Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, the Government is determined that all aspects of the Agreement are fully respected through the process of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and thereafter. Our priority is to ensure that the Good Friday Agreement and the overall balance of the settlement is not in any way disturbed by the UK’s exit from the European Union. All provisions of the Agreement must be respected, including those relating to the constitutional status and to human rights.

The human rights provisions of the Agreement are a fundamental pillar of the Agreement and of the peace process overall. In Northern Ireland, the human rights provisions support the confidence and willingness of all communities to participate in the agreed political institutions of the Agreement and ensure that every citizen is guaranteed equal status and equal protection under law.

On 13 February, I convened a sectoral dialogue on human rights under the Good Friday Agreement to hear the views of civil society in this regard. There were participants from the North and the South who all dealt with the possible implications of the withdrawal of the UK for this pivotal chapter of the Agreement on human rights. This was a very valuable exchange and a number of key themes emerged, including: the importance of upholding the Good Friday Agreement chapter on rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity as an integral part of the Agreement as a whole; the value of a bill of rights for Northern Ireland as referred to in the Good Friday Agreement; the value of a charter of rights for the island of Ireland as referred to in the Agreement. This would also support the provision in the Agreement on equivalence of rights on the island.

Each of these themes demonstrates that human rights are central to the peace process and must be protected and sustained, regardless of the UK’s future relationship with the European Union.

As provided for under the Good Friday Agreement, the UK’s Northern Ireland Act 1998 established the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the UK Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic UK law.

I have raised these issues on each occasion I have had the opportunity to do so, most recently in Dublin with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the last couple of weeks.

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