An architect of Strand One of the Belfast Agreements slams NIAC report as "dangerous precedent"
Lord Empey says that the formalising of a consultative role for the Irish government in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland is a “very dangerous precedent” – and a key principle of the Belfast Agreement has been undermined.
The Ulster Unionist peer said that while this is not the first time that Dublin has been given a role in relation to Northern Ireland’s institutions, “for a Parliamentary committee to write it in to the text is a very dangerous precedent”.
Sir Reg Empey said that the first acceptance of Dublin’s role in Northern Ireland’s internal affairs happened during the New Decade New Approach deal in 2020 when the secretary of state and the Irish foreign minister jointly announced the deal.
He said there was a very clear line in 1998 about the role of the Irish government in Northern Ireland’s internal affairs – and that although Dublin would have wished to have a much greater role, there was a clear understanding that was not to be the case.
Sir Reg negotiated strand one of the agreement – which set up the assembly and executive.
He said: “The negotiations were conducted between the parties and the UK government.”
The government doesn’t have to accept the recommendations of the NIAC report, but Lord Empey says that if it doesn’t clearly rule out the involvement of Dublin in strand one matters – it would be a departure from the agreement.
He said: “It would be a departure from what has been an accepted practice for a couple of decades. It would be in my view a very serious development because the UK government would be saying not only does Brussels have a routine say in our day-to-day lives – but they would be conceding the Irish government would have one as well. In my view that would break all sorts of constitutional taboos.”
He said the running of Northern Ireland is an internal UK matter.
“Don’t forget there are two agreements. There is an all-party agreement between the NI parties and the UK government.
“There’s a separate agreement between the UK and Irish governments which set up the cross-border bodies and the east-west relationship,” he said.