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Multi-party
talks chairmen John de Chastelain, George Mitchell and Harri Holkeri |
The Agreement was signed on 10th April 1998, a Good Friday hence its
unofficial title of the Good Friday Agreement. Former US Senator George
Mitchell, Canadian General John de Chastelain, and the Finnish ex-Prime
Minister Harri Holkeri chaired the multi-party talks that led to the historic
Agreement.
The
participants included the governments of the Republic of Ireland and the
United Kingdom and ten political parties representing unionist, loyalist,
nationalist, republican and cross-community constituencies in Northern
Ireland. The US President Bill Clinton provided political support and
encouragement.
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Dr
Ian Paisley protesting outside Stormont the night before the Good Friday
Agreement was signed |
Two
other parties, Rev. Dr Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party and Bob McCartney's
United Kingdom Unionist Party (having first contributed to the Multi-Party
Talks beginning in June 1996 that lead to the Agreement) boycotted them
in protest at the presence of Sinn Féin who entered the multi-party
negotiations in September 1997. Their voluntary exclusion meant that 43
per cent of the unionist electorate were outside the talks process when
crucial elements of the Agreement were being negotiated. Senator George
Mitchell described this tactic as "a fateful error". If the DUP
and the UKUP had stayed within the process and fought from within, Senator
Mitchell observed, "there would have been no agreement. Their absence
freed the UUP from daily attacks at the negotiating table, and gave the
party room to negotiate."
The
65-page document is divided into three strands. Strand One deals with
institutional arrangements in Northern Ireland; Strand Two with the relationships
between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and Strand Three
with the relationships between both parts of Ireland and the rest of the
United Kingdom including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
The
Agreement has a section on Economic, Social and Cultural Issues including:
the advancement of women in public life; the promotion of the Irish language;
promoting social inclusion and targeting social need; community development;
reconciliation and victims of violence and new economic and regional development
strategies.
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