The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (KS4)
Suitable for: Key stage 4
Time period: Postwar 1945-present
Suggested inquiry questions: What was the significance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement? How can we use the documents as evidence to one of more of the lines of argument?
Potential activities: Explore the documents and fill in the table provided
Download: Lesson pack
Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.
This resource takes a twin track approach to the subject matter.
Track 1: The significance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement of 1998
The Agreement was clearly an event of huge historical significance. However, it can sometimes be difficult to articulate why this was the case. This collection of documents aims to help students to meet this challenge. In the first instance, they are presented with two documents in which prominent political figures clearly think the Agreement was significant and successful. They are then asked to examine six more documents which all illuminate some aspect of the attempts to implement the Agreement and make it work. In the process the documents also provide evidence of the difficulties faced and the determination of the participants to overcome these difficulties.
Track 2: How historians use sources
This resource is NOT an examination practice paper. It is designed to take one step back from the exam question-based approach and to explore how historians think about documents and make use of them. The aim is that by understanding this set of fundamentals, students will be better equipped for the inevitably more limited approaches which examination conditions place on them. In this instance, students are introduced to the concept of a line of argument. This is a challenging idea, and it is difficult to master. With this in mind, we have provided some examples of lines of argument relating to the key issue of the significance of the Agreement for relations between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
The five possible lines of argument are:
- The Agreement ended all of the tensions over Northern Ireland between the UK and Ireland.
- The Agreement failed to ease tensions over Northern Ireland between the UK and Ireland.
- Some groups actively opposed the Agreement even after it was signed.
- All sides gave up on the Agreement after it was signed.
- Despite the problems, all sides worked hard to make the Agreement work and this helped to ease tensions over Northern Ireland between the UK and Ireland.
In each source we ask students to consider which argument the document could be used to support. For each document, there are additional questions to aid students in their analysis.
Students should complete the table before discussing which of the lines of argument are supported by the sources. It is possible that several are supported so they will then need to make a judgement about which has the most evidence and is the most convincing.
Once students have decided on a line of argument, they should develop an extended paragraph in response to the question “What was the significance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement?” Their answer should explain why they have chosen the line of argument and what evidence from the sources supports it.
Download the resource pack below:
Download the Powerpoint (9.34MB)
Tasks
Source 1
The text of a speech by the Taoiseach Mr. Bertie Ahern, TD on the Approval of the Multi-Party Agreement in Belfast on Good Friday, 10 April 1998. The speech was delivered on 22 April 1998.
Context notes
Bertie Ahern was the Irish Taoiseach, the Prime Minister of Ireland. In this speech he was setting out the Agreement to the Irish Seanad, the upper house of the Irish Dáil. The Agreement was the culmination of years of political initiatives, negotiations and many setbacks. It involved politicians from Northern Ireland, Britain, Ireland, the USA and the European Union.
Questions
Content
- Make a list of the individuals and groups who, according to Ahern, contributed to the Agreement.
Inferences from the Content
- Is it reasonable for a historian to infer that Bertie Ahern was proud of the Agreement? Explain your answer.
- Is it reasonable to infer that the Agreement was the result of close co-operation between politicians in Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland? Explain your answer.
Inferences from the Context
- Why does Ahern believe that the Agreement is historic?
Lines of Argument
Which line(s) of argument A-E could use this document as supporting evidence?
Source 2
A letter from the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, 10 June 1998
Context notes
One of many controversial issues in the history of Northern Ireland was the system of policing. Many in the Nationalist community felt that the existing police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) did not represent them properly. As part of the Agreement, the RUC was to be replaced by a new force called the Police Service of Northern Ireland. An Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland was set up to study policing and make recommendations about how Northern Ireland was to be policed in the future. There was a great deal of heated debate about who should be appointed to be part of this Commission. The situation was not helped when a confidential document about the Commission was leaked to the press on 4 June 1998 and revealed how tense and angry the debate was over the Commission.
Questions
Content
- What is Ahern concerned about?
- According to Ahern, why are Nationalists alarmed?
Inferences from the Content
- Would historians be able to infer that Ahern is more concerned about not being consulted than about the actual decisions which have been made? Explain your answer.
Inferences from the Context
- Is this source evidence that relations between the UK, Ireland and groups and politicians in Northern Ireland have broken down? Explain your answer.
Lines of Argument
Which line(s) of argument A-E could use this document as supporting evidence?
Source 3
Extracts from a letter from the Irish Ambassador in London to Dermot Gallagher, a senior official in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland June 1998
Context notes
The author of this letter was Ted Barrington, Ireland’s Ambassador to the UK. He was reporting back to his superiors in the Foreign Affairs Department of the Irish Government about a phone conversation with Mo Mowlam. Mowlam was the UK Government’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Paul Murphy MP was a UK Government Minister, a senior UK official, who worked in Mo Mowlam’s department as Political Development Minister of State for Northern Ireland. A major part of Murphy’s job was liaising with officials from Ireland.
Questions
Content
- According to Barrington what concerns does Mo Mowlam have?
- What issues had “dented” relations between the UK and Ireland?
- What was the underlying concern that Barrington said that the Irish Government had about how the UK had acted?
Inferences from the Content
- Would historians be able to infer that on the whole Barrington was optimistic about relations between the UK and Irish governments?
Inferences from the Context
- Can a historian make any inferences from this document about how well the UK and Irish governments were communicating or co-operating?
Lines of Argument
Which line(s) of argument A-E could use this document as supporting evidence?
Source 4
Extracts from a letter between the UK Prime Minister’s Office and the Northern Ireland Office, October 1998.
Context notes
This letter was written in October 1998, by the Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, a very senior figure in the UK civil service. He had been talking to David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, the largest Unionist Party in Northern Ireland at that time, about the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), a Loyalist paramilitary organisation whose activities were causing concern. In the course of the conversation, they had talked about several other issues as well. The letter is reporting Trimble’s views to a colleague in the Northern Ireland Office.
Questions
Content
- According to this account, did Trimble seem happy with the morning session of the meeting he had? Explain your answer.
- Why was the afternoon session less successful?
- What did Trimble want to happen?
- Why would this be a problem for the Irish government?
Inferences from the Content
- Would historians infer from this document that the meetings were going well, badly or somewhere in between? Explain your answer.
Inferences from the Context
- What inferences could a historian make from the fact that the meetings were happening at all?
Lines of Argument
Which line(s) of argument A-E could use this document as supporting evidence?
Source 5
Extract from a report of a meeting between the Taoiseach and the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in September 1998
Context notes
This extract comes from the notes taken at a meeting between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam. They discuss a wide range of issues, but these extracts focus on two issues. In section 3 they are discussing the challenges being faced by David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Decommissioning meant the process of paramilitary groups giving up their weapons. The Shadow Executive was the term used for the new Northern Ireland devolved government before it officially took up its full powers. In section 13 the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body was an organisation formed in 1990. It was made up of 25 UK MPs and 25 Deputies of the Irish Parliament. They met to discuss issues of common interest and to promote understanding.
Questions
Content
- What does Trimble mean when he says he ‘needs something’?
Inferences from the Content
- What can a historian infer from the comment that Trimble needed RUC protection in parts of his own constituency.
- What would you say was the attitude of Mo Mowlam and David Trimble towards the British-Irish Interparliamentary body?
Inferences from the Context
- What inferences could a historian make from the fact that this meeting was happening?
Lines of Argument
Which line(s) of argument A-E could use this document as supporting evidence?
Source 6
Extract from a note by a UK government official on a meeting about cross-border bodies November 1998
Context notes
Part of the Belfast Agreement of 1998 was the setting up of cross border bodies – organisations which took responsibility for a range of issues across the whole island of Ireland. For example, the North/South Ministerial Council was established. The Council takes the form of meetings between ministers from both Ireland and Northern Ireland and is responsible for twelve policy areas. Six of these areas are the responsibility of corresponding North/South Implementation Bodies. For Unionists in particular, agreeing to these bodies was a massive step as it allowed for deeper cooperation with the Irish government on matters affecting Northern Ireland and Ireland. Trimble was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Mallon was Seamus Mallon, Deputy Leader of the Social and Democratic Labour Party (SDLP), the main Nationalist party at this time.
Questions
Content
- Who was meeting and where did they meet?
- What areas of agreement were close?
Inferences from the Content
- What can a historian infer from the activities described in this document?
Inferences from the Context
- What inferences could a historian make from the fact that this meeting was happening?
Lines of Argument
Which line(s) of argument A-E could use this document as supporting evidence?
Teachers' notes
Prior Knowledge: It is recommended that students watch the video From Conflict to Peace available on The National Archives website https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/belfast-good-friday-agreement/ and on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQXBpt5RArY and undertake the discussion activity to gain an overview of The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and what it achieved. The discussion resources are available from https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/belfast-good-friday-agreement/bgfa25-discussion-activity/
In addition students should undertake the Downing Street Declaration lesson before completing this lesson.
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Suitable for: Key stage 4
Time period: Postwar 1945-present
Suggested inquiry questions: What was the significance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement? How can we use the documents as evidence to one of more of the lines of argument?
Potential activities: Explore the documents and fill in the table provided
Download: Lesson pack
Downing Street Declaration (KS4)
Key Stage Four Resources - Lesson One
Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement
From Conflict to Peace - 25 Years On