The north: Party images and party approaches in the republic

Abstract

Abstract Using material from an extensive set of interviews conducted with the parliamentary elite in 1974–75, this paper examines the role of the nationalist issue in party self images, and investigates party positions on the Northern Ireland problem in terms of their analyses, preferred solutions and overall policy. Substantial differences arc shown to have existed on all counts. These findings suggest some qualification to the thesis that there are no differences between the parties or that differences only emerged on the Northern Ireland issue with the changes in party leadership in the late 1970s. It is noted that these inherited differences are consistent with the expectations of comparative party system theory and it is argued that an understanding of party positions on the Hillsborough agreement must take account of this inheritance.