The Good Friday Agreement, also called Belfast Agreement or the Agreement, was an agreement,

between the British and Irish governments and most of the political parties in Northern Ireland,
about how Northern Ireland should be governed. The talks leading up to the Agreement dealt
with issues that had caused conflict during the previous 30 years. The agreement aimed to set up a
nationalist and unionist power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.

It is known as the Good Friday Agreement, because it was reached on Good Friday, 10 April 1998.
It was approved in 2 referendums in both parts of Ireland in May 1998.

The Agreement was made between the British and Irish governments and eight political parties or
groupings from Northern Ireland, and comprises two elements:

 the legal agreement between the two governments, signed by the leaders of the two
governments; and

 a more substantial agreement between the eight political parties and the two
governments.

On the constitutional question of whether Northern Ireland should remain in the UK or become
part of a united Ireland, it was agreed that there would be no change without the consent of the
majority. This is called the “principle of consent”. Other parts of the agreement concerned the
release of prisoners and the giving up of weapons.

The Agreement put in place a framework to establish a number of political institutions. This
framework is made up of three strands, together representing the relationships that exist within
and between the islands of Britain and Ireland:

Strand One

The Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive were set up so that the elected political parties
could share power. The Assembly is located at Stormont, just outside Belfast.

Strand Two

The North South Ministerial Council was set up to develop co-operation between both parts of
Ireland.

Strand Three

The British-Irish Council was set up to promote the relationship between Ireland and Britain.

These devolved institutions only operated intermittently in the years immediately following the
Good Friday Agreement, and the Irish and British Governments continued to work with the parties
to build trust and confidence.

The progress since the Agreement has been sporadic and many disputes remain, but the Belfast of
today is almost unrecognizable from the violent place of two or three decades ago.