There are, of course, a host of others who have helped push the deal across the line, including political parties such as the Northern Ireland Women`s Coalition, an all-female party that participated in the peace negotiations, religious figures and, of course, the people of Northern Ireland, who voted overwhelmingly in favour. The old text contains only four articles; it is this short text that is the legal agreement, but it includes the latter agreement in its annexes. [7] Technically, this envisaged agreement can be distinguished as a multi-party agreement as opposed to the Belfast Agreement itself. [7] Sinn Féin`s Máirtín Ó Muilleoir said the promise of the deal had not been kept. The conference takes the form of regular and frequent meetings between british and Irish ministers to promote cooperation at all levels between the two governments. In cases which have not been transferred to Northern Ireland, the Irish Government may present positions and proposals. All decisions of the Conference shall be taken by mutual agreement between the two Governments and the two Governments in order to make determined efforts to resolve disagreements between them. 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] Sir Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP, who was part of ulster`s unionist negotiating team in the run-up to the deal, said the party`s leader at the time, David Trimble, had come under pressure to sign a flawed deal. The agreement contains a complex set of provisions relating to a number of areas, including: the British Government is effectively out of the equation and neither the British Parliament nor the people have the legal right under this agreement to impede the achievement of Irish unity if it had the consent of the peoples of the North and south. Our nation is and remains a nation with 32 counties. Antrim and Down are and will remain as much a part of Ireland as any county in the south. [20] In the context of political violence during the unrest, the agreement committed participants to ”exclusively democratic and peaceful means of settling disputes on political issues.” Two aspects were taken into account: during negotiations on the UK`s planned withdrawal from the European Union in 2019, the EU produced a position paper on its concerns about the UK`s support for the Good Friday Agreement during Brexit.
The position paper covers issues such as the avoidance of a hard border, North-South cooperation between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, the birthright of all northern Irish residents (as defined in the agreement) and the common travel area. [31] [32] Anyone born in Northern Ireland and therefore entitled to an Irish passport under the Good Friday Agreement can retain EU citizenship even after Brexit. [33] Under the European Union`s Brexit negotiating directives, the UK was asked to convince other EU members that these issues had been raised in order to enter the second phase of Brexit negotiations. If this happens, the British and Irish governments will be subject to a ”binding commitment” to implement this election. Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Féin`s Republican Party, and his deputy Martin McGuinness, who would later become Deputy Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, played a key role in the deal. John Morrison explains their journey from members of the Provisional IRA to Sinn Féin leaders. The vague wording of some provisions, described as ”constructive ambiguity”[8], helped to ensure acceptance of the agreement and served to postpone debate on some of the most controversial issues. These include the dismantling of paramilitaries, police reform and the standardisation of Northern Ireland. Issues of sovereignty, civil and cultural rights, weapons dismantling, demilitarization, justice and law enforcement were at the heart of the agreement. The agreement provided for the establishment of an independent commission to review the provisions of the police 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. 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] 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.
The result of these referendums was a large majority in both parts of Ireland in favour of the agreement. In the republic, 56% of voters voted, with 94% of the vote in favour of the constitutional amendment. Turnout in Northern Ireland was 81%, with 71% in favour of the deal. Under the agreement, it was proposed to build on the existing British-Irish interparliamentary body. Prior to the agreement, the body consisted solely of parliamentarians from the British and Irish parliaments. In 2001, as proposed in the agreement, it was extended to parliamentarians from all members of the British-Irish Council. 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. .