Member's statement: Anglo-Irish Agreement: 40th Anniversary
Member's statement by Mr Jon Burrows on .
- MLA
- Mr Jon Burrows
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 17 November 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Anglo-Irish Agreement: 40th Anniversary
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5245072
Read the official Assembly record
Text
In a similar vein, I want to mark the 40th anniversary of the Anglo-Irish Agreement that, on Saturday, was gushingly referred to by the Northern Ireland Office in a press release as having paved the way for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. As members of a party that, before I was in it, was one of the architects of that agreement, we cannot recognise or agree with that tone-deaf statement. The Anglo-Irish Agreement is an example of how not to do peace-building or agreements in Northern Ireland. It was imposed on the people of Northern Ireland without consent or consultation. It was negotiated in secret, certainly from unionism. As ever, it was negotiated with the aim of securing from the Irish Republic something that should be the basic duty of a normal democracy: cooperation in the fight against terrorism. It was George Santayana who said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It is worth reminding ourselves of those fundamental failures, because we have seen them time and time again. Negotiating things in secret, like the on-the-run letters, has massively damaged relationships in Northern Ireland. Some people would still try to impose things without consent in Northern Ireland. We are seeing our own Government, again, with regard to legacy, making the mistake of trying to secure the cooperation of the Irish Republic by passing new legacy laws and creating new bodies. As ever, the British Government jump and expect the Irish Government to follow. That is why my party believes that there should have been parallel legislation that meant that the Irish Government were committed to doing the things that the British Government were doing. It is worth reflecting that the NIO and the British Government can sometimes bend the knee to those who would use or threaten violence. That is why we must be eternally vigilant to their manoeuvres. It is also why devolution is so important, and why my party will never stand for collapsing Stormont: never has and never will.
It places power in the hands of the people of Northern Ireland, which is where it belongs. The Assembly exercises the democratic wishes of the people here.
Northern Ireland had a great year in 1985: Barry McGuigan was the champion of the world in boxing; Dennis Taylor was the world snooker champion; and Northern Ireland qualified for the World Cup the following year. However, it was not a good year due to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which is a stain on the otherwise proud history of Margaret Thatcher.
434 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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