Good Friday Agreement document goes on display in Belfast

The original Good Friday Agreement document has returned to Northern Ireland for the first time since it was signed 25 years ago.

The treaty will be available for members of the public to view at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast.

The original UK Government’s signed copy of the 54-page document features the signatures of the then prime minister Tony Blair, then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the late secretary of state for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam as well as Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time David Andrews.

The document will be on display in PRONI until April 12.

The Good Friday Agreement was signed on April 10 1998 after an extensive talks process involving many of the main political parties in Northern Ireland and the British and Irish Governments.

PRONI acting director David Huddleston and PRONI head of conservation Sarah Graham with the Good Friday Agreement treaty (Dept for Communities/PA)

PRONI acting director, David Huddleston said: “Today is a day of firsts – the first time that the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement has been in Northern Ireland since 1998, the first time that PRONI and the National Archives Ireland have delivered a joint public event.

The exhibition is open to the public from April 3-12 without booking.

Other documents on display include a record of the first official NIO meeting with a Sinn Fein delegation led by Martin McGuinness in December 1994, plans by the then-secretary of state to change the public image of Parliament Buildings, Stormont, notes from meetings with the late John Hume and David Trimble in April 1998 and from discussions with the Orange Order in November 1998.

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