I read somewhere that the most common age of IRA members range from 15 to 18 years old. If that is true, this is an extremely important aspect to be looked into more deeply since the reason for children to be joining the IRA and not adults can mean many different things.
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Originally Posted by sugarpop
I agree it's a very messy prospect, considering the people of Northern Ireland are divided themselves. I honestly don't have the answer. I only think that, until those who oppose it are given a voice at the table and some power to help solve the issue, things will likely continue to get worse.
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Since Northern Ireland is very divided, I honestly don't think peace is possible unless one side completely takes over the other or they come together under a single value. Especially as of lately, I have been really convinced that peace and true democracy can not exist in a heterogenous population (I can explain this in further if needed) and violence and sometimes terrorism can almost be an inevitable result of decentralized power in a centralized state setup.
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Originally Posted by classicman
Yup thats a great plan lets just give all the terrorists whatever they want? Are you serious?
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Well of course but I feel your logic is flawed. If terrorism is the result of a oppressed population finally putting their voice out to the world it is much different then a group of radicals that are fighting for their own unpopular ideological aims as DanaC suggests. In one situation, it would be benificial for the oppressor state to give up amounts of power while in the second situation, it would not since the the terrorists do not represent the "voice" of the population.
For example, if blacks in the 1950's used violent instead of non-violent protests, is their situation any different? Obviously the tactic would produce different results but the fact that they were oppressed and deserve equal rights does not change.
Each situation has to be looked at differently since the movement behind the acts of terrorism are completely different as well. In this situation, it seems that the IRA does not represent the population and the fact that it is made up of 15-18 years olds really shows the lack of maturity in the movement.