Good Friday Agreement

Poster of the campaign for Good Friday Agreement.

The Good Friday Agreement, also called the Belfast Agreement, was signed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Friday Saint of 1998 (April 10) by the British and Irish governments and accepted by most Northern Irish political parties, to end the Conflict in Northern Ireland. It was also approved by the people of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland through a referendum in each place.

Main protagonists

John Hume, photographed in 2008.

David Trimble, in 2007. Together with John Hume, he received the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland."

In the negotiation process prior to the agreement, and in the signing of the agreement, the politicians and mediators were protagonists:

• Tony Blair, the British prime minister of the time, accepted the interlocution with Sinn Féin (a political party near the IRA) without breaking up with the unionists of the Ulster.
• Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland.
• David Trimble, leader of the Unionist Party of the Ulster (USA), the main political force of Northern Ireland, faced a harsh opposition in its ranks to the concessions that would be the signing of the Agreement.
• Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Féin, the first interlocutor accepted by the unionists of the political wing of Irish republicanism, had the main role in attracting and maintaining in peace agreements the most radical sectors of nationalism.
• John Hume, leader of the Catholic Social-Democratic and Labour Party, the second major party of the Úlster, served as a mediator for years and urged the participation of the United States of America in the search for peace.
• George Mitchell, U.S. ex-wife and ex-assist of U.S. President Bill Clinton, later merged the so-called "Plan Mitchell," a base document of the latest negotiations to reach the Agreement.

Provisions of the Agreement

• Principle that the constitutional status of Northern Ireland will be determined by the democratic desire of the peoples of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
• Commitment of peace between the political parties of the region (use of " exclusively peaceful and democratic means").
• Establishment of a Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland.
• Establishment of the rule of the "double majority" (cross-community principle) for the main decisions of the Assembly: that is, they must be approved by both the majority of the representatives of the Republican-Catholic community and the unionist-protestant.
• Formation of an executive from Northern Ireland by a system of "sharing power", using the d'Hondt method to distribute ministries proportionally to the electoral force of the different parties.
• Establishment of a British-Irish Council with representatives from all parts of the British Islands.
• Disappearance of a physical border between the two Irelands and free movement on both sides of them.
• Disarmament of paramilitary groups.
• Transformation of the Military Royal Ulster Police into a civilian police service.
• Retired from British troops.
• Conditional release of paramilitary prisoners belonging to organizations respecting the ceasefire.
• Amendment of the Irish constitutional claim for sovereignty over Northern Ireland.
• Elimination of the Ireland Government Act 1920 by the British Parliament, in which the partition of Ireland was proclaimed.
• Official recognition of the Irish language in Northern Ireland.
• Establishment of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
• Fixing a two-year deadline for the delivery of weapons from all paramilitary groups.
• Introduction of the necessary measures to promote equal opportunities for access to public authorities in the region.
• Recognition of the right of birth of the inhabitants of Northern Ireland to identify and be accepted as British or Irish, or both to their choice; also confirmation of the right to maintain both nationalities, accepted by both Governments, regardless of the future status of the region.
• Agreement between the two countries to refer to themselves with the title of "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and "Ireland", replacing the previously used "United Kingdom" and "Republic of Ireland".

Approval referendums

In May 1998 separate referendums were held concerning the Belfast Agreement. The one held in Northern Ireland referred exclusively to the Agreement, advocating its approval or rejection, while the vote in the Republic of Ireland referred to the approval of the necessary reform to bring the Irish Constitution in line with the Agreement. For this, articles 2 and 3 of said text had to be reformed to eliminate the territorial claim that was made of Ulster in them.

The result of both was a large majority in support of the Agreement, as shown in the following table:

Results of the Agreement

Over the years, the agreement has proved to be relatively successful, having contributed to peace and stability in the region.

On July 28, 2005, the Provisional IRA announced an end to armed struggle. Officially, the IRA was considered dismantled on September 3, 2008, when its Armed Council was no longer operational, the Independent Control Commission reported, adding that there was no leadership structure capable of organizing itself.