Monday April 10 marks 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement came into being.
The historic agreement, which was signed in Northern Ireland on April 10, 1998, effectively brought an end to the Troubles.
An open border between the Republic and Northern Ireland was a key component of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, and one that brought hard-won peace to Northern Ireland following decades of conflict. It established a consensus for peace and the future direction of the region after the political conflict had been raging for more than 30 years.
The full weight of the British and Irish administrations was brought to bear in painstaking negotiations that brought unionists and republicans together after fighting between the two groups that led to the deaths of thousands.
The recently secured Windsor Framework, was in part proposed to avoid any return of the conflict that the Good Friday Agreement put an end to.
What caused the Troubles?
In the 1960s Northern Ireland faced a bitter conflict between unionists who wanted to remain within the UK and republicans who wanted the province to become part of a united Ireland.
Republicans and the wider nationalist community are mostly Catholic, while unionists mostly Protestant. The conflict was perpetuated by paramilitary groups the IRA and the UVF. Further people were killed by the British security forces after the army was deployed in 1969. More than 3,500 people died overall, many of whom were killed in tit-for-tat attacks across the sectarian divide.
The situation worsened in 1972 when 14 people were killed by British troops during a peaceful civil rights march led by Catholics and Republicans in Londonderry. This day became known as Bloody Sunday.
What was included in the agreement?
The Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, was formally made by the British and Irish governments and eight political parties of Northern Ireland. It acknowledged Northern Ireland’s constitutional status as part of the UK.
It also established a principle of consent. A united Ireland could happen if a majority of people in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland wanted it to. In this instance, the British government would be bound to hold a referendum and honour the result.
The agreement committed the parties to democratic and peaceful methods of resolving political disputes and it marked a commitment to “the mutual respect, the civil rights and the religious liberties of everyone in the community”.
What has happened since the Good Friday Agreement was made?
The British and Irish governments agreed to hold referendums on May 22, 1998. The Northern Ireland referendum was on accepting the Good Friday Agreement itself. In all 71 per cent voted Yes. The referendum in the Republic was to amend the country’s constitution to acknowledge the new principle of consent, for which 94 per cent of people voted in favour.
In the years that followed there was still turbulence. While the Northern Ireland Assembly was established it was periodically suspended, largely over concerns about paramilitary activity in the region.
It was not until 2005 that the IRA was decommissioned. In 2007 Sinn Féin threw its support behind the newly established policing force the PSNI, which replaced the RUC, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Northern Ireland experienced relative political calm due to the power sharing agreement. The cordial relationship between Ian Paisley, a loyalist, and Martin McGuinness, a republican, as first and deputy first minister, was a sign that Northern Ireland had changed. However, the power sharing arrangement proved unstable and has been suspended a number of times. The Northern Ireland Assembly does not currently have an executive because of DUP objections to the Northern Ireland Protocol, and is only able to perform very limited governmental functions.
How does the Windsor Framework uphold the Good Friday Agreement?
The Northern Ireland Protocol was signed as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, which is now ratified under international law.
To maintain the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, both the UK and EU agreed that the inspection of goods would be conducted between Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland, effectively creating a de facto border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The Windsor Framework avoided a hard border on Ireland and supported North-South cooperation, while also upholding Northern Ireland’s integral place in the United Kingdom and its internal market. It introduced a green lane for traders transporting goods to Northern Ireland exempt from custom controls and a red lane for goods going to the Republic of Ireland and remainder of the EU.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also hoped the Windsor Framework would boost relations with the US, which helped broker the Good Friday Agreement. In February he met Vice-President Kamala Harris in Munich, where the two leaders “affirmed their shared commitment to protecting and building on the gains of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement”, according to the White House.
