The Belfast Agreement and the Constitutional Status of Northern Ireland

Abstract

This chapter deploys a legal approach to the Northern Ireland question, by analysing the 1998 Belfast Agreement. The nature of that Agreement — which is firmly rooted in the 1920–22 partition settlement in Ireland — is defined below. Northern Ireland’s continuation as a part of the United Kingdom (which is not in doubt) is a matter of international law. The analysis here deals mainly with domestic law, because the Belfast Agreement principally reordered the internal constitution of Northern Ireland; devolution was restored to Belfast, when it was also being extended to Edinburgh and Cardiff. This discussion of the Belfast Agreement respects the legal text and considers two major questions. First, does the Belfast Agreement amount to a road map to a united Ireland? Second, did the St Andrews Agreement of 2006 effectively replace the Belfast Agreement? Both questions are answered in the negative, detailed reasons are given below. This is not law for lawyers; it is legal argument for scholars in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. The touchstone remains the principle of legality: namely, the rule of law internationally, binding states parties; and the rule of law domestically, binding public bodies and natural and legal persons.