the key issue was reconciliation between the communities, who were deeply divided, and peace and non—violence. the most lethal paramilitary group was the irish republican army, which wanted to bring about a united ireland. in the late 1980s, john hume began initially secret talks with the ira's political wing, sinn fein. probably the big breakthrough was whenjohn hume agreed to meet. one of the things that was crucially important was the right to self—determination, that the people of the island would have the right to decide the future. the ira called a ceasefire in 1994. there was then a similar move by militants on the other side of the conflict, who were known as loyalist paramilitaries.