Good Friday Agreement: Progress of Implementation

The Good Friday Agreement was signed on 10 April 1998 and passed by the people of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic on 22 May 1998. It consisted of many different items, all of which much be fully implemented by June 2000. It currently looks unlikely that the Good Friday Agreement will ever be fully implemented. This page summarises the progress that had been made on each item by the start of June 2000. So far, 4 of the 9 aspects we list has been fully implemented, and 4 of the 9 have had almost no progress at all.

The full details of progress of each aspect are given below, but first we will give a brief summary of progress:

Fully Implemented:	Principle of Consent Setting up of the Northern Ireland Assembly Removal of the Irish Republic's Territorial Claim Release of Terrorist Prisoners
On schedule:	Reform of the RUC
Almost no progress:	Decommissioning of Terrorist Weapons
No progress:	North-South Ministerial Council Council of the Isles British-Irish Intergovernmental Council

Aspect:	Removal of the Irish Republic's Territorial Claim [Section 2]
Progress to date:	Fully Implemented.
Comments:	The Irish government passed the legislation removing their territorial claim over Northern Ireland (the famous Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution) through their Parliament and also passed it by the people in a Referrendum. This is necessary for all changes to the Constitution. The arcicles were formally dropped in December 1999 via a bill in the Dail [Irish Parliament].

Aspect:	Setting up of the Northern Ireland Assembly [Section 3]
Progress to date:	Fully implemented. Assembly has been set up, Executive has been formed and powers have been transferred.
Comments:	The Assembly has been set up, elections held and members chosen. After a year and a half of wrangling, the Executive was formed and powers transferred in late November/early December 1999. It was suspended briefly between February 2000 and June 2000.

Aspect:	North-South Ministerial Council [Section 4]
Progress to date:	None.
Comments:	The North-South Council is to be set up to allow cooperation between the UK and Irish Republic on matters of mutual interest. As it is made up of members of the Executive, it cannot be implemented until the Assembly Executive has been formed, and so is currently a theoretical body.

Aspect:	Council of the Isles [Section 5]
Progress to date:	None.
Comments:	The British-Irish Council, as it is properly called, is to bring together the UK and Irish Parliaments, the devolved Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland and Welsh Assemblies and representatives from the Isle of Man and Channel Islands to discuss issues of mutual interest. Although the other bodies are ready, the fact that the Northern Ireland Assembly is stalled means that this Council cannot be set up.

Aspect:	British-Irish Intergovernmental Council [Section 5]
Progress to date:	None.
Comments:	The Intergovernmental Council, designed to replace the Anglo-Irish Secretariat set up in 1985, remains unimplemented. It is due to be set up by the UK and Irish governments to discuss issues of mutual concern, but is being held up in case the Agreement fails and the Anglo-Irish Agreement must be fallen back upon.

Aspect:	Decommissioning of Terrorist Weapons [Section 7]
Progress to date:	Almost none.
Comments:	Of the terrorist organisations whose political representatives signed the Agreement (IRA, UVF, UDA) none of them have performed any arms decommissioning. The Loyalist Volunteer Force, although it did not have a political signatory to the Agreement, has made a small amount of arms decommissioning. It currently looks unlikely that any of the main terrorist groups will ever decommission. All 3 of the main terrorist groups have said that the conditions are not right, although the loyalists have said they will decommission if the IRA does.

Aspect:	Reform of the RUC Police Force [Section 9]
Progress to date:	On schedule. Legislation passed around Easter 2000.
Comments:	The Patten Commission was set up to oversee the reform of the police. It presented its recommendations in mid September 1999. These include a new name, badge, oath, no weapons and removal of the UK flag from police stations. These reforms are being made law at the minute (May, June 2000) and will be implemented in the coming years.

Aspect:	Release of Terrorist Prisoners [Section 10]
Progress to date:	Fully implemented. All terrorist prisoners have been released.
Comments:	The prisoner releases were managed by the UK and Irish governments. A few of the prisoners have been re-arrested for taking part in fresh terrorist activity after release.

Aspect:	Principle of Consent [Section 11]
Progress to date:	Fully implemented.
Comments:	The principle of consent (that the people of Northern Ireland have the final say on changes in the status of Northern Ireland by way of the ballot box) was enshrined in the Agreement and signed by all signatories.