However , Gerry Adams insisted that the Belfast Agreement provided a mechanism to deliver a united Ireland by non-violent and constitutional means , much as Michael Collins had said of the Anglo-Irish Treaty nearly 80 years earlier . When Sinn Féin came to nominate its two ministers to the Northern Ireland Executive , for tactical reasons the party , like the SDLP and the Democratic Unionist Party ( DUP ) , chose not to include its leader among its ministers .
However Gerry Adams insisted that the Belfast Agreement provided a way to make Ireland united by non-violent and legal means , much as Michael Collins had said of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922 When Sinn Féin came to nominate its two ministers to the Executive Council , the party , like the SDLP and the Democratic Unionist Party ( DUP ) did not to include its leader among its ministers .