Good Friday

Agreement
Sarah Sharp
Good Friday Agreement
Background
The Good Friday Agreement was a 65-page document,
signed in 1998, sought to address relationships within
Northern Ireland; between Northern Ireland and the
Republic; and between both parts of Ireland and
England, Scotland and Wales.
The Process to Getting it Approved
Ulster Union leader David Trimble wanted the United
Kingdoms Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to amend the law
so that the Northern Ireland Assembly would take office
but Blair refused. Blair then promised decommissioning
would happen as soon as the Assembly came into
existence.
Disagreements
Although the Union agreed with it, Democratic Unionist
Party leader Ian Paisley from the UK stated that it was
more treacherous than the Sunningdale Agreement
which was when the United Kingdom government
established the first power sharing executive.
The Referendum
In the final decision of the outcome of the law, they
allowed everyone in Northern Ireland to get the
opportunity to interject their opinion. They decided to
have a referendum in Northern Ireland and was held on
May 22, 1998.
The Results of the Referendum
It turns out that majority of the population voted in favor of
the agreement with 71.2% in North Ireland with 676,966
people voted in favour of the deal, while 274,879 voted
against and 94.39% in the Republic with 1,442,583
people voting in favour and 85,748 voting against.
New Assembly
In June following the referendum in May, it was decided to
have a new 108 member assembly gather at Parliament
Buildings to elect the new power sharing executive for
Northern Ireland. There were so many parties meeting
that it was said that no one party would be able to control
the assembly. There were 16 parties and over a dozen
independents, fought for 6 seats in Irelands government.
After the Agreement was Ratified
The agreement took effect in December of 1998.
Disagreements over issues like the unionist/loyalist
Orange Order marches, policing and the removal of
military weapons happened almost everyday after the
agrement took effect. There were also deadly attacks
who opposed the peace process, and the most extreme
incident was in Omagh when an IRA bomb killed 29
people and unborn twins on a busy shopping street in
Ireland.