Explore every Emerald Archives article connected with David Trimble.
2000–2009 CE
In 2001, Celtic Tiger prosperity exposed Ireland’s vulnerabilities and transformations. Foot-and-mouth disease at Proleek, County Louth, prompted cross-border controls, slaughter and trade restrictions. Voters rejected the Treaty of Nice in a low-turnout referendum. Northern Ireland’s devolved institutions repeatedly neared collapse over policing and IRA arms, requiring temporary suspensions, before verified IRA decommissioning in October. The RUC became the PSNI in November, while Holy Cross schoolchildren faced loyalist protest and the GAA abolished Rule 21. Census and employment figures recorded social change, euro starter packs anticipated currency conversion, and cultural commemoration and mourning marked national life across the island and abroad.
1990–1999 CE
In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement created a consent-based framework for Northern Ireland, recognising British and Irish identities, establishing proposed devolved and cross-border institutions, and requiring constitutional change. Referendums on 22 May endorsed it strongly in Northern Ireland and overwhelmingly in the Republic, where the Nineteenth Amendment enabled revised Articles 2 and 3. Assembly elections followed, but disputes over decommissioning delayed an Executive. The Real IRA's Omagh bombing killed twenty-nine people, exposing continuing violence and prompting security measures. John Hume and David Trimble received the Nobel Peace Prize, while economic growth and equality, enterprise and food-safety reforms reflected wider change.
