Northern Ireland conflict

Northern Ireland conflict

Context:

• Recently pro-Irish unity politician Michelle O’Neill from the Sinn Fein party made history by becoming the first Nationalist First Minister of Northern Ireland ending a two-year long political deadlock in Northern Ireland.

Background to the issue:

• Northern Ireland is governed by a power-sharing agreement which is known as consociationalism and is laid down in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
• The above system believes that power should be shared equally between the various sectarian groups in a state.
• In this case the various sectarian groups include the pro-Irish unity faction, called the Nationalists or Republicans, and the pro-U.K. faction, which are the Loyalists or the Unionists.
• The party which wins the largest vote-share will hold the First Minister position while the party with the second most vote share will keep the post of Deputy First Minister.
• It is important to note that if these two posts one must be a Unionist and the other a Nationalist.
• Also both the positions hold equal weight and one cannot exist without the other.

About Northern Ireland:

• Northern Ireland was the region of a 30-year civil war (1968-1998) known as ‘The Troubles’ between the Republicans and the Unionists which have killed over 3,500 people.
• It also had a religious aspect to it with the Republicans being mostly Catholic and the Unionists being mostly Protestants.
• Northern Ireland was formerly part of the Ulster province which lies to the north of present-day Ireland.
• The religious war which was being waged in much of Europe at the time between the Protestants and the Catholics made its presence felt in Ulster as well.
• Finally in the year 1916 in the middle of the First World War, during Easter week, Ireland rose up in arms against colonial rule under the leadership of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
• After a bloody war it was able to gain independence from England through the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921.
• However the Ireland was split into two territories.
• As there was a protestant majority in Ulster out of the 32 counties in Ireland six remained with the U.K. which formed the region of Northern Ireland.

Need of Good Friday agreement:

• Peace did not come easy and smooth in Northern Ireland.
• The years that followed after the turmoil were rife with discrimination and instances of sectarian violence.
• The Irish Republicans being the minority were victims of discrimination when it came to housing and other public service jobs.
• Moreover there have also been claims that elections were heavily skewed towards the Unionists due to gerrymandering practices which were popular.
• Finally on April 10, 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was signed in Belfast which brought to an end the 30-year-old civil war in Northern Ireland.

About Good Friday Agreement:

• The Good Friday Agreement is a unique peace treaty because it conceded to most of the demands from both sides of the conflict.

The treaty had three main aspects which were

1. The Northern Ireland government would be formed on the sovereign wishes of both Republicans and the Unionists and that they would share governance equally;
2. The people of Northern Ireland could seek reunification with Ireland any time subject to a referendum; and
3. The citizens of Northern Ireland can seek Irish or British nationality or both.

• The agreement also abolished border checks and encouraged the freedom of movement of people across the U.K. and Ireland.

About Windsor Agreement:

• The Windsor Frameworkis a post-Brexit legal agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
• It was brought into force for the sake of adjusting the operation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
• The Framework was announced on 27 February 2023 and formally adopted by both parties on 24 March 2023.
• The Framework came into effect on 1 October 2023.
• However the UK Government announced plans for revisions to the Framework’s operation in January 2024.
• The Framework was negotiated to address political concerns in the UK and especially among the Ulster Unionists about the Northern Ireland Protocol.
• Under the terms of the agreement Northern Ireland unlike the rest of the UK remains in the EU single market for goods.
• The Framework changes aspects of the Protocol’s operation particularly to ease custom checks on goods arriving from the Great Britain.
• It gives UK government more control over VAT rates applying in Northern Ireland and also states that medicines placed on the market Northern Ireland will be regulated by the UK and not the EU.
• It gives the Northern Ireland administration and UK government a mechanism to object to, pause, and potentially disapply updated and amended EU laws which mainly concerns oods.
• The agreement relates to the goods crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
• It introduces the concept of green and red lanes to reduce checks and paperwork on goods that are destined for Northern Ireland, and separates them from goods at risk of moving into the EU Single Market.