REFERENDUM ON THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT
21 May 1998

This referendum was held after the signing of the Belfast Agreement on 10 April 1998, which outlined a political settlement in Northern Ireland. The main points of the agreement were:

• A new Northern Ireland assembly of 108 members, six members elected by the Single Transferable Vote from each existing parliamentary constituency
• A 12-member executive drawn from the Assembly's membership and headed by a first minister and a deputy first minister
• A North-South ministerial council, established by the assembly within a year, to direct co-operation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on a range of issues
• The Republic of Ireland to give up its constitutional claim to Northern Ireland and Britain to repeal the Government of Ireland Act 1920
• A British-Irish council, with members drawn from the British and Irish governments and the assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• A smaller British police and army presence in Northern Ireland, and the removal of security installations as soon as possible
• A commitment by all participants to the decommissioning of weapons and to working with an independent commission on decommissioning, with the aim of achieving decommissioning of all paramilitary weapons within two years
• Paramilitary prisoners to be released within two or three years, as long as their organisation maintains the cease-fire
• An independent commission on the future of policing in Northern Ireland, to report no later than summer 1999
• Human rights commissions in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic

I give this information because of what seems to me to be endless confusion in the media and among political circles about what was and what was not written down in the Belfast Agreement.

The question put to voters in the referendum was:

"Do you support the agreement reached in the multi-party talks on Northern Ireland and set out in Command Paper 3883?"

(NB: Command Paper 3883 is the official and parliamentary name of the Belfast Agreement.)

In a separate referendum in the Irish Republic, the turnout was 55%, of whom 94% voted in favour of the Belfast Agreement and in favour of giving up Eire's constitutional claim to Northern Ireland.

Last updated 31 July 2000