Peace Agreement Ireland

„It is up to the Irish people alone, by mutual agreement between the two parties and without external hindrance, of their right to self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and at the same time given, north and south, to achieve a united Ireland, while accepting that this right be acquired and exercised with the agreement and approval of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland.“ The previous text contains only four articles; It is this short text that is the legal agreement, but it contains the latter agreement in its timetables. [7] Technically, this proposed agreement can be distinguished as a multi-party agreement, unlike the Belfast Agreement itself. [7] The Congressional Research Service [PDF] examines the peace process in Northern Ireland. As part of the agreement, it was proposed to build on the existing Inter-Parliamentary Commission in English-Irish. Prior to the agreement, the body was composed only of parliamentarians from the British and Irish assemblies. In 2001, as proposed by the agreement, it was extended to include parliamentarians of all members of the Anglo-Irish Council. In April 2005, Gerry Adams asked the IRA to lay down his arms. On 28 July 2005, it agreed to ask its volunteers to use „exclusively peaceful means“. [30] It would not dissolve, but would simply use peaceful means to achieve its objectives. The agreement required the transfer of authority over certain policy areas of the British Parliament to a newly created assembly in Belfast and paved the way for paramilitary groups to give up their weapons and engage in the political process. It has contributed to a sharp decrease in violence and the annual death toll, which peaked at 480 in 1972, has fallen to one figure in recent years. On the Republican side, the „no“ campaign seemed to focus on the purity of the republican ideal of total and absolute independence from Britain.

From this point of view, each, however temporary, was presented as the objective of Irish unity (or the right to lead the armed struggle) as a betrayal of those who had fought and died for Ireland. The dismantling of arms and the end of paramilitary activities were presented as a capitulation to the British. The principle of consent was presented as a union veto, as it meant that political progress would be almost impossible without union participation. It was reported that the agreement accepted a division. The state and its institutions would remain hostile to the republican community, critics said. Despite these concerns, the vast majority of Republicans voted „yes,“ only a few small, unrepresentative parties (such as the Republican Sinn Féin) argued for a no vote on the nationalist side. As part of the agreement, the British Parliament repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920 (which had founded Northern Ireland, divided Ireland and asserted territorial right to the whole of Ireland) and the people of the Republic of Ireland amended Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution, which asserted a territorial right to Northern Ireland. The agreement sets out a framework for the creation and number of institutions in three „parts.“ In the Republic of Ireland, the results of the vote on a constitutional amendment were in line with the agreement: the nationalist community was generally expected to approve the agreement. In the run-up to the vote, union views seemed to be divided between those who supported the agreement, those who opposed the principle of the agreement and those who welcomed an agreement, but who were still very concerned about issues such as the release of prisoners and the role of paramilitaries and related parties (particularly Sinn Féin).