Results of the Good Friday Agreement
The basis of the modern Peace Process is the so-called Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
The Good Friday Agreement includes a power-sharing government. That means that the largest party of each side, the Protestant and the Catholic, has to be part of the government.
If they manage to build a government, London will end its direct rule and the Northern Ireland Assembly, the parliament of Northern Ireland, can come into effect.
Two other important elements of the Good Friday Agreement are the non-use of violence, which means a disarming of all paramilitary groups including the IRA, and the reform of the police.
For the Catholic people of Northern Ireland, the police has always been part of the system of oppression. Therefore, it was a very important move for them.
The Good Friday Agreement was supported by all parties of Northern Ireland except for the Democratic Unionist Party, the extremist party on Protestant side.
