COMMISSION ON POLICING FOR NORTHERN
IRELAND
Terms of Reference
Taking account of the principles on policing as set out in
the agreement, the Commission will inquire into policing
in Northern Ireland and, on the basis of its findings, bring
forward proposals for future policing structures and
arrangements, including means of encouraging
widespread community support for those arrangements.
Its proposals on policing should be designed to ensure
that policing arrangements, including composition,
recruitment, training, culture, ethos and symbols, are
such that in a new approach Northern Ireland has a
police service that can enjoy widespread support from,
and is seen as an integral part of, the community as a
whole.
Its proposals should include recommendations covering
any issues such as re-training, job placement and
educational and professional development required in the
transition to policing in a peaceful society.
Its proposals should also be designed to ensure that:
the police service is structured, managed and resourced
so that it can be effective in discharging its full range of
functions (including proposals on any necessary
arrangements for the transition to policing in a normal
peaceful society);
the police service is delivered in constructive and
inclusive partnerships with the community at all levels
with the maximum delegation of authority and
responsibility;
the legislative and constitutional framework requires the
impartial discharge of policing functions and conforms
with internationally accepted norms in relation to policing
standards;
the police operate within a clear framework of
accountability to the law and the community they serve,
so:
they are constrained by, accountable to and act only
within the law;
their powers and procedures, like the law they enforce,
are clearly established and publicly available;
there are open, accessible and independent means of
investigating and adjudicating upon complaints against
the police;
there are clearly established arrangements enabling
local people, and their political representatives, to
articulate their views and concerns about policing and to
establish publicly policing priorities and influence
policing policies, subject to safeguards to ensure police
impartiality and freedom from partisan political control;
there are arrangements for accountability and for the
effective, efficient and economic use of resources in
achieving policing objectives;
there are means to ensure independent professional
scrutiny and inspection of the police service to ensure
that proper professional standards are maintained;
the scope for structured co-operation with the Garda
Siochana and other police forces is addressed; and
the management of public order events which can
impose exceptional demands on policing resources is
also addressed.
The Commission should focus on policing issues, but if
it identifies other aspects of the criminal justice system
relevant to its work on policing, including the role of the
police in prosecution, then it should draw the attention of
the Government to those matters.
The Commission should consult widely, including with
non-governmental expert organisations, and through
such focus groups as they consider it appropriate to
establish.
The Government proposes to establish the Commission
as soon as possible, with the aim of it starting work as
soon as possible and publishing its final report by
Summer 1999.
ANNEX B
REVIEW OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Terms of Reference
Taking account of the aims of the criminal justice
system as set out in the Agreement, the review will
address the structure, management and resourcing of
publicly funded elements of the criminal justice system
and will bring forward proposals for future criminal justice
arrangements (other than policing and those aspects of
the system relating to emergency legislation, which the
Government is considering separately) covering such
issues as:
the arrangements for making appointments to the
judiciary and magistracy, and safeguards for protecting
their independence;
the arrangements for the organisation and supervision of
the prosecution process, and for safeguarding its
independence;
measures to improve the responsiveness and
accountability of, and any lay participation in the criminal
justice system;
mechanisms for addressing law reform;
the scope for structured co-operation between the
criminal justice agencies on both parts of the island; and
the structure and organisation of criminal justice
functions that might be devolved to an Assembly,
including the possibility of establishing a Department of
Justice, while safeguarding the essential independence
of many of the key functions in this area.
The Government proposes to commence the review as
soon as possible, consulting with the political parties
and others, including non-governmental expert
organisations. The review will be completed by Autumn
1999.
1. Both Governments will put in place mechanisms to
provide for an accelerated programme for the release of
prisoners, including transferred prisoners, convicted of
scheduled offences in Northern Ireland or, in the case of
those sentenced outside Northern Ireland, similar
offences (referred to hereafter as qualifying prisoners).
Any such arrangements will protect the rights of
individual prisoners under national and international law.
2. Prisoners affiliated to organisations which have not
established or are not maintaining a complete and
unequivocal ceasefire will not benefit from the
arrangements. The situation in this regard will be kept
under review.
3. Both Governments will complete a review process
within a fixed time frame and set prospective release
dates for all qualifying prisoners. The review process
would provide for the advance of the release dates of
qualifying prisoners while allowing account to be taken of
the seriousness of the offences for which the person was
convicted and the need to protect the community. In
addition, the intention would be that should the
circumstances allow it, any qualifying prisoners who
remained in custody two years after the commencement
of the scheme would be released at that point.
4. The Governments will seek to enact the appropriate
legislation to give effect to these arrangements by the
end of June 1998.
5. The Governments continue to recognise the
importance of measures to facilitate the reintegration of
prisoners into the community by providing support both
prior to and after release, including assistance directed
towards availing of employment opportunities, re-training
and/or re-skilling, and further education.
Validation and Implementation
1. The two Governments will as soon as possible sign a
new British-Irish Agreement replacing the 1985
Anglo-Irish Agreement, embodying understandings on
constitutional issues and affirming their solemn
commitment to support and, where appropriate,
implement the agreement reached by the participants in
the negotiations which shall be annexed to the
British-Irish Agreement.
2. Each Government will organise a referendum on 22
May 1998. Subject to Parliamentary approval, a
consultative referendum in Northern Ireland, organised
under the terms of the Northern Ireland (Entry to
Negotiations, etc.) Act 1996, will address the question:
"Do you support the agreement reached in the
multi-party talks on Northern Ireland and set out in
Command Paper 3883?". The Irish Government will
introduce and support in the Oireachtas a Bill to amend
the Constitution as described in paragraph 2 of the
section "Constitutional Issues" and in Annex B, as
follows: (a) to amend Articles 2 and 3 as described in
paragraph 8.1 in Annex B above and (b) to amend Article
29 to permit the Government to ratify the new
British-Irish Agreement. On passage by the Oireachtas,
the Bill will be put to referendum.
3. If majorities of those voting in each of the referendums
support this agreement, the Governments will then
introduce and support, in their respective Parliaments,
such legislation as may be necessary to give effect to all
aspects of this agreement, and will take whatever
ancillary steps as may be required including the holding
of elections on 25 June, subject to parliamentary
approval, to the Assembly, which would meet initially in
a "shadow" mode. The establishment of the North-South
Ministerial Council, implementation bodies, the
British-Irish Council and the British-Irish
Intergovernmental Conference and the assumption by the
Assembly of its legislative and executive powers will
take place at the same time on the entry into force of the
British-Irish Agreement.
4. In the interim, aspects of the implementation of the
multi-party agreement will be reviewed at meetings of
those parties relevant in the particular case (taking into
account, once Assembly elections have been held, the
results of those elections), under the chairmanship of the
British Government or the two Governments, as may be
appropriate; and representatives of the two Governments
and all relevant parties may meet under independent
chairmanship to review implementation of the agreement
as a whole.
Review procedures following implementation
5. Each institution may, at any time, review any
problems that may arise in its operation and, where no
other institution is affected, take remedial action in
consultation as necessary with the relevant Government
or Governments. It will be for each institution to
determine its own procedures for review.
6. If there are difficulties in the operation of a particular
institution, which have implications for another
institution, they may review their operations separately
and jointly and agree on remedial action to be taken
under their respective authorities.
7. If difficulties arise which require remedial action
across the range of institutions, or otherwise require
amendment of the British-Irish Agreement or relevant
legislation, the process of review will fall to the two
Governments in consultation with the parties in the
Assembly. Each Government will be responsible for
action in its own jurisdiction.
8. Notwithstanding the above, each institution will
publish an annual report on its operations. In addition,
the two Governments and the parties in the Assembly
will convene a conference 4 years after the agreement
comes into effect, to review and report on its operation.
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE GOVERNMENT OF
IRELAND
The British and Irish Governments:
Welcoming the strong commitment to the Agreement
reached on 10th April 1998 by themselves and other
participants in the multi-party talks and set out in Annex
1 to this Agreement (hereinafter "the Multi-Party
Agreement");
Considering that the Multi-Party Agreement offers an
opportunity for a new beginning in relationships within
Northern Ireland, within the island of Ireland and between
the peoples of these islands;
Wishing to develop still further the unique relationship
between their peoples and the close co-operation
between their countries as friendly neighbours and as
partners in the European Union;
Reaffirming their total commitment to the principles of
democracy and non-violence which have been
fundamental to the multi-party talks;
Reaffirming their commitment to the principles of
partnership, equality and mutual respect and to the
protection of civil, political, social, economic and cultural
rights in their respective jurisdictions;
Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1
The two Governments:
(i) recognise the legitimacy of whatever choice is freely
exercised by a majority of the people of Northern Ireland
with regard to its status, whether they prefer to continue
to support the Union with Great Britain or a sovereign
united Ireland;
(ii) recognise that it is for the people of the island of
Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts
respectively and without external impediment, 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,
accepting that this right must be achieved and exercised
with and subject to the agreement and consent of a
majority of the people of Northern Ireland;
(iii) acknowledge that while a substantial section of the
people in Northern Ireland share the legitimate wish of a
majority of the people of the island of Ireland for a united
Ireland, the present wish of a majority of the people of
Northern Ireland, freely exercised and legitimate, is to
maintain the Union and accordingly, that Northern
Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom reflects
and relies upon that wish; and that it would be wrong to
make any change in the status of Northern Ireland save
with the consent of a majority of its people;
(iv) affirm that, if in the future, the people of the island of
Ireland exercise their right of self-determination on the
basis set out in sections (i) and (ii) above to bring about
a united Ireland, it will be a binding obligation on both
Governments to introduce and support in their respective
Parliaments legislation to give effect to that wish;
(v) affirm that whatever choice is freely exercised by a
majority of the people of Northern Ireland, the power of
the sovereign government with jurisdiction there shall be
exercised with rigorous impartiality on behalf of all the
people in the diversity of their identities and traditions
and shall be founded on the principles of full respect for,
and equality of, civil, political, social and cultural rights,
of freedom from discrimination for all citizens, and of
parity of esteem and of just and equal treatment for the
identity, ethos and aspirations of both communities;
(vi) recognise the birthright of all the people of Northern
Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or
British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly
confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish
citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would
not be affected by any future change in the status of
Northern Ireland.
ARTICLE 2
The two Governments affirm their solemn commitment to
support, and where appropriate implement, the
provisions of the Multi-Party Agreement. In particular
there shall be established in accordance with the
provisions of the Multi-Party Agreement immediately on
the entry into force of this Agreement, the following
institutions:
(i) a North/South Ministerial Council;
(ii) the implementation bodies referred to in paragraph 9
(ii) of the section entitled "Strand Two" of the Multi-Party
Agreement;
(iii) a British-Irish Council;
(iv) a British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference.
ARTICLE 3 (1) This Agreement shall replace the
Agreement between the British and Irish Governments
done at Hillsborough on 15th November 1985 which shall
cease to have effect on entry into force of this
Agreement.
(2) The Intergovernmental Conference established by
Article 2 of the aforementioned Agreement done on 15th
November 1985 shall cease to exist on entry into force of
this Agreement.
ARTICLE 4
(1) It shall be a requirement for entry into force of this
Agreement that:
(a) British legislation shall have been enacted for the
purpose of implementing the provisions of Annex A to
the section entitled "Constitutional Issues" of the
Multi-Party Agreement;
(b) the amendments to the Constitution of Ireland set out
in Annex B to the section entitled "Constitutional Issues"
of the Multi-Party Agreement shall have been approved
by Referendum;
(c) such legislation shall have been enacted as may be
required to establish the institutions referred to in Article
2 of this Agreement.
(2) Each Government shall notify the other in writing of
the completion, so far as it is concerned, of the
requirements for entry into force of this Agreement. This
Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the
receipt of the later of the two notifications.
(3) Immediately on entry into force of this Agreement,
the Irish Government shall ensure that the amendments
to the Constitution of Ireland set out in Annex B to the
section entitled "Constitutional Issues" of the Multi-Party
Agreement take effect.
In witness thereof the undersigned, being duly authorised
thereto by the respective Governments, have signed this
Agreement.
Done in two originals at Belfast on the 10th day of April
1998.
For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland
For the Government of Ireland
ANNEX 1
The Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Talks
ANNEX 2
Declaration on the Provisions of Paragraph (vi) of Article
1 In Relationship to Citizenship
The British and Irish Governments declare that it is their
joint understanding that the term "the people of Northern
Ireland" in paragraph (vi) of Article 1 of this Agreement
means, for the purposes of giving effect to this provision,
all persons born in Northern Ireland and having, at the
time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British
citizen, an Irish citizen or is otherwise entitled to reside
in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period
of residence.