List of Irish constitutional conventions
Table:
Body	Members	Authority	When met	Territory	Result

Irish Convention	Appointed , nominated	British government	1917-18	Whole island	Failed to agree on a replacement for the Government of Ireland Act 1914

First Dáil	Elected	Self-appointed	1919-21	Whole island	Produced a brief Dáil Constitution and aspirational Democratic Programme for its self-proclaimed Irish Republic

Third Dáil sitting as a constituent assembly	Elected	Anglo-Irish Treaty	1922	Irish Free State	Enacted the Constitution of the Irish Free State , which had been drafted by a committee appointed by the Provisional Government , and which was then re-enacted at Westminster via the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922

8th Dáil	Elected	Irish Free State	1937	State of Ireland	Passed the Constitution of Ireland , which had been drafted by a committee appointed by the Taoiseach , and which was then adopted by plebiscite

Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention	Elected	British government	1975-76	Northern Ireland	An elected consultative body envisaged as a prelude to devolution , which was dissolved after Unionist and Nationalist members failed to reach any agreement

New Ireland Forum	Appointed ( Chair ) , nominated	Irish government	1983-84	Whole island	Established by the Dublin government to consider possible constitutional arrangements in view of the Troubles in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Forum	Elected	British government	1996-98	Northern Ireland	Played a subsidiary role in the Northern Ireland peace process , as Sinn Féin boycotted the Forum but not the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement

Constitutional Convention	Appointed ( Chair ) , nominated ( 33 ) , randomly selected ( 66 )	Irish government	2012-14	State of Ireland	To consider specified proposed amendments to the existing Constitution

By analysing the given table and the textual context listed.

Answer the following question: How many members were elected to this forum for every representative of Westminister that resulted in the Belfast Agreement ? Provide just your answer in a JSON object {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Base your answer solely on the given information.

The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin , Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland , to debate its wider future , discuss and come to an understanding on recommendations as to the best manner and means this goal could be achieved . It was a response to the dramatically altered Irish political climate after the 1916 rebellion and proposed by David Lloyd George , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , in May 1917 to John Redmond , leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party , announcing that 'Ireland should try her hand at hammering out an instrument of government for her own people ' . The Convention was publicly called in June 1917 , to be composed of representative Irishmen from different political parties and spheres of interest . After months of deliberations , the Convention 's final report - which had been agreed upon in March 1918 - was seriously undermined . With the urgent need for military manpower on the Western Front following the German Spring Offensive , the government decided in April 1918 to simultaneously introduce Home Rule and apply conscription to Ireland . This dual policy of conscription and devolution heralded the end of a political era .
The Government of Ireland Act 1914 ( 4 & 5 Geo . 5 c. 90 ) , also known as the Home Rule Act , and before enactment as the Third Home Rule Bill , was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to provide home rule ( self-government within the United Kingdom ) for Ireland . It was the third such bill introduced by a Liberal government in a 28-year period in response to the Irish Home Rule movement . The Act was the first law ever passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sought to establish a devolved government in any part of the UK . However , the implementation of both it and the equally controversial Welsh Church Act 1914 was formally postponed for a minimum of twelve months with the outbreak of the First World War . The continuation of the war beyond 1915 and subsequent developments in Ireland led to further postponements , meaning that the Act never took effect ; it was finally superseded by a fourth home rule bill , enacted as the Government of Ireland Act 1920 , which partitioned Ireland , creating Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland , both intended to have Home Rule .
The First Dáil ( Irish : An Chéad Dáil ) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921 . It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic . In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the United Kingdom , the Irish republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland . In line with their manifesto , its MPs refused to take their seats , and on 21 January 1919 they founded a separate parliament in Dublin called Dáil Éireann ( Assembly of Ireland ) . They declared Irish independence , ratifying the Proclamation of the Irish Republic that had been issued in the 1916 Easter Rising , and adopted a provisional constitution . Its first meeting happened on the same day as one of the first engagements of what became the Irish War of Independence . Although the Dáil had not authorised any armed action , it became a symbol of popular resistance and a source of legitimacy for fighting men in the guerrilla war that developed . The Dáil was outlawed by the British government in September 1919 , and thereafter it met in secret . The First Dáil met 21 times and its main business was establishing the Irish Republic . It created the beginnings of an independent Irish government and state apparatus . Following the May 1921 elections , the First Dáil was succeeded by the Second Dáil of 1921-1922 .
The Constitution of Dáil Éireann ( Irish : Bunreacht Dála Éireann ) , more commonly known as the Dáil Constitution , was the constitution of the 1919-22 Irish Republic . It was adopted by the First Dáil at its first meeting on 21 January 1919 and remained in operation until 6 December 1922 . As adopted it consisted of five articles . Article 1 declared that the Dáil had full powers to legislate and would consist of representatives elected in elections conducted by the British government . For the exercise of executive power it created a cabinet , answerable to the Dáil , called the Ministry ( Irish : Aireacht ) , headed by a prime minister called the Príomh Aire ( in practice also known as the President of Dáil Éireann ) . The constitution was limited to an outline of the functions of the legislature and the executive ; the Dáil later established a system of Dáil Courts , but there was no provision in the constitution on a judiciary . The final article of the constitution declared that it was intended to be a provisional document , in the sense that it was subject to amendment . As adopted the constitution came to only around 370 words . In comparison , the modern Constitution of Ireland has approximately 16,000 words . Overall , the structure of the document was as follows :
The Democratic Programme was a declaration of economic and social principles adopted by the First Dáil at its first meeting on 21 January 1919 . A text of the programme was first adopted in Irish and then in English . Its official Irish title was Clár Oibre Poblacánaighe . On the national issue , the Sinn Féin Manifesto for the 1918 election had stressed the long history of Irish resistance to British rule based on our unbroken tradition of nationhood , on a unity in a national name which has never been challenged , on our possession of a distinctive national culture and social order , on the moral courage and dignity of our people in the face of alien aggression . The party was committed to use any and every means available to render impotent the power of England to hold Ireland in subjection by military force or otherwise . The stance was not inclusive of those who supported or tolerated the link with Britain , and 'alien aggression ' became synonymous with occupation of the island of Ireland , whether by the British forces or by the descendants of the British settlers from earlier centuries . On the social front , the Manifesto linked the nationalist aim of freedom with the opportunity for equality , reasserting the inalienable right of the Irish Nation to sovereign independence , reaffirming the determination of the Irish people to achieve it , and guaranteeing within the independent Nation equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens . On winning 73 seats , the Dáil voted at its first session for the Democratic Programme , as embodying these ideals and also the Declaration of Independence . The Democratic Program was drafted with the assistance of Thomas Johnson , the leader of the Labour Party , in return for the Labour Party not campaigning in the 1918 election and continuing moral support .
The Irish Republic ( Irish : Poblacht na hÉireann or Saorstát Éireann ) was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919 . The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland , but by 1920 its functional control was limited to only 21 of Ireland 's 32 counties , and British state forces maintained a presence across much of the north-east , as well as Cork , Dublin and other major towns . The republic was most strong in rural areas and was able to influence the population in urban areas that it did not directly control through its military forces . Its origins date back to the Easter Rising of 1916 , when Irish republicans seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic . The insurrection was crushed , but the survivors united under a reformed Sinn Féin party to campaign for a republic . The party won a clear majority of largely uncontested seats in the 1918 general election , and formed the first Dáil ( legislature ) of Ireland in Dublin on 21 January 1919 . Republicans then established a government , a court system and a police force . At the same time , the Irish Volunteers , who came under the control of the Dáil and became known as the Irish Republican Army , fought against British state forces in the Irish War of Independence . The War of Independence ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty , signed on 6 December 1921 and narrowly approved by Dáil Éireann on 7 January 1922 . A Provisional Government was set up under the terms of the treaty , but the Irish Republic nominally remained in existence until 6 December 1922 , when 26 of the island 's 32 counties became a self-governing British dominion called the Irish Free State . The island had been partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 , and the six counties of Northern Ireland , which had been partitioned artificially so as to create and ensure a unionist majority , exercised their right under the treaty to opt out of the Free State , and remain in the United Kingdom .
The Third Dáil was both the Provisional Parliament or the Constituent Assembly of Southern Ireland from 9 August to 6 December 1922 ; and the lower house ( Dáil Éireann ) of the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State from 6 December 1922 until 9 August 1923 .
A constituent assembly or constitutional assembly is a body or assembly of popularly elected representatives which is assembled for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution or similar document . The constituent assembly is entirely elected by popular vote [ citation needed ] ; that is , all constituent assemblies are constitutional conventions , but a constitutional convention is not necessarily a constituent assembly . As the fundamental document constituting a state , a constitution can not normally be modified or amended by the state 's normal legislative procedures [ citation needed ] ; instead a constitutional convention or a constituent assembly , the rules for which are normally laid down in the constitution , must be set up . A constituent assembly is usually set up for its specific purpose , which it carries out in a relatively short time , after which the assembly is dissolved . A constituent assembly is a form of representative democracy . Unlike forms of constitution-making in which a constitution is unilaterally imposed by a sovereign lawmaker , the constituent assembly creates a constitution through internally imposed actions , in that members of the constituent assembly are themselves citizens , but not necessarily the rulers , of the country for which they are creating a constitution . As described by Columbia University Social Sciences Professor Jon Elster : Constitutions arise in a number of different ways . At the non-democratic extreme of the spectrum , we may imagine a sovereign lawgiver laying down the constitution for all later generations . At the democratic extreme , we may imagine a constituent assembly elected by universal suffrage for the sole task of writing a new constitution . And there are all sorts of intermediate arrangements .
The Anglo-Irish Treaty ( Irish : An Conradh Angla-Éireannach ) , commonly known as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland , was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence . It provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State within a year as a self-governing dominion within the community of nations known as the British Empire , a status the same as that of the Dominion of Canada . It also provided Northern Ireland , which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 , an option to opt out of the Irish Free State , which it exercised . The agreement was signed in London on 6 December 1921 , by representatives of the British government ( which included Prime Minister David Lloyd George , who was head of the British delegates ) and by representatives of the Irish Republic including Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith . The Irish representatives had plenipotentiary status ( negotiators empowered to sign a treaty without reference back to their superiors ) acting on behalf of the Irish Republic , though the British government declined to recognise that status . As required by its terms , the agreement was approved by a meeting of the members elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and [ separately ] by the British Parliament . In reality , Dáil Éireann ( the legislative assembly for the de facto Irish Republic ) first debated then approved the treaty ; members then went ahead with the meeting . Though the treaty was narrowly approved , the split led to the Irish Civil War , which was won by the pro-treaty side . The Irish Free State as contemplated by the treaty came into existence when its constitution became law on 6 December 1922 by a royal proclamation .
The Constitution of the Irish Free State ( Irish : Bunreacht Shaorstáit Eireann ) was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922 . In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution , the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 of the British Parliament , which came into effect upon receiving the royal assent on 5 December 1922 , provided that the Constitution would come into effect upon the issue of a Royal Proclamation , which was done on 6 December 1922 . In 1937 the Constitution of the Irish Free State was replaced by the modern Constitution of Ireland following a referendum . As enacted , the Constitution of the Irish Free State was firmly shaped by the requirements of the Anglo-Irish Treaty that had been negotiated between the British government and Irish leaders in 1921 . However , following a change of government in 1932 and the adoption of the Statute of Westminster a series of amendments progressively removed many of the provisions that had been required by the Treaty . The Constitution established a parliamentary system of government under a form of constitutional monarchy , and contained guarantees of certain fundamental rights . It was intended that the constitution would be a rigid document that , after an initial period , could be amended only by referendum . However , amendments were made to the Constitution 's amendment procedure , so that all amendments could be and were in fact made by a simple Act of the Oireachtas ( parliament ) .
The Provisional Government of Ireland ( Irish : Rialtas Sealadach na hÉireann ) was the provisional government for the administration of Southern Ireland from 16 January 1922 to 5 December 1922 . It was a transitional administration for the period between the ratifying of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the establishment of the Irish Free State . Its legitimacy was disputed by the Anti-Treaty delegates to Dáil Éireann .
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , commonly known as the UK Parliament , British Parliament or Westminster Parliament , as well as domestically simply as Parliament or Westminster , is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom , the Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories . It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and the overseas territories . Parliament is bicameral but has three parts , consisting of the Sovereign ( Queen-in-Parliament ) , the House of Lords , and the House of Commons ( the primary chamber ) . The two houses meet in the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster , one of the inner boroughs of the capital city , London . The House of Lords includes two different types of members : the Lords Spiritual , consisting of the most senior bishops of the Church of England , and the Lords Temporal , consisting mainly of life peers , appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister , and of 92 hereditary peers , sitting either by virtue of holding a royal office , or by being elected by their fellow hereditary peers . Prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009 , the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords . The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections to 650 single member constituencies held at least every five years under the first-past-the-post system . The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster ( commonly known as the Houses of Parliament ) in London . By constitutional convention , all government ministers , including the Prime Minister , are members of the House of Commons or , less commonly , the House of Lords and are thereby accountable to the respective branches of the legislature . Most cabinet ministers are from the Commons , whilst junior ministers can be from either House . However , the Leader of the House of Lords must be a peer . The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland , both Acts of Union stating , That the United Kingdom of Great Britain be represented by one and the same Parliament to be styled The Parliament of Great Britain .
The Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 ( Session 2 ) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom , passed in 1922 to enact in UK law the Constitution of the Irish Free State , and to ratify the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty formally .
This is a list of members who were elected to the 8th Dáil Éireann , the lower house of the Oireachtas ( legislature ) of the Irish Free State . These TDs ( Members of Parliament ) were elected at the 1933 general election on 24 January 1933 and met on 8 February 1933 . The 8th Dáil was dissolved on 14 June 1937 . The 8th Dáil lasted 1,619 days .
The Irish Free State ( Irish : Saorstát Éireann , pronounced [ ˈsˠiːɾˠsˠt̪ˠaːt̪ˠ ˈeːɾʲən̪ˠ ] , English : /ˌsɛərstɑːt ˈɛərən/ SAIR-staht AIR-ən ; 6 December 1922 - 29 December 1937 ) was a state established in 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 . That treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the forces of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic , the Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) ; and British Crown forces . The Free State was established as a Dominion of the British Commonwealth of Nations . It comprised 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland . Northern Ireland , which comprised the remaining six counties , exercised its right under the Treaty to opt out of the new state . The Free State government consisted of the Governor-General , the representative of the King , and the Executive Council ( cabinet ) , which replaced both the revolutionary Dáil Government and the Provisional Government set up under the Treaty . W. T. Cosgrave , who had led both of these governments since August 1922 , became the first President of the Executive Council ( prime minister ) . The Oireachtas or legislature consisted of Dáil Éireann ( the lower house ) and Seanad Éireann , also known as the Senate . Members of the Dáil were required to take an Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution of the Free State and to declare fidelity to the king . The oath was a key issue for opponents of the Treaty , who refused to take the oath and therefore did not take their seats . Pro-Treaty members , who formed Cumann na nGaedheal in 1923 , held an effective majority in the Dáil from 1922 to 1927 , and thereafter ruled as a minority government until 1932 . In 1931 , with the passage of the Statute of Westminster , the Parliament of the United Kingdom relinquished nearly all of its remaining authority to legislate for the Free State and the other dominions .
The Constitution of Ireland ( Irish : Bunreacht na hÉireann , pronounced [ ˈbˠɔnrʲaxt̪ˠ n̪ˠə ˈheːrʲən̪ˠ ] ) is the fundamental law of the Republic of Ireland . It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people . The constitution falls broadly within the tradition of liberal democracy , being based on a system of representative democracy . It guarantees certain fundamental rights , along with a popularly elected non-executive president , a bicameral parliament based on the Westminster system , a separation of powers and judicial review . It is the second constitution of the Irish state since independence , replacing the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State . It came into force on 29 December 1937 following a statewide plebiscite held on 1 July 1937 . The Constitution may be amended solely by a national referendum .
The Taoiseach ( /ˈtiːʃəx/ ( listen ) TEE-shəkh , Irish : [ ˈt̪ˠiːʃəx ] ) is the prime minister and head of government of Ireland . [ note 2 ] The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann , the lower house of the Oireachtas ( parliament ) , and must , to remain in office , retain the support of a majority in the Dáil . The word taoiseach means chief or leader in Irish and was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title of the head of the Government , or Prime Minister . [ note 2 ] Taoiseach is the official title of the head of government in both English and Irish , and is not used for other countries ' prime ministers ( who are referred to in Irish as Príomh Aire ) . The Irish form , An Taoiseach , is sometimes used in English instead of the Taoiseach . Outside of Ireland and the UK , the Taoiseach is sometimes referred to as the Prime Minister of Ireland . Leo Varadkar TD is the current Taoiseach ; he took office on 14 June 2017 , following his election as leader of Fine Gael on 2 June 2017 . Varadkar is the youngest Taoiseach in the history of the Irish state , having taken office at the age of 38 ; he is also the first openly LGBT person , and the first person of Indian descent to lead the Irish government .
A referendum ( plural : referendums or less commonly referenda ) is a direct and universal vote in which an entire electorate is invited to vote on a particular proposal and can have nationwide or local forms . This may result in the adoption of a new policy or specific law . In some countries , it is synonymous with a plebiscite or a vote on a ballot question . Some definitions of 'plebiscite ' suggest it is a type of vote to change the constitution or government of a country . The word , 'referendum ' is often a catchall , used for both legislative referrals and initiatives . Australia defines 'referendum ' as a vote to change the constitution and 'plebiscite ' as a vote which does not affect the constitution . whereas in Ireland , 'plebiscite ' referred to the vote to adopt its constitution , but a subsequent vote to amend the constitution is called a 'referendum ' , as is a poll of the electorate on a non-constitutional bill .
The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention ( NICC ) was an elected body set up in 1975 by the United Kingdom Labour government of Harold Wilson as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding the status of Northern Ireland .
The New Ireland Forum was a forum in 1983-1984 at which Irish nationalist political parties discussed potential political developments that might alleviate the Troubles in Northern Ireland . The Forum was established by Garret FitzGerald , then Taoiseach , under the influence of John Hume , for consultations on the manner in which lasting peace and stability can be achieved in a new Ireland through the democratic process . The Forum was initially dismissed , by Unionists , Sinn Féin , and others , as a nationalist talking-shop . The Forum 's report , published on 2 May 1984 , listed three possible alternative structures : a unitary state , a federal/confederal state , and joint British/Irish authority . The British Prime Minister , Margaret Thatcher , dismissed the three alternatives one by one at a press conference , each time saying , that is out , in a response that became known as the out , out , out speech . However , Garret Fitzgerald , who described the Forum 's report as an agenda not a blueprint , valued it as establishing a nationalist consensus from which the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement could be framed .
The Troubles ( Irish : Na Trioblóidí ) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th century . Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict , it is sometimes described as an irregular war or low-level war . The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 . Although the Troubles primarily took place in Northern Ireland , at times the violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland , England , and mainland Europe . The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic , fuelled by historical events . It also had an ethnic or sectarian dimension , although it was not a religious conflict . A key issue was the constitutional status of Northern Ireland . Unionists/loyalists , who were mostly Protestants , wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom . Irish nationalists/republicans , who were mostly Catholics , wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland . The conflict began during a campaign by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association to end discrimination against the Catholic/nationalist minority by the Protestant/unionist government and police force . The authorities attempted to suppress this protest campaign and were accused of police brutality ; it was also met with violence from loyalists , who alleged it was a republican front . Increasing tensions led to severe violence in August 1969 and the deployment of British troops , in what became the British Army 's longest ever operation .
The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 . The forum was elected , with five members being elected for each Westminster Parliamentary constituency for Northern Ireland , under the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation . There was also a topup of two seats for the ten parties polling most votes ; this ensured that two loyalist parties associated with paramilitary groups were represented . See members of the Northern Ireland Forum for a complete list .
The Northern Ireland peace process is often considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) ceasefire , the end of most of the violence of the Troubles , the Good Friday ( or Belfast ) Agreement of 1998 , and subsequent political developments .
Sinn Féin ( /ʃɪn ˈfeɪn/ shin FAYN , Irish : [ ʃɪnʲ ˈfʲeːnʲ ] ; English : [ We ] Ourselves ) is a centre-left to left-wing Irish republican political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland . The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith , but has split substantially on a number of occasions since then - notably giving rise to the two traditionally dominant parties of southern Irish politics - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael - in the aftermath of the Irish Civil War . The party took its current form in 1970 after another split ( with the other faction eventually becoming the Workers ' Party of Ireland ) . It has historically been associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) . Mary Lou McDonald became party president in February 2018 . Sinn Féin is one of the two largest parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly , winning just one seat less than the Democratic Unionist Party ( DUP ) at the 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election . In that assembly it is the largest Irish nationalist party , and it holds four ministerial posts in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive as of 2020 [ update ] . In the UK House of Commons , Sinn Féin holds seven of Northern Ireland 's 18 seats , making it the second-largest bloc after the DUP ; there it follows a policy of abstentionism , refusing to sit in parliament or vote on bills . In the Oireachtas ( the parliament of the Republic of Ireland ) , Sinn Féin won the largest share of first-preference votes at the 2020 Irish general election .
The Good Friday Agreement ( GFA ) , or Belfast Agreement ( Irish : Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or Comhaontú Bhéal Feirste ; Ulster-Scots : Guid Friday Greeance or Bilfawst Greeance ) , is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles , a political conflict in Northern Ireland that had been ongoing since the 1960s . It served as a major development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s . Northern Ireland 's present devolved system of government is based on the agreement . The agreement also created a number of institutions between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland , and between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom . Issues relating to sovereignty , civil and cultural rights , decommissioning of weapons , demilitarisation , justice and policing were central to the agreement . The agreement was approved by voters across the island of Ireland in two referendums held on 22 May 1998 . In Northern Ireland , voters were asked in the 1998 Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement referendum whether they supported the multi-party agreement . In the Republic of Ireland , voters were asked whether they would allow the state to sign the agreement and allow necessary constitutional changes ( Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland ) to facilitate it . The people of both jurisdictions needed to approve the agreement in order to give effect to it . The British-Irish Agreement came into force on 2 December 1999 . The Democratic Unionist Party ( DUP ) was the only major political group in Northern Ireland to oppose the Good Friday Agreement .
The Convention on the Constitution ( Irish : An Coinbhinsiún ar an mBunreacht ) was established in Ireland in 2012 to discuss proposed amendments to the Constitution of Ireland . More commonly called simply the Constitutional Convention , it met for the first time 1 December 2012 and sat until 31 March 2014 . It had 100 members : a chairman ; 29 members of the Oireachtas ( parliament ) ; four representatives of Northern Ireland political parties ; and 66 randomly selected citizens of Ireland . The Convention was mandated to consider eight specified issues , and also selected two others to discuss . The government was not obliged to proceed with any amendment proposal , but committed to respond formally to each recommendation and debate it in the Oireachtas . As of December 2018 [ update ] , the government had formally responded to all nine of the Convention 's reports , and put three of its proposals to referendum . Two of those referendums took place on 22 May 2015 : to mandate legal same-sex marriage and to reduce the age of eligibility for the presidency from 35 to 21 . The former was accepted , and the latter rejected . A third referendum was passed on 26 October 2018 to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution .
In governance , sortition ( also known as selection by lot , allotment , or demarchy ) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates , a system intended to ensure that all competent and interested parties have an equal chance of holding public office . It also minimizes factionalism , since there would be no point making promises to win over key constituencies if one was to be chosen by lot , while elections , by contrast , foster it . In ancient Athenian democracy , sortition was the traditional and primary method for appointing political officials , and its use was regarded as a principal characteristic of democracy . Today , sortition is commonly used to select prospective jurors in common law-based legal systems and is sometimes used in forming citizen groups with political advisory power ( citizens ' juries or citizens ' assemblies ) .