The provision concerned the replacement of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement and the referendum provision in both places. However, the dismantling of all paramilitary organizations did not take place in 1998. The principle of power-sharing was introduced in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The proportional representation method was used to ensure that unionist (mainly Protestant) and nationalist (mainly Catholic) communities participated in government in relation to the seats they won in the new Northern Ireland Assembly. Members of the Assembly were elected by a single transferable vote. If the major parties fail to reach an agreement on power-sharing, power would return to London, a situation neither side wanted. The delegate-electing process was a complex formula based on elections to a political dialogue forum in Northern Ireland. The delegates in the negotiations were elected by the members of the Forum so that the negotiations were dominated by the major parties, but also the participation of small parties, including those linked to loyalist paramilitaries, as well as women, Labour and the Alliance party.64 The process included rules for the expulsion of any party that violated the terms of entry. Hard-line supporters (DUP and United Kingdom Union Party) withdrew from the start, in part to protest Mitchell`s election as head of the negotiations. But the UUP kept its guard there, not least because it did not trust the British government to protect its interests.65 Radical trade unionists left when Sinn Fein was admitted to the talks in July 1997. Mitchell believes that their absence has given way to the negotiation of the moderate UUP and that, if they had remained, an agreement might not have been possible.66 The British Government, through the Northern Ireland Act 1998, enshrined the principle of self-determination in legislation and also repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which first divided the island of Ireland.

The Northern Ireland minister will call a referendum on a united Ireland if it is likely that a majority of the population would vote in favour of a united Ireland. If the referendum is rejected, it will take at least seven years before a new referendum can be held. The idea of the agreement was to get the two parties to work together in a group called the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly would take some of the decisions taken previously by the British government in London. It is clear that all key players have been subject to significant restrictions on their freedom of action. For example, Trimble spent a great deal of time and effort dealing with internal dissent within his party and was forced several times to renegotiate after finding that he could not sell them a proposed agreement. Adams also highlighted the constraints he faced by other leaders and rank and record.94 Even Hume faced internal disagreements when he began his dialogue with Adams. It is reasonable to say that these protests also reflect a well-known negotiating tactic: “My hands are tied.” 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.