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UCC Law Faculty |
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This is an archived page on the Irish Law Site. Information on this page may be out of date but it is being kept as a record of data which was available at the time the page was orginally published. |
Go back to the Framework document page
A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR AGREEMENT
A shared understanding between
the British and Irish Governments
to assist discussion and negotiation involving
the Northern Ireland parties
1. The Joint Declaration acknowledges that the most urgent and
important issue facing the people of Ireland, North and South, and
the British and Irish Governments together, is to remove the causes
of conflict, to overcome the legacy of history and to heal the
divisions which have resulted.
2. Both Governments recognise that there is much for deep regret on
all sides in the long and often tragic history of Anglo-Irish
relations, and of relations in Ireland. They believe it is now
time to lay aside, with dignity and forbearance, the mistakes of
the past. A collective effort is needed to create, through
agreement and reconciliation, a new beginning founded on consent,
for relationships within Northern Ireland, within the island of
Ireland and between the peoples of these islands. The Joint
Declaration itself represents an important step towards this goal,
offering the people of Ireland, North and South, whatever their
tradition, the basis to agree that from now on their differences
can be negotiated and resolved exclusively by peaceful political
means.
3. The announcements made by the Irish Republican Army on 31 August
1994 and the Combined Loyalist Military Command on 13 October 1994
are a welcome response to the profound desire of people throughout
these islands for a permanent end to the violence which caused such
immense suffering and waste and served only to reinforce the
barriers of fear and hatred, impeding the search for agreement.
4. A climate of peace enables the process of healing to begin. It
transforms the prospects for political progress, building on that
already made in the Talks process. Everyone now has a role to play
in moving irreversibly beyond the failures of the past and creating
new relationships capable of perpetuating peace with freedom and
justice.
5. In the Joint Declaration both Governments set themselves the aim of
fostering agreement and reconciliation, leading to a new political
framework founded on consent. A vital dimension of this
three-stranded process is the search, through dialogue with the
relevant Northern Ireland parties, for new institutions and
structures to take account of the totality of relationships and to
enable the people of Ireland to work together in all areas of
common interest while fully respecting their diversity.
6. Both Governments are conscious of the widespread desire, throughout
both islands and more widely, to see negotiations underway as soon
as possible. They also acknowledge the many requests, from parties
in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, for both Governments to set out
their views on how agreement might be reached on relationships
within the island of Ireland and between the peoples of these
islands.
7. In this Framework Document both Governments therefore describe a
shared understanding reached between them on the parameters of a
possible outcome to the Talks process, consistent with the Joint
Declaration and the statement of 26 March 1991. Through this they
hope to give impetus and direction to the process and to show that
a fair and honourable accommodation can be envisaged across all the
relationships, which would enable people to work constructively for
their mutual benefit, without compromising the essential principles
or the long-term aspirations or interests of either tradition or of
either community.
8. Both Governments are aware that the approach in this document
presents challenges to strongly-held positions on all sides.
However, a new beginning in relationships means addressing
fundamental issues in a new way and inevitably requires significant
movement from all sides. This document is not a rigid blueprint to
be imposed but both Governments believe it sets out a realistic and
balanced framework for agreement which could be achieved, with
flexibility and goodwill on all sides, in comprehensive
negotiations with the relevant political parties in Northern
Ireland. In this spirit, both Governments offer this document for
consideration and accordingly strongly commend it to the parties,
the people in the island of Ireland and more widely.
9. The primary objective of both Governments in their approach to
Northern Ireland is to promote and establish agreement among the
people of the island of Ireland, building on the Joint Declaration.
To this end they will both deploy their political resources with
the aim of securing a new and comprehensive agreement involving the
relevant political parties in Northern Ireland and commanding the
widest possible support.
10. They take as guiding principles for their co-operation in search of
this agreement:
(i) the principle of self-determination, as set out in the
Joint Declaration;
(ii) that the consent of the governed is an essential
ingredient for stability in any political arrangement;
(iii) that agreement must be pursued and established by
exclusively democratic, peaceful means, without resort to
violence or coercion;
(iv) that any new political arrangements must be based on full
respect for, and protection and expression of, the rights
and identities of both traditions in Ireland and
even-handedly afford both communities in Northern Ireland
parity of esteem and treatment, including equality of
opportunity and advantage.
11. They acknowledge that in Northern Ireland, unlike the situation
which prevails elsewhere throughout both islands, there is a
fundamental absence of consensus about constitutional issues.
There are deep divisions between the members of the two main
traditions living there over their respective senses of identity
and allegiance, their views on the present status of Northern
Ireland and their vision of future relationships in Ireland and
between the two islands. However, the two Governments also
recognise that the large majority of people, in both parts of
Ireland, are at one in their commitment to the democratic process
and in their desire to resolve political differences by peaceful
means.
12. In their search for political agreement, based on consent, the two
Governments are determined to address in a fresh way all of the
relationships involved. Their aim is to overcome the legacy of
division by reconciling the rights of both traditions in the
fullest and most equitable manner. They will continue to work
towards and encourage the achievement of agreement, so as to
realise the goal set out in the statement of 26 March 1991 of "a
new beginning for relationships within Northern Ireland, within the
island of Ireland and between the peoples of these islands".
13. The two Governments will work together with the parties to achieve
a comprehensive accommodation, the implementation of which would
include interlocking and mutually supportive institutions across
the three strands, including:
(a) Structures within Northern Ireland (paragraphs 22 and 23)
- to enable elected representatives in Northern Ireland
to exercise shared administrative and legislative control
over all those matters that can be agreed across both
communities and which can most effectively and
appropriately be dealt with at that level;
(b) North/South institutions (paragraphs 24-38) - with clear
identity and purpose, to enable representatives of
democratic institutions, North and South, to enter into
new, co-operative and constructive relationships; to
promote agreement among the people of the island of
Ireland; to carry out on a democratically accountable
basis delegated executive, harmonising and consultative
functions over a range of designated matters to be
agreed; and to serve to acknowledge and reconcile the
rights, identities and aspirations of the two major
traditions;
(c) East-West structures (paragraphs 39-49) - to enhance the
existing basis for co-operation between the two
Governments, and to promote, support and underwrite the
fair and effective operation of the new arrangements.
