full, public, unreserved condemnation of the IRA and UVF etc. as evil organisations, and their campaigns as criminal murder. Anything less is just more appeasement dressed up as healing. I am not saying that people can’t turn their lives around. I visited Sean O’Callaghan (a high-ranking Provisional IRA member who became a crucial informant for the Irish government (Garda Síochána) and British intelligence) in prison, on the basis that he had unequivocally renounced his terrorism, repudiated the IRA as an organisation, and was working to undermine it. That was the only condition under which engagement was possible for me. Without that clear break and condemnation, there is no foundation for reconciliation – only continued pandering to those who refuse to face what they did. The problem with buzzwords such as ‘reconciliation’ is that they are weaponised to guilt-trip victims into silence while letting unrepentant terrorists off the hook. If ‘reconciliation’ means anything real, it begins with truth, justice, and moral clarity – not euphemisms and excuses.
Appeasement and betrayal of both innocent victims and veterans (and the groups overlap) continues unabated. British military veterans have been fighting to stop the persecution of those who served in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1999, a campaign started in 2015 with the third attempted prosecution of Dennis Hutchings. The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, introduced by the Conservative government, halted investigations into Troubles-era incidents, but treated soldiers who upheld the law on the same footing as IRA bombers and loyalist killers. Veterans’ groups and former generals have called this ‘morally incoherent’ and a profound betrayal. They are right. It was made all the more sickening because it was framed as defending veterans. But the effect has been to shield perpetrators while retraumatising victims. It has also played into SF/IRA’s long-term goal of rewriting history to equate terrorists with state forces. False accusations of rape are disgusting but the answer is not to have an amnesty for rape.
Labour’s changes in 2025-2026 have made matters even worse,repealing key protections and allowing the reopening cases against veterans, potentially exposing them to hundreds of lawsuits and costing millions. Critics, including nine former generals and SAS soldiers, argue this creates ‘two-tier justice’, paralysing military decision-making and distorting rules of engagement. This spiteful legislation prioritises appeasement over justice, damaging national interests by forcing serving soldiers to second-guess actions with enemies ahead and human rights lawyers behind. What impact will this have on young people when considering a military career, particularly those who come from military families and can see the impact of betrayal on parents and grandparents?
The shadow of NI terrorism persists, excused through ‘historic’ narratives and public funding to groups who refuse to condemn past violence. Dissident groups remain active and a firm stance is essential to prevent their resurgence. Societal tuning out is no excuse – morally and for safety. Public boredom with the topic, often dismissed as ‘old news’, is precisely what allows this appeasement to continue unchecked. It enables a relentless propaganda machine to rewrite history and portray a false peace while threats simmer. Tackling it head-on is not just a moral imperative but a practical necessity to safeguard the UK from renewed violence and global emulation.
Compromising what should be considered acceptable has extended to Unionist Parties in NI, through infiltration and ties to loyalist terrorists and their supporters, diluting principled unionism. Loyalist ‘godfathers’ still influence community funding and politics. This compromise has led to discourse that echoes terrorist rhetoric, the DUP’s Frank McCoubrey for example commenting on UDA Maze prisoners that ‘any time I ask them for support they’ve given it and I’ve seen the support they give for the Good Friday Agreement. They have to be praised.’ That doesn’t exactly scream law and order. Criticise it and what you get back is this: ‘Well SF don’t apologise so why should he?’. So comforting that SF/IRA set standards of rectitude in public life!
The UUP has also been tainted; some of its representatives have waxed lyrical about David Ervine, the PUP leader linked to the UVF. When Ervine joined the UUP assembly group in 2006, colleagues praised him as ‘courageous’ and ‘honest’, despite his terrorist past and lack of unequivocal condemnation of it. Unionist parties engaged in talks with SF/IRA during the ‘peace process’, the UUP under Trimble participating in multi-party negotiations including Sinn Féin, further normalising contact with republican terrorists. It has been revealed that Sammy Wilson of the DUP was also having secret talks. The UUP made much of this as if it got them off the hook. It didn’t. We need an alternative which will reject such links, focus on democratic advocacy free from terrorist influence and show how these infiltrations perpetuate appeasement.
Twenty-eight years on, it is high time to expose the Belfast Agreement for what it is. A sop to SF/IRA but also to its dangerous global impact evident in global citations by groups such as Hamas, who view it as validating persistence; to Islamic terrorism, where similar appeasement risks escalation. The NI experience should be used as a warning to the world. An ‘NI Precedent’ White Paper would show the link between the concessions of the Belfast Agreement to the strategies now used by groups such as Hamas and its like. The time is long overdue to repeal concessions, demand full disarmament and condemnation of terrorism, to counter vetoes and restore justice.
The culture of appeasement must be exposed and dismantled; so too the ‘culture of the wink and the nod’ and political expediency. It must be replaced within a principled, law-abiding narrative that treats terrorism as a crime, not a ‘perspective’. A pivot away from the ‘peace process’ politics of the last 30 years towards ‘Restorative Justice’.
Changing language is necessary to change culture. The word ‘terrorist’ should be mandated in all government and educational materials concerning the Troubles, while its euphemism ‘paramilitary’ should be officially retired. Wherever ‘reconciliation’ is written it should be replaced with ‘accountability’. Insisting that individuals or a party holding public office (including the Policing Board) should sign an unequivocal renunciation of criminal violence would force a ‘moment of truth’ for figures such as Gerry Kelly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Kelly
But legislative changes are also needed. The 2023 Legacy Act and its 2025 replacement removed ‘immunity’ in flawed ways. A harder line needs to be drawn: for veterans who acted within the Rules of Engagement there should be a legislative ‘shield’ while simultaneously establishing a Special Prosecutor for Terrorist Crimes to focus on not just those who carried out the atrocities but those who gave the orders. A Victims’ Rights Supremacy amendment needs to be brought into law to ensure that a victim’s right to justice cannot be overridden by ‘political stability’ or secret deals. A review of the circumstances under which the Royal Pardon has been used is also essential. It must exclude this possibility for unrepentant terrorists or child abusers. The feasibility of cancelling previous Royal Pardons for unrepentant terrorists should be investigated.
Cutting the lifeline that keeps protection and other criminal racketeers going is another imperative. That means an immediate forensic audit of all public funds, ‘community grants’ and ‘transition funding’ in NI. Any group that refuses to condemn past and present terrorism would be permanently blacklisted by a new anti-extortion task force: dedicated, UK-wide with the powers to bypass local political interference to dismantle the drug and protection rackets that current ‘Peace Process’ structures have ignored.
The true peacemakers – the security forces, army, police and prison officers and their families, magistrates and judges – are those with the hard job of and investigating crime and keeping the peace. But unless the moral compass of the UK is reset, their power to stand up to the terrorists and their supporters is seriously curtailed. As is their ability to defend justice and keep us and our country safe.
