Olddog wrote:I did as part of my studies some 20 years ago. Obviously at that time it was supposed to be a huge progress. It is not the EU that voted to make that agreement dead on arrival in june 2016.
I think we are past that stage of the blaming game. Time to move on to a new record ! Time to actually digest the legal and current realities and what can and cant be done going forward. What parts of the agreement can be adjusted without years of legal battles.
Just for anyone that did not read the agreement it is here and it may offer a better understanding of the task ahead :
The Agreement
Agreement reached in the multi-party negotiations
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Declaration of Support
2. Constitutional Issues
Annex A: Draft Clauses/Schedules for Incorporation in British
Legislation
Annex B: Irish Gove
rnment Draft Legislation
3. Strand One:
Democratic Institutions
in Northern Ireland
4. Strand Two:
North/South Ministerial Council
5. Strand Three:
British - Irish Council
British - Irish Intergovernmental Conference
6. Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity
Human Rights
United Kingdom Legislation
New Institutions in Northern Ireland
Comparable Steps by the Irish Government
A Joint Committee
Reconciliation and Victims of Violence
Economic, Social and Cultural Issues
7. Decommissioning
8. Security
9. Policing and Justice
Annex A: Commission on Polic
ing for Northern Ireland
Annex B: Review of the Criminal Justice System
10. Prisoners
11. Validation, Implementation and Review
Validation and Implementation
Review Procedures Following Implementation
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - -
ANNEX: Agreement between the Government of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain a
nd Northern Ireland and the
Government of Ireland.
Tablecontents.htm
DECLARATION OF SUPPORT
1. We, the participants in the multi-pa
rty negotiations, believe that the
agreement we have negotiated offers a truly historic opportunity for a new
beginning.
2. The tragedies of the past have le
ft a deep and profoundly regrettable
legacy of suffering. We must never fo
rget those who have died or been
injured, and their families. But we can best honour them through a fresh
start, in which we firmly dedicate
ourselves to th
e achievement of
reconciliation, tolerance,
and mutual trust, and to the protection and
vindication of the human rights of all.
3. We are committed to partnership, e
quality and mutual respect as the
basis of relationships within Nort
hern Ireland, between North and South,
and between these islands.
4. We reaffirm our total and abso
lute commitment to exclusively
democratic and peaceful means of
resolving differences on political
issues, and our opposition to any use or
threat of force by others for any
political purpose, whether in regard
to this agreement or otherwise.
5. We acknowledge the substantial di
fferences between our continuing,
and equally legitimate, political aspi
rations. However, we will endeavour
to strive in every practical way to
wards reconciliation and rapprochement
within the framework of democratic
and agreed arrangements. We pledge
that we will, in good faith, work to ensure the success of each and every
one of the arrangements to be estab
lished under this agreement. It is
accepted that all of the institutional
and constitutional arrangements - an
Assembly in Northern Ireland, a
North/South Ministerial Council,
implementation bodies, a British-Irish Council and a British-Irish
Intergovernmental Conference and any
amendments to British Acts of
Parliament and the Constitution
of Ireland - are interlocking and
interdependent and that in particular
the functioning of the Assembly and
the North/South Council are so closel
y inter-related that the success of
each depends on that of the other.
6. Accordingly, in a spirit of c
oncord, we strongly commend this
agreement to the people, North and South, for their approval.
CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
1. The participants endorse the comm
itment made by the British and Irish
Governments that, in a new British-Irish Agreement replacing the Anglo-
Irish Agreement, they will:
(i) recognise the legitimacy of what
ever choice is freely exercised by a
majority of the people of Northern
Ireland with regard to its status,
whether they prefer to continue to
support the Union with Great Britain or
a sovereign united Ireland;
(ii) recognise that it is for the peop
le of the island of Ireland alone, by
agreement between the two parts re
spectively and without external
impediment, to exercise their right
of self-determinati
on on the basis of
consent, freely and concurrently gi
ven, North and South, to bring about a
united Ireland, if that is their wis
h, accepting that this right must be
achieved and exercised with and subject
to the agreement and consent of a
majority of the people of Northern Ireland;
(iii) acknowledge that while a subs
tantial section of
the people in
Northern Ireland share the legitimate wi
sh of a majority
of the people of
the island of Ireland for a united Ireland,
the present wish of a majority of
the people of Northern Ireland, freely
exercised and legitimate, is to
maintain the Union and, accordingly, that
Northern Ireland’s status as part
of the United Kingdom reflects and
relies upon that wish; and that it
would be wrong to make any change in
the status of Northern Ireland save
with the consent of a majority of its people;
(iv) affirm that if, in the future, the
people of the island of
Ireland exercise
their right of self-determi
nation on the basis set out in
sections (i) and (ii)
above to bring about a united Ireland
, it will be a binding obligation on
both Governments to introduce and suppor
t in their respective Parliaments
legislation to give effect to that wish;
(v) affirm that whatever choice is fr
eely exercised by a majority of the
people of Northern Ireland, the power
of the sovereign government with
jurisdiction there shall be exercised w
ith rigorous impartiality on behalf of
all the people in the diversity of their
identities and traditions and shall be
founded on the principles of full resp
ect for, and equality of, civil,
political, social and cultural rights, of
freedom from discrimination for all
citizens, and of parity of esteem and of just and equal treatment for the
identity, ethos, and aspirations of both communities;
(vi) recognise the birthr
ight of all the people of
Northern Ireland to
identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they
may so choose, and accordingly confirm that their right to hold both
British and Irish citizenship is a
ccepted by both Governments and would
not be affected by any future change
in the status of Northern Ireland.
2. The participants also note that
the two Governments have accordingly
undertaken in the context of this co
mprehensive political agreement, to
propose and support changes in, resp
ectively, the Constitution of Ireland
and in British legislation relating to
the constitutional status of Northern
Ireland.
ANNEX A
DRAFT CLAUSES/SCHEDULES FOR INCORPORATION IN
BRITISH LEGISLATION
1. (1) It is hereby declared that Nort
hern Ireland in its entirety remains
part of the United Kingdom and shall not cease to be so without the
consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland voting in a poll
held for the purposes of this sect
ion in accordance with Schedule 1.
(2) But if the wish expressed by a major
ity in such a poll is that Northern
Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a
united Ireland, the Secretar
y of State shall lay before Parliament such
proposals to give effect to that wi
sh as may be agreed between Her
Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of
Ireland.
2. The Government of Ireland Act 1920
is repealed; and this Act shall
have effect notwithstanding a
ny other previous enactment.
SCHEDULE 1
POLLS FOR THE PURPOSE OF SECTION 1
1. The Secretary of State may by order
direct the holding of a poll for the
purposes of section 1 on a date
specified in the order.
2. Subject to paragraph 3, the Secretar
y of State shall exercise the power
under paragraph 1 if at any time it appear
s likely to him that a majority of
those voting would express a wish th
at Northern Ireland should cease to
be part of the United Kingdom and
form part of a united Ireland.
3. The Secretary of State shall no
t make an order under paragraph 1
earlier than seven years after the ho
lding of a previous poll under this
Schedule.
4. (Remaining paragraphs al
ong the lines of paragra
phs 2 and 3 of existing
Schedule 1 to 1973 Act.)
ANNEX B
IRISH GOVERNMENT DRAFT LEGISLATION TO AMEND THE
CONSTITUTION
Add to Article 29 the following sections:
7.
1. The State may consent to be bound by the British-Irish Agreement done
at Belfast on the day of 1998, here
inafter called the Agreement.
1. Any institution established by or u
nder the Agreement may exercise the
powers and functions there
by conferred on it in respect of all or any part
of the island of Ireland notwithst
anding any other provision of this
Constitution conferring a like power or function on any person or any
organ of State appointed under or crea
ted or established by or under this
Constitution. Any power or function conferred on such an institution in
relation to the settlement or resolution
of disputes or controversies may be
in addition to or in substitution for
any like power or function conferred
by this Constitution on any such person or organ of State as aforesaid.
1. If the Government declare that th
e State has become obliged, pursuant
to the Agreement, to give effect to the amendment of this Constitution
referred to therein, then, notwith
standing Article
46 hereof, this
Constitution shall be amended as follows:
i. the following Articles sh
all be substituted for Articles 2 and 3 of
the Irish text:
"2. [Irish text to
be inserted here]
3. [Irish text to be
inserted here]"
ii. the following Articles shall be substituted for Articles 2 and 3 of the
English text:
"Article 2
It is the entitlement and birthright
of every person born in the island of
Ireland, which includes its islands and s
eas, to be part of the Irish nation.
That is also the entitlement of
all persons otherwise qualified in
accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland. Furthermore, the Irish
nation cherishes its special affinity
with people of Irish ancestry living
abroad who share its cultural
identity and heritage.
Article 3
1. It is the firm will of the Irish nati
on, in harmony and friendship, to unite
all the people who share th
e territory of the island
of Ireland, in all the
diversity of their identities and trad
itions, recognising that a united Ireland
shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a
majority of the people, democratically
expressed, in both jurisdictions in
the island. Until then, the laws enacted by the Parliament established by
this Constitution shall have the like
area and extent of
application as the
laws enacted by the Parliament that
existed immediately before the
coming into operation of this Constitution.
2. Institutions with executive power
s and functions that are shared
between those jurisdictions may be
established by their respective
responsible authorities for stated
purposes and may exercise powers and
functions in respect of all or
any part of the island."
iii. the following section shall be added to the Irish text of this Article:
"8. [Irish text to be
inserted here]"
and
iv. the following section shall be added to the English text of this Article:
"8. The State may exercise extra-terr
itorial jurisdiction in accordance with
the generally recognised principles of international law."
4. If a declaration under this sec
tion is made, this subsection and
subsection 3, other than the amendment of this Constitution effected
thereby, and subsection 5 of this se
ction shall be omitted from every
official text of this Constitution
published thereafter, but notwithstanding
such omission this section shall cont
inue to have the force of law.
5. If such a declaration is not made w
ithin twelve months of this section
being added to this Constitution or
such longer period as may be provided
for by law, this section shall cease to have effect and shall be omitted
from every official text of this
Constitution published thereafter.
STRAND ONE
DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS IN NORTHERN IRELAND
1. This agreement provides for a demo
cratically elected Assembly in
Northern Ireland which is inclusiv
e in its membership, capable of
exercising executive and legislative authority, and subject to safeguards to
protect the rights and
interests of all side
s of the community.
The Assembly
2. A 108-member Assembly will be
elected by PR(STV) from existing
Westminster constituencies.
3. The Assembly will exercise full legislative and executive authority in
respect of those matters currently wi
thin the responsibility of the six
Northern Ireland Government Departme
nts, with the possibility of taking
on responsibility for other matters as deta
iled elsewhere in this agreement.
4. The Assembly - operating where a
ppropriate on a cross-community
basis - will be the prime source of au
thority in respect of all devolved
responsibilities.
Safeguards
5. There will be safeguards to ensure
that all sections of the community
can participate and work together su
ccessfully in the operation of these
institutions and that all sections
of the community are protected,
including:
(a) allocations of Committee Ch
airs, Ministers and Committee
membership in proportion to party strengths;
(b) the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and any Bill of
Rights for Northern Ireland supplemen
ting it, which neither the Assembly
nor public bodies can infringe,
together with a Human Rights
Commission;
(c) arrangements to provide that key
decisions and legislation are proofed
to ensure that they do not infringe the ECHR and any Bill of Rights for
Northern Ireland;
(d) arrangements to ensure key deci
sions are taken on a cross-community
basis;
(i) either parallel consent, i.e. a ma
jority of those members present and
voting, including a majority of the
unionist and nati
onalist designations
present and voting;
(ii) or a weighted majority (
60%) of members present and voting,
including at least 40% of each of th
e nationalist and unionist designations
present and voting.
Key decisions requiring cross-commun
ity support will be designated in
advance, including election of the
Chair of the Assembly, the First
Minister and Deputy First Mini
ster, standing orders and budget
allocations. In other cases such decisi
ons could be triggered by a petition
of concern brought by a significant
minority of Assembly members
(30/108).
(e) an Equality Commission to monito
r a statutory obligation to promote
equality of opportunity in specified ar
eas and parity of esteem between the
two main communities, and to investig
ate individual complaints against
public bodies.
Operation of the Assembly
6. At their first meeting, members
of the Assembly will register a
designation of identity - nationalist, uni
onist or other - for the purposes of
measuring cross-community support in
Assembly votes under the relevant
provisions above.
7. The Chair and Deputy Chair of the Assembly will be elected on a cross-
community basis, as set out in paragraph 5(d) above.
8. There will be a Committee for each of the main executive functions of
the Northern Ireland Administration. Th
e Chairs and Deputy Chairs of the
Assembly Committees will be allocated proportionally, using the d’Hondt
system. Membership of the Committees
will be in broad proportion to
party strengths in the Assembly to
ensure that the opportunity of
Committee places is available to all members.
9. The Committees will have a scrutiny, policy development and
consultation role with respect to
the Department with which each is
associated, and will have a role in in
itiation of legislation. They will have
the power to:
•
consider and advise on Departme
ntal budgets and Annual Plans in the
context of the overall
budget allocation;
•
approve relevant secondary legislation and take the Committee stage of
relevant primary legislation;
•
call for persons and papers;
•
initiate enquiries and make reports;
•
consider and advise on matters brought to the Committee by its
Minister.
10. Standing Committees other than
Departmental Committees may be
established as may be required from time to time.
11. The Assembly may appoint a sp
ecial Committee to examine and
report on whether a measure or proposal
for legislation is in conformity
with equality requirements, including the ECHR/Bill of Rights. The
Committee shall have the power to call pe
ople and papers to
assist in its
consideration of the matter. The Assembly shall then consider the report
of the Committee and can determine
the matter in accordance with the
cross-community consent procedure.
12. The above special procedure shall
be followed when requested by the
Executive Committee, or by the relevant Departmental Committee, voting
on a cross-community basis.
13. When there is a petition of concer
n as in 5(d) above, the Assembly
shall vote to determine whether the measure may proceed without
reference to this special procedure.
If this fails to achieve support on a
cross-community basis, as in 5(d)(i)
above, the special procedure shall be
followed.
Executive Authority
14. Executive authority to be discharg
ed on behalf of the Assembly by a
First Minister
and Deputy First Minister a
nd up to ten Ministers with Departmental
responsibilities.
15. The First Minister and Deputy First
Minister shall be jointly elected
into office by the Assembly voting on
a cross-community basis, according
to 5(d)(i) above.
16. Following the election of the First
Minister and Deput
y First Minister,
the posts of Ministers will be alloca
ted to parties on the basis of the
d’Hondt system by reference to the numb
er of seats each party has in the
Assembly.
17. The Ministers will constitute an Executive Committee, which will be
convened, and presided over, by the
First Minister and Deputy First
Minister.
18. The duties of the First Minister a
nd Deputy First Minister will include,
inter alia, dealing with and co-ordinating the work of the Executive
Committee and the response of the No
rthern Ireland administration to
external relationships.
19. The Executive Committee will provide a forum for the discussion of,
and agreement on, issues which cut ac
ross the responsibilities of two or
more Ministers, for prioritising executive and legislative proposals and for
recommending a common position where necessary (e.g. in dealing with
external relationships).
(iv) to take decisions by agreement
on policies and action
at an all-island
and cross-border level to be implem
ented by the bodies to be established
as set out in paragra
phs 8 and 9 below.
6. Each side to be in a position to ta
ke decisions in the Council within the
defined authority of those attending, th
rough the arrangemen
ts in place for
co-ordination of executive
functions within each juri
sdiction. Each side to
remain accountable to the Assembly
and Oireachtas respectively, whose
approval, through the arrangements in
place on either side, would be
required for decisions beyond the defi
ned authority of those attending.
7. As soon as practically possible afte
r elections to the Northern Ireland
Assembly, inaugural meetings will
take place of the Assembly, the
British/Irish Council and the North/S
outh Ministerial Council in their
transitional forms. All three institutions will meet regularly and frequently
on this basis during the period between
the elections to the Assembly, and
the transfer of powers to the Assembl
y, in order to establish their modus
operandi.
8. During the transitional period between
the elections to the Northern
Ireland Assembly and the transfer of
power to it, repres
entatives of the
Northern Ireland transitional Admini
stration and the Irish Government
operating in the North/South Minist
erial Council will undertake a work
programme, in consultation with the
British Government, covering at least
12 subject areas, with a view to id
entifying and agreeing by 31 October
1998 areas where co-operation and imple
mentation for mutual benefit will
take place. Such areas may include matte
rs in the list set out in the Annex.
9. As part of the work programme,
the Council will iden
tify and agree at
least 6 matters for co-operation and implementation in each of the
following categories:
(I) Matters where existing bodies will
be the appropriate mechanisms for
co-operation in each separate jurisdiction;
(ii) Matters where the co-opera
tion will take place through agreed
implementation bodies on a cross-
border or all-island level.
10. The two Governments will make
necessary legislative and other
enabling preparations to ensure, as
an absolute commitment, that these
bodies, which have been agreed as
a result of the work programme,
function at the time of the inception of the British-Irish Agreement and
the transfer of powers, with legi
slative authority for these bodies
transferred to the Assembly as
soon as possible thereafter. Other
arrangements for the agreed co-operation will also commence
contemporaneously with the transfer of powers to the Assembly.
11. The implementation bodies will have
a clear operational remit. They
will implement on an all-island and cro
ss-border basis policies agreed in
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... eement.pdfNegotiating a trade deal will be a walk in the park compared to this believe me .
