Ten years on from the Agreement
“Today we have just the sense of the prize that is before us. The work to win that prize goes on. We cannot, we must not, let that slip from our grasp.”
It had been a long night’s negotiations at Stormont’s Castle Buildings.
As unionist, nationalist and cross-community politicians joined republicans and loyalists around the negotiating table for the final plenary session, there was a real sense that Northern Ireland had turned a corner.
But there was also a realisation among those present that the implementation of the Agreement would be a long, difficult process, with unionists and nationalists having to manage their own voters’ expectations and emotions.
So how has the Agreement stood the test of time, a decade on in some of its key areas?
Establishment of Assembly: As envisaged 10 years ago, a 108-seat devolved Assembly has been operating at Stormont.
During the first period of devolution between 1998 and 2002, when the Ulster Unionists and nationalist SDLP were the two largest parties, it was suspended several times amid concerns over IRA arms decommissioning and allegations that a republican spy ring operated at Stormont.
After a period in shadow form, it returned last May with the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin the largest parties. While it seems more stable in its present incarnation, no one is taking anything for granted and the Assembly faces tests over its handling of key issues such as the reform of post-primary education and proposals for a stadium on the site of the former Maze Prison.
Setting up of a power- sharing executive: A 12-strong power-sharing ministerial team presides over 11 government departments involving members of the Democratic Unionists, Sinn Féin, Ulster Unionists and SDLP.
The model follows that agreed in December 1998 but broke down four times during the first period of devolution as unionists clashed with Sinn Féin over IRA disarmament and alleged spying.
DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley is due to stand down as First Minister in May after serving over the past year as the joint leader of the Executive alongside Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister.
The Executive is expected to see out its full term without any interruption but there is likely to be a change of mood music when Mr Paisley goes, with his successor expected to be more business-like in his dealings with Sinn Féin.
Early release of paramilitary prisoners: For some people who lost loved ones during the Troubles, the early release of loyalist and republican killers was the most unpalatable part of the Agreement.
Unionists, in particular, were uncomfortable with the scheme and it was one of the issues which prompted an 11th-hour walkout from the talks by some Ulster Unionists, including Jeffrey Donaldson who would defect six years later to the DUP.
Up to 450 loyalist and republican prisoners sentenced before the accord were released by July 2000.
Only 20 had their early release licences revoked — among them loyalists Johnny Adair and Michael Stone and IRA Shankill bomber Sean Kelly.
Police reform: The Agreement led to the setting up of a commission under the chairmanship of former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten to look into how more Catholics and nationalists could be encouraged to get involved in policing.
Only 7% of Royal Ulster Constabulary officers were Catholics and a series of measures were introduced to encourage more Catholics and nationalists to join — changing its name to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, offering generous redundancy packages to serving officers and introducing a 50:50 recruitment quota for Catholic and Protestant applicants.
Unionists were highly critical of the reforms – particularly the 50:50 recruitment quota — while in nationalism, the SDLP and Catholic Church took the historic step of endorsing policing in 2001 while Sinn Féin insisted the reforms did not go far enough.
It was not until last year that Sinn Féin would sign up to policing and agreed to participate in bodies holding the Police Service of Northern Ireland to account. Northern Ireland Office Minister Paul Goggins has said the PSNI is on course to reach its target of 30% Catholic officers by 2011, which will in turn lead to the ending of 50:50 recruitment.
The courts were also radically overhauled to make it more attractive to nationalists.
One issue remains for Northern Ireland’s politicians, who must decide when they will be able to form a justice ministry to take over responsibility for policing and the courts. The DUP insists that it will not happen without the disbanding of the IRA Army Council.
Decommissioning: Paramilitary weapons was one of the most contentious issues during the first period of devolution, resulting in the collapse of the power-sharing Executive on three occasions.
Sinn Féin and David Trimble’s Ulster Unionists clashed over whether the Agreement required the IRA to disarm.
But eventually the IRA did put its weapons beyond use — the first act occurring in October 2001 and the last between July and September 2005.
Ulster Unionists claim the dragging out of the process by republicans ultimately damaged their party and strengthened the Rev Ian Paisley’s DUP.
But while the IRA has completed its decommissioning process, relatively few loyalist weapons have been disarmed, with the Ulster Volunteer Force last year announcing it was putting its arms beyond reach and the Ulster Defence Association yet to move.
Security normalisation: A core demand of Sinn Féin in the Good Friday talks and other negotiations, the party argued the scaling down of army bases and patrols would help contribute to the belief that society was normalising.
Just as progress on decommissioning was painfully slow, so was demilitarisation, which became inextricably linked to moves by the IRA on decommissioning and the eventual standing down of its units.
After the resumption of power-sharing last May, the British army finally ended 38-year-old Operation Banner two months later, which involved more than 300,000 soldiers and saw more than 760 die.
Northern Ireland now has a peacetime garrison of about 5,000 troops, with only 10 army bases out of over 100 still operating.
The constitutional question: Unionists set their sights on the removal of the Irish Republic’s territorial claim over Northern Ireland in its constitution and achieved their goal in 1998 with an amendment recognising that Irish unity would only take place with the consent of the majority of people of Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP also signed up to this principle but questions remain whether Northern Ireland’s links to the Union with Britain are stronger or looser than before.
At his party conference last month in Dublin, Gerry Adams called for a renewed campaign for Irish unification involving ex-pats and other nationalists in the run up to the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and nationalist SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon are elected First and Deputy First Minister by the new Northern Ireland Assembly.
After months of wrangling over IRA disarmament, the rest of the power-sharing executive is formed, with the appointment of Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness as Education Minister causing the most controversy. It is suspended the next February by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson because of the IRA’s failure to decommission its weapons.
Unionists agree a return to Stormont on the basis that the arms issue would be dealt with while the assembly continued to function. There continue to be breakdowns in power-sharing over IRA weapons.
The IRA carries out its first act of disarmament, paving the way for a resumption of power-sharing.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary is renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland in a bid to encourage more Catholics to join.
Devolution is suspended again as power-sharing falls apart over allegations of an IRA spy ring at the heart of government.
Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists emerge as the largest party in assembly elections on the back of a failed deal to revive devolution. Sinn Féin are told by Mr Paisley he will not sit in government with them while the IRA remains intact and retains its weapons.
Following political pressure over the murder of Belfast father of two Robert McCartney and the £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery, the Provisional IRA announces an end to its armed campaign, orders units to dump all weapons and pursue their goals through exclusively peaceful means.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Prime Minister Tony Blair lay the foundations for a new devolution deal between the DUP and Sinn Féin the following March at talks in St Andrews, Scotland. Sinn Féin signs up in January 2007 to support policing on the understanding it will lead to the DUP sharing power.
Ian Paisley becomes First Minister and Martin McGuinness is Deputy First Minister in the new power-sharing executive two months after their parties triumph in an assembly election and then strike a deal to revive devolution.
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