The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 reflects two core values:

  • Rigorous impartiality between the two traditions.
  • Self-determination for Northern Ireland.

    • The Belfast agreement requires whichever capital, London or Dublin, is sovereign, to be rigorously impartial between the communities.

    This would apply even if Northern Ireland had voted to enter a united Ireland. The obligation of impartiality would then be on the shoulders of the Dublin government.

    The wording of the agreement is as follows.

    The two governments “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”.

    I believe the current UK government, by promoting legislation to disapply the Northern Ireland Protocol, against the wishes of a majority of the Northern Ireland Assembly, is in clear breach of these duties under the Belfast Agreement.

    Impartial

    It is not being rigorously impartial. A majority in the Northern Ireland Assembly is prepared to live with the Protocol, although it is looking for some amendments.

    Only one party, the DUP, wants the Protocol scrapped in its entirety. The other parties see benefits in the access the Protocol gives Northern Ireland business to both EU and UK markets.

    By introducing legislation to scrap the Protocol, the present UK Government is being partial in favour of one party, the DUP. That is a clear breach of its obligations, as the sovereign power, under the Belfast Agreement, quoted above.

    Future

    The UK government's Bill to disapply the Protocol also breaches another principle of the Good Friday Agreement, namely that the people of Northern Ireland be able to determine their own future.

    The referendum decision by the people of Northern Ireland, accepting the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, was an act of self-determination on their part.

    People on the southern side of the border made a similar act of self-determination, by accepting in the referendum here that we would amend Articles 2 and 3 of our Constitution on the basis of the new dispensation created by the Good Friday Agreement.

    The Protocol to the UK/EU Withdrawal Treaty also preserves self-determination for the people of Northern Ireland. Article 18 of that Protocol provides for consent by the people of Northern Ireland to the continuance of the application of the Protocol.

    This consent will have to be sought at least every eight years. It was on the basis of Article 18 that Prime Minister Johnson accepted the Protocol and he fought and won a UK general election on that basis.

    Changed mind

    Subsequently, he changed his mind and introduced legislation unilaterally to disapply the Protocol. The legislation continues to be part of the current UK government's legislative programme. This legislation breaches international law, because it unilaterally attempts to breach a treaty.

    But it also breaches the principle of self-determination for Northern Ireland, which underlaid the Downing Street Declaration, the Good Friday Agreement and the entire peace process.

    The Protocol Disapplication Bill would be UK legislation, passed in Westminster, which would be imposed on Northern Ireland. There is no equivalent of Article 18 of the Protocol Disapplication Bill to give Northern Ireland the final say, or indeed any say at all.

    The Protocol is to be disapplied, regardless of what a majority of the Northern Ireland say. This Protocol Disapplication Bill is, in my opinion, a breach of both international law and of the Good Friday Agreement. It should be withdrawn.

    What is to be done?

    In the meanwhile, what is to be done? The 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement gave the Irish Government a right to put forward views and proposals to the UK government on policy in respect of Northern Ireland. This ensured that the full range of concerns got a hearing.

    It also provided a safety valve when tensions rose and obviated the need for megaphone diplomacy. If the impasse over the Protocol, and the suspension of the Stormont Executive, is to continue, the 1985 arrangements should be reactivated.