Downing Street Declaration

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The Downing Street Declaration was a joint declaration issued on December 15, 1993 by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, John Major and Albert Reynolds, the Taoiseach (prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland. It affirmed the right of the people of Northern Ireland to self-determination, and that the province would be transferred to the Republic of Ireland from the United Kingdom if and only if a majority of its population was in favour of such a move. It included for the first time in the history of Anglo-Irish relationships, as part of the prospective of the so called Irish dimension, the principle that the people of the island of Ireland as a whole has the right, without any outsider interference, to solve the issues between North and South by mutual consent[1]. The latter statement was key to produce a positive change of attitude by the Republicans towards a negotiated settlement. The joint declaration also pledged the governments to seek a peaceful constitutional settlement, and promised that parties linked with paramilitaries (such as Sinn Féin) could take part in the talks, so long as they abandoned violence.

The declaration, after it was 'clarified' sufficiently by the Northern Ireland Office, was considered sufficient by the Provisional Irish Republican Army to announce a ceasefire on August 31, 1994 which was then followed on October 13, by an announcement of a ceasefire from the Combined Loyalist Military Command. The most vociferous opponent of the Declaration has been Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), saying that it was a betrayal of the loyalists by the British government.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The British government agree that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively, to exercise their right of self- determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish. See the following link to the parliamentary debate:
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Steps in the Northern Ireland peace process

Sunningdale Agreement (1973) • Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985) • Downing Street Declaration (1993) • Establishment of the IICD (1997) • Belfast Agreement (1998) • Adoption of Articles 2 & 3 of the Constitution of Ireland (1999) • Establishment of the Independent Monitoring Commission (2003) • IRA Ceasefire & Decommissioning (2005) • St Andrews Agreement (2006)


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