NORTHERN

IRELAND
Devolution, the
Good Friday
Agreement and the
United Kingdom
. By Faye Reader
 Setting up of the Assembly Impact of
and Executive Brexit

Legal support for

the Agreement FINISH

The Good Friday

Agreement
The lead up to the 1998
devolution settlement

START
Devolution How Britain came
to be united
“
The delegation of central
powers without the
relinquishment of
sovereignty
”
Kilbrandon Commission
How did Britain come to be United?
1707
England and Scotland
joined together to form
one country called Great
Britain

1801
Great Britain and Ireland
joined together to form
one country called the
United Kingdom.

At the point that England

and Scotland joined
together Wales was
already part of England.
 Ireland
Statute of
Drogheda 1494
Extended English law to
Ireland

Declaratory Act
1720
Says the English House
of Lords has appellate
jurisdiction over Ireland
and that the British
Parliament has the power
to make law for Ireland.
The lead up to the 1998 Devolution
Settlement
Home
William Gladstone and The Home Rule Bill 1912
Rule

Gov of
Ireland Creation of Northern Ireland with a large measure of
devolution
Act 1920

Irish Free Provided for the withdrawal of Ireland from the UK

State Act 1922 and provided Northern Ireland with an option to opt
out of the Irish Free State
The Good Friday
Agreement
Also known as the Belfast
Agreement

Agreement between the Irish

Government, the parties in
Northern Ireland and the
British Government at the
end of the Civil War in Ireland
in 1998.

Three key guarantees come

out of it -> equivalence of
rights, of citizenship and of
status.
“ It was, and remains, an enormously
ambitious attempt to establish a
constitutional process that will enable
both sides in the NI dispute - nationalists,
who prefer a united Ireland independent
of the UK, and unionists, who prefer
continued membership of the UK - to
participate in government together.

”
Christopher McCrudden
What did the Good Friday Agreement
Envisage?
A New Northern Ireland Assembly that would be elected by proportional
representation.

An Executive led jointly by a First Minister and Deputy First Minister

Establishment of cross-border institutions and the British-Irish Intergovernmental

Conference.

Inclusion of provisions dealing with the constitutional status of NI, the decommissioning of
paramilitary weapons, the release of paramilitary prisoners and human rights and
equality.
Sources of legal support for
Agreement in the UK

The British-Irish Northern Ireland Amendment of

Agreement Act 1998 and the Irish
Northern Ireland Constitution
Assembly Act
 Designation of Identity

Unionists Nationalists Others

The Executive

Mr David Mr Seamus
Trimble Mallon
First Deputy First
Minister Minister
Deputy leader of the
Leader of the UUP
SDLP
 The Impact of Brexit

01 European Union Future

Relationships Bill creates a
customs border in the Irish
Sea

02
Brexit is a nationalist
question which amplifies
the problems that
devolution poses.

03 This is a challenge in 2021

and will likely continue to
pose a challenge.