Reconciling Ireland: Fifty Years of British–Irish Agreements

Description

Forewords by Simon Coveney, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Brandon Lewis, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

‘Reconciling Ireland is an indispensable guide to half a century of agreements.’
Tony Blair

‘This invaluable and comprehensive work brings together fifty years of agreements, each considered and analysed in the context of its own time zone, and superbly illustrates the careful negotiation and handling required to bring about agreement as circumstances changed.’
Bertie Ahern

Reconciling Ireland is a unique guide to the history of the last half-century, compiling all the texts of the key British–Irish legal and political agreements relating to Northern Ireland for the first time.

These forty documents, presented alongside expert analysis by author and Irish High Court Judge Richard Humphreys, chart the evolution of the principles of the political and peace processes, from their inception right to the present day, from the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the New Decade, New Approach deal of 2020 that resolved the 2017–20 Stormont stalemate.

This definitive collection demonstrates the tremendous progress made towards peace and functioning politics, despite huge obstacles, and gives grounds for optimism for the future. Given the need to renew British–Irish relationships following Brexit, as well as the outstanding question of implementation of existing agreements, and the increased debate on Northern Ireland’s constitutional arrangements, Reconciling Ireland will be an invaluable reference work for legal and political engagement for generations to come.

Foreword by Minister for Foreign Affairs

Foreword by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Introduction
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations

1. Sunningdale Agreement, 9 December 1973
2. Anglo-Irish Agreement, 15 November 1985
3. International Fund for Ireland Agreement, 18 September 1986 (In force)
4. Downing Street Declaration, 15 December 1993
5. Frameworks for the Future – Joint Framework Documents, 22 February 1995
6. Communiqué on Twin-track Process, 28 November 1995
7. Joint Communiqué, 28 February 1996
8. Ground Rules for Substantive All-party Negotiations, 16 April 1996
9. Independent International Commission on Decommissioning Agreement, 26 August 1997
10. Agreement reached in Multi-party Talks: the Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement, 10 April 1998
11. British–Irish Agreement, 10 April 1998 (In force)
12. Agreement establishing the North/South Ministerial Council, 8 March 1999 (In force)
13. Agreement establishing North/South Implementation Bodies, 8 March 1999 (In force)
14. Exchange of Letters regarding the Implementation Bodies Agreement, 8 March 1999
15. Agreement establishing the British–Irish Council, 8 March 1999 (In force)
16. Agreement establishing the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference, 8 March 1999 (In force)
17. Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains Agreement, 27 April 1999 (In force)
18. Exchange of Letters supplementary to the Implementation Bodies Agreement, 18 June 1999 (In force)
19. Exchange of Letters amending the International Fund for Ireland Agreement, 27 September & 10 October 2000 (In force)
20. Weston Park Agreement, 1 August 2001
21. Exchange of Notes regarding the North/South Ministerial Council and North/South Implementation Bodies, 19 November 2002 22 – Joint Declaration, Agreement on Monitoring and Compliance, and Proposals on On the Runs, 1 May 2003
23. Independent Monitoring Commission Agreement, 25 November 2003
24. Interpretative Declaration regarding Citizenship, 19 April 2004
25. Proposals published after Leeds Castle Talks, 8 December 2004
26. Armagh Joint Statement, 6 April 2006
27. Joint Statement and Work Plan, 29 June 2006
28. Exchange of Letters regarding Implementation Bodies, 25 July 2006 (In force)
29. St Andrews Agreement, 13 October 2006
30. British–Irish Agreement regarding the St Andrews Agreement, 22 March 2007 (In force)
31. Hillsborough Castle Agreement, 5 February 2010
32. Exchange of Notes terminating Independent Monitoring Commission Agreement, 24 & 30 March 2011 (In force)
33. Exchange of Notes terminating Independent International Commission on Decommissioning Agreement, 24 & 30 March 2011 (In force)
34. Exchange of Notes amending the Implementation Bodies Agreement, 8 & 13 September 2011 (In force)
35. Joint Statement regarding British–Irish Relations – The Next Decade, 12 March 2012
36. Stormont House Agreement, 23 December 2014
37. Agreement on Independent Commission on Information . . . . .Retrieval, 15 October 2015
38. A Fresh Start – the Stormont House Agreement andImplementation Plan, 17 November 2015
39. Independent Reporting Commission Agreement, 13 September 2016 (In force)
40. New Decade, New Approach, 9 January 2020

About the Editor
Richard Humphreys is a Judge of the Irish High Court. He is a graduate of UCD and the King’s Inns and holds a PhD in Law from Trinity College Dublin. As a government adviser in 1996 he attended the launch of Multi-Party negotiations in Stormont that ultimately led to the Good Friday Agreement. From 1997 to 2015 he was a practising barrister and in October 2015 was appointed to the High Court.  As well as authoring numerous articles in academic journals and general publications, this is his fourth book.

ISBN
9781788551571