Good Friday Agreement History

The two main political parties in the deal were the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) led by David Trimble and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) led by John Hume. The two Heads of State and Government jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. The other parties involved in the deal were Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party and the Progressive Unionist Party. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which later became the largest Unionist party, did not support the deal. She left the talks when Sinn Féin and the loyalist parties joined because republican and loyalist paramilitary weapons had not been downgraded. The direct London regime ended in Northern Ireland when power was formally transferred to the new Northern Ireland Assembly, the North-South Council of Ministers and the British-Irish Council when the regulations entering into force of the British-Irish Agreement entered into force on 2 December 1999. [15] [16] [17] Article 4(2) of the United Kingdom-Ireland Agreement (Agreement between the British and Irish Governments implementing the Belfast Agreement) required both governments to notify each other in writing that the conditions for the entry into force of the United Kingdom-Ireland Agreement were fulfilled. Entry into force should take place upon receipt of the last of the two communications. [18] The British government agreed to attend a televised ceremony at Iveagh House in Dublin, the Irish Foreign Office. Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, attended early in the morning of 2 December 1999. He exchanged views with David Andrews, Ireland`s foreign minister. Shortly after the ceremony, at 10:30.m., the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, signed the declaration formally amending Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution. He then informed Dáil that the British-Irish Agreement had entered into force (including certain agreements additional to the Belfast Agreement).

[7] [19] The idea of the agreement was to get the two sides to work together in a group called the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly would take certain decisions previously taken by the British Government in London. The agreement consists of two interconnected documents, both of which were agreed in Belfast on Good Friday, 10 April 1998: under the agreement, the British and Irish governments undertook to hold referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic on 22 May 1998 respectively. The referendum in Northern Ireland is expected to endorse the agreement reached in the multi-party negotiations. The purpose of the referendum on the Republic of Ireland was to approve the BRITANNICO-Irish Agreement and to facilitate the amendment of the Constitution of Ireland in accordance with the Agreement. Finally, the agreement promised the early release of prisoners serving prison sentences for crimes related to the unrest. Early release will depend on the paramilitary groups` compliance with their ceasefire and their continued commitment to dismantling. Some observers have long feared that Britain`s withdrawal from the EU could threaten the Good Friday Agreement; This includes Tony Blair, the British prime minister who presided over the deal. Former Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar repeated this point in March 2018, saying brexit “threatens to widen a gap between Britain and Ireland, between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and perhaps between the two communities in Northern Ireland”. Sinn Fein leaders described Brexit as “the most serious threat in the history of the peace process”. The agreement was reached between the British and Irish governments and eight political parties or groups in Northern Ireland. Three were representative of unionism: the Ulster Unionist Party, which had led unionism in Ulster since the beginning of the 20th century, and two small parties associated with loyalist paramilitaries, the Progressive Unionist Party (associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)) and the Ulster Democratic Party (the political wing of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)).

Two were commonly referred to as nationalists: the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin, the Republican Party linked to the Provisional Irish Republican Army. [4] [5] Regardless of these rival traditions, there were two other assembly parties, the Inter-Community Alliance Party and the Northern Ireland Women`s Coalition. There was also the Labour Coalition. U.S. Senator George J. Mitchell was sent by U.S. President Bill Clinton to chair talks between parties and groups. [6] The agreement reached was that Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom and would remain so until a majority of the population of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland wished otherwise.

If this happens, the British and Irish governments will be subject to a “binding commitment” to implement this election. The agreement was reached after many years of complex discussions, proposals and compromises. Many people have made important contributions. Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern were at the time leaders of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It was chaired by US Special Envoy George Mitchell. [3] The agreement provided for the establishment of an independent commission to review policing arrangements in Northern Ireland “including ways to promote broad community support” for these arrangements. The UK government has also committed to a “wide-ranging review” of the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland. Under these circumstances, power-sharing proved impossible to maintain. Meanwhile, voters in all communities began to turn away from moderate parties, and instead, support for Sinn Féin and the DUP increased, ousting the SDLP and UUP. For a significant part of the decade following the Good Friday Agreement, decentralization was suspended because the largest parties in each community were unable to reach an agreement on power-sharing. Progress was made on dismantling, which was confirmed in September 2005, but a political agreement remained elusive.

Finally, in October 2006, the British and Irish governments held crucial talks in St. Andrews. There, Sinn Féin finally agreed to accept the PSNI, while the DUP agreed to share power with Sinn Féin. In May 2007, a leader of the DUP, Sinn Féin, UUP and SDLP was finally able to take office. This time, the institutions created under the Good Friday Agreement were to remain in place until the current political crisis led to the collapse of the executive in January 2017. A copy of the agreement was sent to every house in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland so that people could read it before a referendum was held if they could vote on it. The main issues that Sunningdale omits and which are addressed in the Belfast Agreement are the principle of self-determination, the recognition of both national identities, British-Irish intergovernmental cooperation and legal procedures to make power-sharing compulsory, such as inter-community voting and the D`Hondt system for the appointment of ministers to the executive. [24] [25] Former IRA member and journalist Tommy McKearney says the main difference is the British government`s intention to negotiate a comprehensive deal involving the IRA and the most intransigent trade unionists. [26] With regard to the right to self-determination, two reservations are mentioned by the legal author Austen Morgan. Firstly, the transfer of territory from one State to another must be done through an international agreement between the British and Irish Governments. Secondly, the people of Northern Ireland can no longer achieve a united Ireland alone; they need not only the Irish Government, but also the people of their Irish neighbour to support unity. Morgan also pointed out that, unlike the Ireland Act 1949 and the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, which were drafted under Sunningdale, the 1998 Agreement and the resulting UK legislation expressly provided for the possibility of a united Ireland.

[27] The most controversial issue was Northern Ireland`s border with the Republic of Ireland. The border, which was heavily militarized during the conflict, has since become essentially invisible as people and goods move freely. This was possible largely because Ireland and the UK were part of the EU`s single market, the common set of rules that allows the free movement of goods, services, people and money within the bloc. Brooke also tried to get Northern Ireland`s constituent parties to talk to each other. He suggested that the cross-party talks should cover three tracks: the first is on relations within Northern Ireland; the second concerns relations between the two parts of Ireland; and the third concerns the links between the British and Irish Governments. Talks began in April 1991, but quickly became bogged down in procedural disputes. But the three-pronged format should be at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement. 3. The Mitchell Principles served as the basis for peace talks, while previous agreements such as Sunningdale and the Anglo-Irish Agreement served as models for a peace agreement. Unfortunately, it was not possible to reach an agreement on the implementation of the provisions of the Stormont House agreement dealing with the legacy of the past within the deadline of the Fresh Start talks. The Irish and British Governments have committed to continue work on this issue in order to create an agreed basis for the creation of the new institutional framework to deal with the past under the Stormont House Agreement.

In its early days, the peace process was led by the governments of Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. In February 1995, London and Dublin published two framework documents setting out the proposed conditions for a peace agreement and the formation of responsible government in Northern Ireland. .