ANNIVERSARY OF REFERENDUM ON NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE AGREEMENT

Motion Text

That this House believes that the launch of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998 opened a new period and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, in Ireland as a whole and between Britain and Ireland and that the new mood was clearly expressed in the endorsement of the Agreement by large majorities of the electorates in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, as well as by the goodwill of the great majority of people in England, Scotland and Wales; further recognises that all parties to the Agreement were aware from the outset that its implemention would pose challenges as great as those involved in achieving the original breakthrough and that the first year of the Agreement has confirmed just how significant those challenges are; and believes that all of those in Britain who support the implementation of the Agreement should come together to make their voices heard to assist in maintaining the momentum for peace and reconciliation and to help overcome the inevitable difficulties in making the Agreement work.