The
Belfast Agreement, Sovereignty and the State of the Union.
Brigid Hadfield
(6) At the reconvened Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, May 10, 1998. Speech available
on the Sinn Féin web site. This analysis is largely shared by the Democratic
Unionist Party, although accompanied by a different range of emotions. The
DUP's Question and Answer on the Agreement on the web site (www.dup.org.uk)
includes this question: "Does the Agreement weaken the Union?" The answer
given there is: "The Agreement sweeps away the [1920] Act which contains the express provision that the Parliament of the United Kingdom has supreme authority in Northern Ireland. It unties the mooring rope that holds Northern Ireland to Great Britain and casts it off towards the Republic. The Act of Union is now overtaken and mad subservient to the [1998] Act ...". Another
analysis of the Agreement on their web site refers to the 1920 Act as forming
"part of the title deeds" of the United Kingdom's sovereignty over Northern
Ireland. The DUP, in providing various reasons as to why it believes the
Union has been weakened, also referred to, for example, the voting requirements
in the Assembly, the creation of the North-South Ministerial Council and
the cross-border implementation bodies and of the new British-Irish Intergovernmental
Conference.
(7) See Russell v. Fanning [1998] I.R. 505 and McGimpsey v. Ireland [1990]
1 I.R. 110.
(8) 94.39 per cent (1,442,583) of those voting voted Yes; 5.61 per cent
(85,748) voted No. The turnout was 56.3 per cent.
(9) s.5(6): "This section does not affect the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make laws for Northern Ireland". See further below.
(10) See e.g. and especially the article by Mr David Trimble, leader of
the UUP, in The Irish Times, May 18, 1998 ("At long last Dublin recognises British territorial sovereignty") and on the UUP web site (www.uup.org.)
Understanding the Agreement (on The Act of Union and the Government of Ireland
Act). The two loyalist parties, the Progressive Unionists Party (www.pup.org:
"The Union is secure") and the Ulster Democratic Party (www.udp.org: "UDP rebuffs DUP claim that Stormont Agreement weakens the Union") have both
argued that support for the Agreement means strengthening the Union. |
