Northern Ireland

Tony O'Doherty

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R
Focus Area(s)
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3
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Michael Scharff
Name
Tony O'Doherty
Interviewee's Position
Community Activist and Founder
Interviewee's Organization
Central Drive Community Center
Language
English
Place (Building/Street)
Central Drive Community Center
Town/City
Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Tony O’Doherty discusses his role in helping forge a solution to persistent electoral violence in Northern Ireland’s second-largest city, Derry/Londonderry.  He paints a vivid picture of what violence once looked like on Election Day, when Catholic nationalists unleashed a wave of gasoline bombs and threw stones at the predominately Protestant-linked police who were stationed at polling places to provide security and transport ballot boxes.  O’Doherty talks about how a locally sourced solution that involved private dialogues between the nationalist political party, Sinn Féin, and the police force, all but eliminated violence in subsequent elections.     

Case Study:  Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Elections in Northern Ireland, 2005

Profile

At the time of the interview, Tony O’Doherty was a community activist in Londonderry/Derry, Northern Ireland.  For years, he played a key role in helping limit clashes between Catholic nationalists and the Protestant-linked police on Election Day.  He was one of the founders of the Central Drive Community Center, which provides social services to residents of the impoverished Creggan Estate housing project.  Before becoming involved in community activism, O’Doherty was a professional soccer player with various clubs in Northern Ireland and at the international level.     

Full Audio File Size
48MB
Full Audio Title
Tony O'Doherty Interview

Douglas Bain

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R
Focus Area(s)
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4
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Michael Scharff
Name
Douglas Bain
Interviewee's Position
Chief Electoral Officer
Interviewee's Organization
Electoral Office for Northern Ireland
Language
English
Town/City
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Douglas Bain discusses his role as chief electoral officer with the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.  Bain talks about several methods he instituted to bolster trust and confidence in the Electoral Office, including having his staff mask as voters and approach staff at local election offices in order to test the local staff’s responsiveness to a variety of questions and requests.  Bain also discusses his efforts to ensure the accuracy of voter registration forms to defend against voter fraud. Looking to future elections, he suggests greater transparency in the voting process can be accomplished through increased public outreach by election officials.  Bain also stresses the need for greater efforts to combat voter intimidation by the political parties.

Case Study: Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Elections in Northern Ireland, 2005

Profile

At the time of this interview, Douglas Bain was the chief electoral officer with the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.  A lawyer by training, he held a number of positions in the Northern Ireland Office, a department of the U.K. government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs.  Prior to joining the Electoral Office, Bain served as director of services in the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

Full Audio File Size
59 MB
Full Audio Title
Douglas Bain - Full Interview

Barney O'Hagan

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R
Focus Area(s)
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3
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Michael Scharff
Name
Barney O'Hagan
Interviewee's Position
Former Councillor
Interviewee's Organization
Derry City Council
Language
English
Town/City
Derry City, Northern Ireland
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Barney O’Hagan discusses his role as a politician and community leader in Derry, Northern Ireland, in particular his involvement in and reflections about the first peaceful elections witnessed in Derry in memory. He describes the idea of removing police presence from the polling stations as integral to ending election-related violence. O'Hagan highlights the role of Sinn Fein, the political party with which he is affiliated, but he also describes encouraging local, a-political leaders to to promote the removal of police personnel from polling stations in order to give the proposal greater legitimacy. O'Hagan's account of the history of The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the evolution of the situation in Derry, particularly following the Good Friday Peace Agreement, provides context within which dampening election violence can be studied.

Case Study: Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Elections in Northern Ireland, 2005

Profile

Barney O’Hagan is a former councillor from Derry, Ireland with the Sinn Fein political party.  O'Hagan was first elected in 1998, soon after his release from prison.  His release was prompted by the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement.

Full Audio File Size
103 MB
Full Audio Title
Barney O'Hagan Interview

Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Elections in Northern Ireland, 2005

Author
Michael Scharff
Country of Reform
Abstract

For decades in Northern Ireland's second-largest city, Derry/Londonderry, violence and voting went hand in hand.  The 1921 partition of Ireland that created the British-controlled territory of Northern Ireland created tensions that resurfaced every Election Day as police removed ballot boxes from some polling places.  Throwing stones and gasoline bombs, groups of Catholic nationalists demonstrated their opposition to the presence of British-linked, predominantly Protestant police.  The repeated violence triggered an uproar by members of the broader nationalist community, some of whom were prevented or deterred from voting as a result.  After particularly violent election cycles in 2003 and 2004, police and electoral officials sought a way to quell the disturbances.  The success of any changes involving the police role required cooperation by diverse groups with widely varying interests: political parties, community activists, electoral officials and the police.  In early 2005, a long bargaining process produced an agreement to remove the police from the polling stations and turn over security functions to the local community and political parties.  In the two elections between 2005 and 2010, police reported no incidents of violence. 

Michael Scharff drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Derry/Londonderry and Belfast, Northern Ireland, in September 2010. Case published December 2010.

Associated Interview(s):  Tony O'Doherty, Charles O'Donnell, Barney O'Hagan