Good Friday Agreement - Parties and Structure

Parties and Structure

The Agreement was made between the British and Irish governments and eight political parties or groupings from Northern Ireland: the Ulster Unionist Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party, the Progressive Unionist Party, the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, the Ulster Democratic Party and Labour.

The Agreement comprises two elements:

• the legal agreement between the two governments, signed by the leaders of the two governments; and
• a more substantial agreement between the eight political parties and the two governments.

The former text has just four articles; it is that short text that is the legal agreement, but it incorporates in its schedules the latter agreement. Technically, this scheduled agreement can be distinguished as the Multi-Party Agreement, as opposed to the Belfast Agreement itself.

The vague wording of some of the provisions, described as "constructive ambiguity", helped ensure acceptance of the agreement and served to postpone debate on some of the more contentious issues. Most notably this included paramilitary decommissioning, police reform and the "normalisation" of Northern Ireland.