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Week Ending March 16, 2006

H.RES.222 Expressing the support of the House of Representatives for the Good Friday Agreement, signed on April 10, 1998, as a blueprint for a lasting peace in Northern Ireland, and for other purposes.

<< Click flag for map and country data, Ireland

The resolution recalls the Good Friday agreement signed in 1998 to plan for the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly and a devolved government in Northern Ireland on a stable and inclusive basis.

It notes, however, that the NIA has been suspended since 2002 and adds that the St Andrews Agreement of 2006 establishes a timetable for restoring a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.

The effort to have a shared-power government between factions in Northern Ireland is receiving support from factions within Ireland and from England.

The House supports the Good Friday and the  St Andrew Agreements and commends England’s Prime Minister Blair and others for agreement.

Sponsor:  Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY-4^th)

Vote: Passed House 419 to 1 March 13, 2007 (RC 141)

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost

Earmark Certification:   Not applicable to this resolution.

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Whereas the Good Friday Agreement, signed on April 10, 1998, sets out a plan for the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and a devolved government in Northern Ireland on a stable and inclusive basis;

Whereas the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive have been suspended since 2002;

Whereas the St. Andrews Agreement of October 2006 established a timetable for the restoration of a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland;

Whereas the St. Andrews Agreement required that `support for policing and the rule of law should be extended to every part of the community';

Whereas on January 28, 2007, Sinn Fein held a party conference during which it declared its support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the criminal justice system, consistent with the terms of the St. Andrews Agreement;

Whereas British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern stated on January 30, 2007, that `We remain fixed in our determination to see shared government returned to the people of Northern Ireland.';

Whereas British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for elections in Northern Ireland to take place on March 7, 2007, in adherence to the timeline established in the St. Andrews Agreement; and

Whereas the St. Andrews Agreement set a deadline of March 26, 2007, for devolved government to be restored to Northern Ireland: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That--

(1) the House of Representatives--

(A) reiterates its support for the Good Friday Agreement, signed on April 10, 1998, in Belfast, as a blueprint for a lasting peace in Northern Ireland;

(B) declares its support for the St. Andrews Agreement of October 2006;

(C) commends British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for their leadership and persistence in seeking a peaceful resolution in Northern Ireland; and

(D) commends all parties for abiding by the terms agreed to in the St. Andrews Agreement; and

(2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that all political parties in Northern Ireland should--

(A) agree to share power with all parties according to the democratic mandate of the Good Friday Agreement;

(B) meet all deadlines established by the St. Andrews Agreement; and

(C) commit to work in good faith with all the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement, which established the Northern Ireland Assembly and an inclusive Executive, the North-South Ministerial Council, and the British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference, for the benefit of all the people of Northern Ireland.

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