The Stormont House Agreement is a political accommodation between the British and Irish governments, and a majority of parties that make up the Northern Ireland Executive. The agreement was published on 23 December 2014. The Stormont House Agreement is intended to bind the parties and communities closer together on resolving identity issues, coming to a settlement on welfare reform, and on making government finance in Northern Ireland more sustainable. After ten weeks of further talks, it led to the Fresh Start Agreement in November 2015, which aimed to secure the full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement and to deal with the impact of continued paramilitary activity.
The agreement was named after the building where the negotiations took place; Stormont House, the provincial headquarters of the Northern Ireland Office. The talks were primarily chaired by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers, though Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charles Flanagan, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny also participated at various points.
The agreement came after approximately thirty hours of continuous, final-stage talks. Prior to the agreement, there had been an increasing feeling that the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly were in danger of collapse.
Background
In the aftermath of the Good Friday and St Andrews agreements which brought and restored devolution to Northern Ireland, several issues remained unresolved by the political parties. Issues relating to the legacy of The Troubles, including victims’ rights and investigation of historic criminal activity, had not been the subject of compromise between the Unionist and Nationalist communities. Ongoing division also surrounded issues of identity, including Orange Order parades and the flying of flags (which had manifested itself in the Belfast City Hall flag protests from 2012 to 2013).
Some of these sources of disagreement were addressed during talks brokered by Richard Haass and Professor Meghan O'Sullivan. These talks began in September 2013, and broke up on 31 December of that year without agreement.
Several other ongoing political contentions were also resolved by the Stormont House Agreement. These include the devolution of Corporation Tax to Northern Ireland. Within Northern Ireland there has been an all-party consensus on the need to devolve corporation tax to allow the Province to compete for business with the Republic of Ireland. This is because the Republic of Ireland's rate of tax is 12.5%, considerably lower than the UK rate of 20%, which Northern Ireland businesses currently pay.
Welfare reform was also the subject of extensive disagreement between elements of the Executive (notably Sinn Féin), and the UK Government. HM Treasury had been determined that Northern Ireland should adopt the welfare reform, and had imposed fines on the Executive for their failure to do so. Within the Executive the parties were split. Whilst Sinn Féin had opposed passing welfare reform, the Democratic Unionist Party had attempted to do so, arguing that it was inevitable, and that failure to do so would incur further fines from London. A primary aim of the Stormont House Agreement, particularly from the perspective of the UK Government, was to resolve the welfare dispute, and have reform passed.
Contents of agreement
The agreement was omnibus in nature, and included a myriad of different subjects. The agreement exists within the paradigm created by the earlier peace agreements signed between 1998 and 2007, and augments them.
The past, flags, and parades
In an attempt to resolve the disputes in this area the signatories agreed to the establishment of a Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition. This will be in place by June 2015, to report no later than 18 months thereafter. The commission will be composed of fifteen members, of whom seven shall be selected by the leaders of the Northern Irish parties. The DUP and Sinn Féin shall each be entitled to two members, with the next three largest parties getting one each. The remaining eight members shall be drawn from outside of government.
In principle, it was agreed that the responsibility for parades should be devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly.