Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Northern Ireland Peace Agreement
DECLARATION OF SUPPORT
1. We, the participants in the multi-party
negotiations, believe that the agreement we
have
negotiated offers a truly historic
opportunity
for a new beginning.
2. The tragedies of the past have left a
deep
and profoundly regrettable legacy of
suffering.
We must never forget 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 the
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,
equality and
mutual respect as the basis of
relationships
within Northern Ireland, between North and
South, and between these islands.
4. We reaffirm our total and absolute
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
differences
between our continuing, and equally
legitimate,
political aspirations. However, we will
endeavour to strive in every practical way
towards 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
established
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 closely
inter-related that the success of each
depends
on that of the other.
6. Accordingly, in a spirit of concord, we
strongly commend this agreement to the
people,
North and South, for their approval.
CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
1. The participants endorse the
commitment
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
whatever 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
people of the island of
Ireland
alone, by agreement between
the
two parts respectively and
without external impediment,
to
exercise their right of
self-determination on the
basis
of consent, freely and
concurrently given, North
and
South, to bring about a
united
Ireland, if that is their
wish,
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
substantial section of the
people
in Northern Ireland share
the
legitimate wish 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-determination 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
support in their respective
Parliaments legislation to
give
effect to that wish;
(v) affirm that whatever
choice
is freely exercised by a
majority
of the people of Northern
Ireland, the power of the
sovereign government with
jurisdiction there shall be
exercised with 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 respect
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
birthright 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
accepted 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 comprehensive
political
agreement, to propose and support
changes
in, respectively, 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
Northern 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
section in accordance with
Schedule 1.
(2) But if the wish
expressed by
a majority 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 Secretary of State shall
lay
before Parliament such
proposals
to give effect to that wish
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
any 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
Secretary of State shall
exercise
the power under paragraph 1
if at
any time it appears likely
to him
that a majority of those
voting
would express a wish that
Northern Ireland should
cease to
be part of the United
Kingdom and
form part of a united
Ireland.
3. The Secretary of State
shall
not make an order under
paragraph
1 earlier than seven years
after
the holding of a previous
poll
under this Schedule.
4. (Remaining paragraphs
along
the lines of paragraphs 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, hereinafter called the
Agreement.
1. Any institution established by or under the
Agreement may exercise the powers and
functions
thereby conferred on it in respect of all
or any
part of the island of Ireland
notwithstanding
any other provision of this Constitution
conferring a like power or function on any
person or any organ of State appointed
under or
created 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.
--
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