Fresh Start Agreement

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 foreign minister Charlie 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.

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 in Northern Ireland. 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 2012-2013).

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