Belfast Agreement
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The Belfast Agreement (Irish: Comhaontú Bhéal Feirste; Scots: Bilfawst Greeance), alternatively and widely known as the Good Friday Agreement (Irish: Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta), and occasionally as the Stormont Agreement was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. It was signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998 (Good Friday) by the British and Irish governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. The accord was endorsed by the voters of Northern Ireland and Ireland in separate referenda on 23 May 1998. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was the only large party that opposed the Agreement.
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[edit] Provisions
The Agreement's main provisions included the:
- principle that any change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland could only follow a majority vote of its citizens;
- commitment by all parties to use "exclusively peaceful and democratic means";
- establishment of a Northern Ireland Assembly with devolved legislative powers;
- cross-community principle for any major decision taken by the Assembly;
- establishment of a 'power-sharing' Northern Ireland Executive, using the D'Hondt method to allocate Ministries proportionally to the main parties;
- establishment of a North-South Ministerial Council and North-South Implementation Bodies to bring about cross-border cooperation in policy and programmes on a number of issues;
- establishment of a British-Irish Inter-governmental Conference (replacing the former Anglo-Irish Inter-governmental Conference, established by the Anglo-Irish Agreement[1]), which gave a consultative role to Ireland concerning matters not devolved.
- establishment of a British-Irish Council, comprising representatives from the governments of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man;
- conditional early release within two years of paramilitary prisoners belonging to organisations observing a ceasefire.
- establishment of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
- establishment of a two year timeframe for decommissioning of paramilitary weapons;
- repeal of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 by the British Parliament.[1]
- abolition of Ireland's territorial claim to Northern Ireland via the modification of Articles 2 and 3 of its constitution. As a result, the territorial claim which had subsisted since 29 December 1937 was dropped on 2 December 1999;[2]
- introduction of legislation governing policing, human rights and equality in Northern Ireland
- normalisation of security measures, e.g. closure of redundant army bases.
- reoform of the police led by the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland;
- equality of social, economic and cultural rights of all ethnic communities e.g. official recognition of the Irish and Ulster-Scots languages;
- recognition of the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose; and
- confirmation that the right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland.
The Agreement also marked the end of a dispute between the two states over the names of their respective states: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland. Vague wording of some of the provisions (described as "constructive ambiguity"), which helped ensure acceptance of the agreement at the time, served to postpone debate on some of the more contentious issues — most notably paramilitary decommissioning, police reform and normalisation. A date of May 2000 was set for total disarming of all paramilitary groups. This was not achieved and delayed the establishment of the Assembly and Executive, because one of the four main parties in the Assembly — Sinn Féin — was "inextricably linked" to the largest paramilitary group, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), and unionists refused to share power with this party, while the PIRA remained armed.
The Assembly and Executive were eventually established in December 1999 on the understanding that decommissioning would begin immediately, but were suspended within two months due to lack of progress, before being re-established in May 2000 as Provisional IRA decommissioning eventually began. Aside from the decommissioning issue, however, ongoing paramilitary activity (albeit relatively low level compared to the past) by the Provisional Irish Republican Army — e.g., arms importations, smuggling, organised crime, "punishment beatings", intelligence-gathering and rioting — was also a stumbling block. The loyalist paramilitaries also continued similar activity although as they were not represented by a significant political party, their position was less central to political change.
The overall result of these problems was to damage confidence among unionists in the Agreement, which was exploited by the anti-Agreement DUP which eventually defeated the pro-Agreement Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in the 2003 Assembly election. The UUP had already resigned from the power-sharing Executive in 2002 following arrests of Sinn Féin personnel on charges of gathering intelligence for use by terrorists. (These charges were eventually dropped in 2005 on the controversial grounds that pursual would not be "in the public interest". Immediately afterwards, one of the accused Provisional Sinn Féin members, Denis Donaldson was exposed as a British agent.)
In 2004, negotiations were held between the two governments, the DUP, and Sinn Féin on an agreement to re-establish the institutions. These talks failed, but a document published by the governments detailing changes to the Belfast Agreement became known as the 'Comprehensive Agreement'. On 26 September 2005, however, it was announced that the Provisional Irish Republican Army had completely decommissioned its arsenal of weapons and "put them beyond use". Nonetheless, many unionists, most notably the DUP, remained sceptical and agreement on how to restore the power-sharing assembly still had not been reached as of July 2006. Of the loyalist paramilitaries, only the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) had decommissioned any weapons [2].
As of summer 2007, a Power Sharing Executive has been established to govern Northern Ireland. The current government of Northern Ireland consists of the DUP and Sinn Féin, with the Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley of the DUP as First Minister and Martin McGuiness of Sinn Féin as Deputy First Minister. Although Dr. Paisley is the head of the government, he and Martin McGuiness hold equal powers within the Northern Ireland Assembly government.
[edit] Referenda
In May 1998, there were separate referenda in Northern Ireland and Ireland to endorse the Belfast Agreement. The "No" vote in Northern Ireland came predominantly from unionists opposed to perceived concessions being made to nationalists and republicans. However, opinion polls suggest a slim majority of unionists may have voted "Yes". In the Republic of Ireland the electorate voted upon the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution of Ireland. This amendment both permitted the state to comply with the Belfast Agreement and provided for the removal of the 'territorial claim' contained in Articles 2 and 3. Ireland voted upon the Amsterdam Treaty on the same day. The results of the two simultaneous referenda on the Belfast Agreement were as follows:
| Yes | No | Turnout | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Ireland | 676,966 (71%) | 274,879 (29%) | 81% |
| Republic of Ireland | 1,442,583 (94%) | 85,748 (6%) | 56% |
[edit] See also
- Northern Ireland peace process
- Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland
- Independent International Commission on Decommissioning
- Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains
- Commissioner for Victims and Survivors of the Troubles
- Sunningdale Agreement
- Anglo-Irish Agreement
[edit] References
- ^ Article 2, Anglo-Irish Treaty
- ^ Address by Mr David Andrews, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs at the Exchange of Notifications ceremony at Iveagh House, Dublin, 2 December 1999
[edit] External links
- The St Andrews' Agreement The latest attempt to restore devolution to Northern Ireland
- North-South Ministerial Council/An Chomhairle Aireachta Thuaidh/Theas
- Belfast Agreement (full text)
- British-Irish Council
- Inside Out: An Integrative Critique of the Northern Ireland Peace Process U.S. Institute of Peace July 2006
- Address given at the Exchange of Notifications ceremony, whereby Ireland dropped its territorial claim to Northern Ireland, Iveagh House, Dublin, 2 December 1999
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