On Good Friday, the negotiations concluded in Belfast with the multi-party agreement. The agreement represents the product of perhaps the most intensive negotiations ever seen in these islands, involving nationalists and unionists, loyalists and republicans. If agreed by the people in the upcoming referendums, North and South, it will replace the settlement of 1920 and 1921. As such, it is truly historic.
The keynote of the agreement is change. It provides for a new beginning - based on partnership and co-operation - in relationships within Northern Ireland, between North and South and between Ireland and Britain.
It provides for a balanced constitutional settlement involving agreed changes in both British and Irish constitutional law, based on the principles of self-determination and consent. The key thrust of these changes is to reinforce the principle that in Ireland, North and South, it is the people who are sovereign. There is no longer any question of an absolute or territorial British claim to sovereignty, without reference to the wishes of the people. For the first time, a precise mechanism has been defined - and accepted by the British government - by which a united Ireland can be put in place, by the consent of Irish people and that alone.
The reformulated Articles 2 and 3 express the will to unity in strong terms, while enshrining the consent principle. With their generous, inclusive but non-threatening definition of the Irish nation, they reflect modern, progressive republican thought and keep faith with the pluralist tradition of Irish nationalism, stemming from Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen.
This is the way we want to go; but, as a safeguard, the amendments to our Constitution are framed in such a way that they are conditional on the successful completion of all the other steps necessary to bring the agreement into force: the new Articles will only replace the old ones if a referendum is successful in Northern Ireland, and at the same time as all the new institutions - including the North-South Ministerial Council and the initial implementation bodies - come into operation. The agreement provides new institutional arrangements for the internal government of Northern Ireland, with cross-community participation built in. A 108-member Assembly with committees provides scope to represent a wide spectrum of parties and opinion.
A cabinet-type executive committee of ministers, with membership in proportion to party support, allows inclusion of all major groupings. The new arrangements are light years away from Stormont: the requirement of parallel consent for all key decisions will ensure neither community can dominate the other.
The agreement establishes meaningful North-South interconnections. This involves setting up a new North-South Ministerial Council to develop consultation, co-operation and action within the island of Ireland on matters of mutual interest and establishing, as a start, at least six implementation bodies operating on a cross-Border or all-island basis.
Under the agreement, these bodies must be in a position to function at the time of its inception, meaning that action on a cross-Border and all-island basis cannot fall behind other elements. Thus, the agreement guarantees institutional expression of the Irish identity of Northern nationalists.
Over the longer run, the North-South Ministerial Council will provide an unprecedented opportunity for the two administrations, North and South, to work together in all areas of mutual benefit and to develop human and institutional bonds of trust and understanding.
The Government is convinced that, over time, the logic of geography and mutual economic interest will work steadily to increase and deepen interaction on an island basis.
The agreement establishes two new East-West institutions. A British-Irish council will bring together all the administrations in these islands, including the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It will promote the mutually beneficial development of all the relationships among the peoples of these islands. The Government sees the council as a valuable forum in its own right where a wide range of East-West issues can be considered. The North-South Ministerial Council will be separate and independent. A new British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, involving the two governments, will replace the existing Anglo-Irish Conference and will cover all matters of bilateral interest, with a special focus on non-devolved Northern Ireland issues.
The main differences from current arrangements are that many issues now considered by the Anglo-Irish Conference will have been devolved, and that Northern Ireland representatives will be involved in meetings of the new conference.
The final element of the agreement - particularly important for change on the ground - is the series of major advances which it records in the equality of rights agenda in the political, economic, social and linguistic spheres; in regard to justice and to a new beginning to policing in Northern Ireland, aiming towards an unarmed police force, reflecting in its composition and ethos, the make-up of the population there; and in regard to normalisation in a peaceful and stable society, including important provisions on prisoners and the removal of security installations, as the level of threat reduces, and on decommissioning.
The agreement is an historic breakthrough in terms of consolidating peace and ending 30 years of conflict. Many people, both in Government and outside it, both nationally and internationally, have worked long and hard over many years to bring us to this point.
On May 22nd, the people of this island, North and South, will have their say.
I hope and believe that the people will vote a resounding Yes. If they do, it will mean neither victory nor defeat for either nationalism or unionism. But it will spell victory for change, for partnership and mutual respect, for reconciliation and above all, for peace and hope for the future.
