View 3 – Professor Tom Hennessey

Professor Tom Hennessey
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Biography

Tom Hennessey – Canterbury Christ Church University

  • Professor of Modern British and Irish History at Canterbury Christ Church University.
  • Junior Research Fellow, at the Institute of Irish Studies, at Queen’s University, Belfast.
  • Research Officer at the Centre for the Study of Conflict, the University of Ulster.
  • Research Assistant at the think tank Democratic Dialogue
  • Research Fellow at the School of Politics, at Queen’s University, Belfast.
  • Member of the Ulster Unionist Party’s Talks Team during the negotiation of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in 1998.

Interpretation

A key turning point was the Republican movement’s dropping of the demand for a declaration by the British of intent to withdraw from Northern Ireland. This was a traditional Republican demand, and its ending can be traced back to a speech given by Jim Gibney of Sinn Féin, in 1992, at Bowdenstown, the burial place of the great Irish Republican, Wolfe Tone, where they make major announcements, when he said: “We know and accept that the British government’s departure must be preceded by a sustained period of peace and will arise out of negotiations. We know and accept that such negotiations will involve the different shades of Irish nationalism, and Irish unionism engaging the British government either together or separately to secure an all-embracing and durable peace process.”

Jim Gibney was part of Gerry Adams’ think tank at Sinn Féin and he was setting the scene that there would be a longer process which would not require the British to agree to withdrawal up front. This marks a key change by the republican movement and a change in the thinking about the role of armed struggle against the British.

Task

Study each interpretation and summarise the key points made by the historian.

  1. What do they argue is the most important factor, individual or group?
  2. How did this contribute to the peace process and Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement?
  3. What challenges and obstacles had to be overcome?
  4. What evidence is given to support this interpretation?
  5. Does the historian’s biographical information help to explain their interpretation?
  6. From your own knowledge how convincing do you find this interpretation?
  7. What further evidence would you want to find in the documents to make the interpretation convincing?
  8. If you were to provide a one-word summary of this individual’s contribution, which of these would you choose, or can you think of a better word?
    • Obstructive / Unhelpful / Marginal / Constructive / Helpful / Pragmatic / Visionary / Essential
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