Stormont Agreement 1998

As part of the agreement, the British Parliament repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920 (which had established Northern Ireland, divided Ireland and claimed a territorial claim over all of Ireland) and the people of the Republic of Ireland amended Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland, which affirmed a territorial claim over 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 was omnibus in nature and covered a variety of different topics. The agreement exists within the paradigm created by previous peace agreements between 1998 and 2007 and complements it. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement provided a framework for a political settlement in Northern Ireland, which focused on power-sharing between unionists and nationalists. It was signed by the British and Irish governments, as well as four of Northern Ireland`s main political parties: Sinn Fein, the Ulster Unionist Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party and the Alliance Party. Of the main parties, only the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) abstained. Although the agreement confirms that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, it provides that Ireland could be united if it is supported by a majority vote in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. 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 multi-party agreement required the parties to “use any influence they might have” to proceed with the dismantling of all paramilitary weapons within two years of the referendums approving the agreement. The standardisation process committed the BRITISH government to reducing the number and role of its armed forces in Northern Ireland “to a level compatible with a normal peaceful society”. These included the removal of security arrangements and the lifting of special emergency powers in Northern Ireland. The Irish government has committed to a “full review” of its violations of state law. The 9. In January 2020, the UK and Irish governments proposed to northern Ireland`s political parties the New Decade agreement and the new approach, which provides a balanced package to make politics and government in Northern Ireland more transparent, accountable, stable, inclusive and effective. The participants in the agreement were two sovereign states (the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) with armed and police forces involved in the unrest. Two political parties, Sinn Féin and the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), were linked to paramilitary organisations: the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) respectively. The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), which was linked to the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), had withdrawn from the talks three months earlier.

In January 2017, Martin McGuinness resigned from office in protest at a political scandal surrounding new Premier Arlene Foster, destroying executive power. It also identified long-term problems where the DUP has not fulfilled the fundamental equality commitments set out in its agreements. These issues – parades, flags and legacy of the past – were negotiated in 2013, chaired by Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Meghan L. O`Sullivan, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School and now a member of the CFR board of trustees. The talks, which involved the five main political parties, failed to reach an agreement, although many of the proposals – including the creation of a historic investigation unit to investigate unresolved deaths during the conflict and a commission to help victims obtain information about the deaths of their loved ones – were a large part of the Stormont House deal. which was achieved in 2014.. .