The Good Friday Agreement explained

Northern Ireland next month marks the 25th anniversary of peace accords which have helped transform the UK provinceThe 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought an end to more than 30 years of conflict over British rule Declaration of support The landmark agreement also called the Belfast Agreement was signed on April 10 1998 between the thenprime ministers of Britain and Ireland Tony Blair and Bertie AhernEight political parties or groupings also signed the document stating in the text that it was a truly historic opportunity for a new beginningUS president Bill Clinton sent senator George Mitchell to chair the talksThree decades of violence between mostly Catholic republicans on one side and mainly Protestant unionists on the other had left a deep and profoundly regrettable legacy of sufferingAlso Read Good Friday Things you can do to remember Christs sacrificeWe must never forget those who have died or been injured and their families they wroteBut we can best honour them through a fresh start in which we firmly dedicate ourselves to the achievement of reconciliation tolerance and mutual trust and to the protection and vindication of the human rights of allThe declaration committed participants to partnership equality and mutual respect as the basis of relationships and exclusively democratic and peaceful means The border The agreement has little specific to say about border arrangements between Northern Ireland and Ireland an issue that has come to the fore since BrexitThe text promised to develop normalisation of security arrangements and practices including the removal of security installations and other measures appropriate to and compatible with a normal peaceful societyThis created an invisible border between north and south satisfying republicans who wanted a united Ireland and unionists who wished Northern Ireland to stay BritishThis did not pose problems when both Ireland and the UK were in the EUBut with Britain now out it is proving more problematic both practically in terms of enforcing EU and UK customs rules and as many have pointed out psychologicallyThe prospect of any return of a hard border has been seen as a violation of those Good Friday Agreement obligationsResidents living on both sides of the border say any physical infrastructure on the frontier would reintroduce an actual divide and potentially fuel fresh violence Disarming Signatories reaffirmed their commitment to the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisationsThey also confirmed their intention to achieve the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms within two yearsA new human rights commission and equality commission were charged with ensuring respect for religious and cultural preferences Constitutional issues The negotiators recognised the legitimacy of whatever choice is freely exercised by a majority of the people of Northern Ireland including their freedom to choose union with Britain or IrelandIn addition they recognised that a majority favoured British rule and declared that Northern Ireland would remain part of BritainIf this majority wish were to change as indicated in a referendum London agreed to enact legislation to allow Northern Ireland to become part of IrelandFor this purpose London and Ireland both revoked their constitutional claim to sole sovereignty over Northern Ireland Democratic institutions The agreement provided for an elected 108member assembly in Belfast with responsibility for finance economic development health education welfare environment and agriculture Other responsibilities would remain with LondonThe assembly would be led by a first minister and deputy first minister with a powersharing balance between unionists and nationalistsIf both positions are not occupied the executive cannot function as has happened for the last year after proUK unionists walked out over their opposition to postBrexit trade arrangementsThe agreement also set up a NorthSouth Ministerial Council bringing together assembly members and their counterparts in Dublin on issues of mutual interestThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever