Flag of Northern Ireland
flag of Northern Ireland unofficial flag of a unit of the United Kingdom, flown subordinate to the Union Jack, that consists of a white field (background) bearing a central red cross with a white six-pointed star, a red hand, and a gold crown.

The island of Ireland was historically divided into four provinces, the northernmost of which was Ulster. The Ulster coat of arms, which included a red cross, supposedly was used by earls from the de Burgh family centuries ago. The inescutcheon (small central shield) of the Ulster coat of arms bore a red right hand, the symbol of the O’Neill (Uí Néill) family since the mid-17th century, although myth attributes the symbol to King Heremon O’Neill in 1015 bc. In 1924 the inescutcheon was redesigned as a six-pointed star, presumably referring to the six Ulster counties (out of nine) that now form Northern Ireland. The imperial crown was placed over the star to show the loyalty of Northern Ireland to the United Kingdom.

In January 1922, when the rest of the island became the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland), Northern Ireland was created, and it was granted a coat of arms on August 2, 1924. The design of the arms was based on that of the Ulster coat of arms, and the shield of the new emblem was the basis for an armorial flag, which was introduced on May 29, 1953, in anticipation of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. According to British tradition, a coat of arms or flag is granted to the government of a territory, not to the people residing there. Therefore, when the government of Northern Ireland was disbanded in March 1972, its arms and flag officially disappeared; however, the flag continues to be used by groups (such as sports teams) representing the territory in an unofficial manner.

Whitney Smith

Good Friday Agreement

British-Irish history
Also known as: Belfast Agreement, the Agreement
Quick Facts
Also called:
Belfast Agreement or the Agreement
Date:
April 10, 1998
Location:
Ireland
Northern Ireland
Context:
Good Friday

Good Friday Agreement, accord reached on April 10, 1998, and ratified in both Ireland and Northern Ireland by popular vote on May 22 that called for devolved government in Northern Ireland.

By the mid-1960s the demographic majority that Protestants enjoyed in Northern Ireland ensured that they were able to control the state institutions, and these powers were at times used in ways that disadvantaged the region’s Roman Catholic minority (though the extent of discrimination in Northern Ireland remains a matter of intense debate). An active civil rights movement emerged in the late 1960s, and incidents of communal violence ensued, which led the British government to send troops to assist in quelling the urban violence. Bombings, assassinations, and rioting between Catholics, Protestants, and British police and troops continued into the early 1990s. A tentative cease-fire was called in 1994, but sporadic violence continued.

Multiparty talks—involving representatives of Ireland, various political parties of Northern Ireland, and the British government—resumed in June 1996 and eventually culminated in the signing in Belfast on April 10, 1998 (that year’s Good Friday), of an agreement that called for the establishment of three “strands” of administrative relationships. The first strand provided for the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly, which would be an elected assembly responsible for most local matters. The second was an institutional arrangement for cross-border cooperation on a range of issues between the governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The third called for continued consultation between the British and Irish governments. In a jointly held referendum in Ireland and Northern Ireland on May 22, 1998—the first all-Ireland vote since 1918—the agreement was approved by 94 percent of voters in Ireland and 71 percent in Northern Ireland. However, the wide disparity between Catholic and Protestant support in Northern Ireland (96 percent of Catholics voted in favour of the agreement, but only 52 percent of Protestants did) indicated that efforts to resolve the sectarian conflict would be difficult.

The most severe evidence of division came just four months after the agreement was signed, in August 1998, when a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Real IRA, killed 29 people in a bombing in the town of Omagh. Moreover, the IRA’s failure to decommission its weapons delayed the formation of the Northern Ireland Executive (a branch of the Northern Ireland Assembly), in which Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA, was to have two ministers.

On December 2, 1999, the Republic of Ireland modified its constitution, removing its territorial claims to the whole of the island of Ireland, the United Kingdom yielded direct rule of Northern Ireland, new agreements between Ireland and the United Kingdom and between Ireland and Northern Ireland entered into force, and, symbolically, Irish Pres. Mary McAleese had lunch with Queen Elizabeth II. (For further developments related to the Good Friday Agreement, see Northern Ireland: History.)

This article was most recently revised and updated by Jeff Wallenfeldt.