Prime Minister reports on Northern Ireland agreement
9 February 2010 (updated on 22 April 2010)
In a statement to the House of Commons the Prime Minister reported on the agreement reached at Hillsborough Castle the previous week between the Democratic Unionist party and Sinn Fein which will lead to the completion of devolution of power in Northern Ireland.
- Video and Audio: Devolution (Northern Ireland)
- Commons Hansard: Devolution (Northern Ireland)
- Research Paper: Northern Ireland Bill 2008-09: Devolution of policing and justice (PDF)
- Topical issues: Devolution
Outstanding issues tackled
Mr Brown said that he and the Irish Government fully supported the agreement which covers the following areas:
- the resolution of the outstanding issues on the transfer of policing and justice powers
- a timetable for the completion of the final stage of devolution
- how the devolution of policing and justice will operate in practice
- a new and improved framework for regulating and adjudicating parades
- setting-up a working party to take forward that work with legislation before the end of 2010
- addressing question of how NI devolved Government could work better by setting up three working groups at executive level to begin work immediately