Northern Ireland political parties that approved the agreement were also invited to consider the creation of an independent advisory forum, which would represent civil society, with members with expertise on social, cultural, economic and other issues, and would be appointed by both administrations. In 2002, a framework structure was agreed for the North-South Advisory Forum, and in 2006 the Northern Ireland Executive agreed to support its implementation. The Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, was signed on Good Friday on 10 April 1998. It consists of two closely linked agreements, the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Multi-Party Agreement. It led to the creation of a decentralised system of government in Northern Ireland and the creation of many new institutions, such as the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive, the North South South Ministerial Council and the British Irish Council. The agreement reaffirmed its commitment to „mutual respect, civil rights and religious freedoms for all within the Community.“ The multi-party agreement recognized „the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance with regard to linguistic diversity,“ particularly with regard to the Irish language, Ulster Scots and the languages of other ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland, „all of which are part of the cultural richness of the Island of Ireland.“ The main themes addressed by Sunningdale and dealt with in the Belfast Agreement are the principle of self-determination, the recognition of the two national identities, intergovernmental cooperation between the British and Ireland and legal procedures for compulsory power-sharing, such as inter-community voting and the D`Hondt system for appointing ministers to the executive. [24] [25] Former IRA member and journalist Tommy McKearney says the main difference is the British government`s intention to negotiate a comprehensive agreement including the IRA and the most intransigent unionists. [26] With regard to the right to self-determination, two qualifications are recorded by the writer Austen Morgan. First, the transfer of territory from one state to another must be done through an international agreement between the British and Irish governments. Second, the population of Northern Ireland can no longer be alone in united Ireland; They need not only the Irish government, but also the people of their neighbouring country, Ireland, to support unity.

Mr Morgan also pointed out that, unlike the Irish Act 1949 and the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, drawn up under Sunningdale, the 1998 agreement and the resulting British legislation explicitly provide for the possibility of a unified Ireland. [27] The overall result of these problems was to undermine trade unionists` confidence in the agreement exploited by the DUP anti-protocol agreement, which eventually overtook the pro-agreement Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in the 2003 general elections.