The
Northern Ireland six-county state has been a part of the United
Kingdom since its partition from the rest of Ireland by the British
enacted Government of Ireland Act of 1920. The Executive Committee
of Northern Ireland created by the same Act functioned as its
governing body between 1922 and 1972.
The
phrase “a Protestant parliament and a Protestant state”, coined in
1934 by James Craig, first Prime minister of Northern Ireland,
became the state’s battle cry. It was intended as a clear message to
Catholics that they had no political status in the Protestant state.
It
was against that toxic backdrop that hostilities broke out between
the Catholic/Nationalist and Protestant/Unionists communities in
1969. The Protestant communities were supported by the state’s
security apparatus and British security forces.
The
Good Friday Agreement (GFA) of 1998 was the third in a series of
five agreements entered into by the British and Irish governments,
political parties and paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland to end
the escalating armed conflict. The first was the Sunningdale
Agreement in December of 1973, followed by the Hillsborough
Agreement in November of 1985, the Good Friday Agreement in April of
1998, the St. Andrews Agreement in October of 2006, and finally the
New Decade New Approach Agreement in January of 2020.
Before the advent of the GFA, the United Kingdom (UK) and the
Republic of Ireland (ROI) were member states of the European Union
(EU). As such, both had signed a number of treaties and laws
including but not limited to human rights, civil liberties, free
trade, and rights for EU citizens to live and work in member states.
That being so, the task left for the GFA negotiators was confined to
bilateral and intercommunity relations, security, governance, and
the mollification of paramilitary and political leaders in Northern
Ireland.
The
GFA signed on April 10,1998 consisted of two strands. The first
strand resulted in a treaty between the British and Irish
governments, the second strand resulted in an agreement between the
UK and ROI governments and political parties and paramilitaries in
Northern Ireland. EU institutions and laws provided the matrix on
which the GFA was negotiated and the backstop for the ensuing
agreement.
The
inter-government treaty codified the status of Northern Ireland
within the UK when the ROI government relinquished its
constitutional claim to the territory of Northern Ireland. In a
reciprocal gesture, the British government agreed to abide by the
result of a border poll in Northern Ireland wherein a majority voted
to either reunite with the ROI or remain part of the UK. What
precipitates that vote is up to the UK government to decide.
The
second strand of the agreement between the UK and ROI governments,
political parties and paramilitary groups involved the ending of
hostilities and the establishment of a government for Northern
Ireland consisting of a legislative assembly and a power-sharing
executive committee.
In
order to facilitate the signing of the agreement, the wording was
deliberately ambiguous in addressing contentious issues such as
paramilitary decommissioning, police reform and the normalization of
a fractured society beset by bigotry and official malfeasance.
When
the agreement was eventually signed, Seamus Mallon, Deputy Leader of
the Social Democratic and Labor Party and deputy First Minister of
the new executive committee referred to the GFA as “Sunningdale for
slow learners”. As mentioned above, Sunningdale was the first
agreement entered into in December of 1973. It collapsed in May
1974.
As
the new Northern Ireland government was to be the backbone of the
GFA, its success in governing would go a long way in proving
Northern Ireland’s viability as a political and economic entity. It
was assumed that with a strong and dependable government in place,
outstanding issues such as policing, paramilitary decommissioning
and societal normalization would be sorted out peacefully and
affably.
That
was not to be. Within eighteen months the new government collapsed,
resulting in the resumption of direct control of government affairs
in Northern Ireland by the British government. That was the first
of four direct rule interventions that took place through 2007. The
first intervention was in February of 2000 and lasted through May of
2002. The second and third interventions occurred in August and
September of 2001, lasting 24 hours on both occasions. The fourth
intervention was in October of 2002 that lasted through May of 2007.
The
St Andrews Agreement of October 2006 resulted in new power sharing
procedures that by May of 2007 had the government of Northern
Ireland back in operation. The second item agreed to at St. Andrews
was that the British government would no longer institute Direct
Rule over Northern Ireland without new authorizing legislation by
the British parliament.
Despite the new power-sharing procedures, the government once again
collapsed in January of 2017 and remained so through January of
2022. After four months back in session it went belly-up again in
May of 2022 and has not returned as of yet. In the meantime, the
Northern Ireland Civil Service is in charge of governance.
Based on the dismal performance of the Northern Ireland government
it would be hard to view the GFA as a success. Apart from the
government nonperformance, the present-day Brexit debacle clearly
shows that the GFA is a side show whose fate depends on ongoing
negotiations between the EU, the UK and Unionist politicians in
Northern Ireland. It very well may be that the GFA has run its
course with little left to offer as current events have overtaken
its relevance as a stabilizing or unifying force. Even if it
survives what will be its purpose?
Instead of promoting the GFA as the solution to the armed conflict
in the partitionist state of Northern Ireland, it should have been
viewed as a step in the path to Irish reunification. Reunification
would restore Ireland to its natural state of oneness and, in so
doing, mitigate the fallout from Brexit and pave the way for a new
era of peace and prosperity for all of Ireland.
TMMTP
Date posted 8/6/2022
