The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
The Forum was constituted under the Northern Ireland (Entry to Negotiations, etc) Act 1996.[1] The Forum was described in the Act as being purely deliberative in nature, and was explicitly stated to have no "executive, legislative or administrative" functions assigned to it, nor to have any authority over the Good Friday negotiations.[1] It was permitted to consider, in a deliberative capacity, "any matter" referred to it by the negotiatiors.[1]
Top-up candidates were elected from lists supplied by each party. The highest-placed candidates who had not already won election through a constituency won the top-up seats. In the table below, the top-up candidates elected through the regional list are shown in bold, while candidates elected in constituencies are shown in italics. Candidates in normal type were not elected.
Monica McWilliams, Pearl Sagar, Anne Campbell, Kathleen Fearon, Sheila Fairon, Joan Cosgrove, Diane Greer, Brenda Callaghan, Felicity Huston, Mairead Abraham
Mary McMahon, Seamus Lynch, Patrick John McClean, Gerry Cullen, Veronica McEneaney, Frank McElroy, Teresa McVeigh, Jean Craig, Mary Vernon, Monica Hynds
Oliver McMullan, John Robb, John McDowell, Wesley H. Holmes, William Dunbar, William Cunning, Helen Craig, Philip Dugdale, Charles Maunsell, Sinead McMullan
Alan Chambers, Joseph Coggle, Mary Chambers, James Arbuthnot, Robert Irvine, Violet Chambers, Linda Chambers, William Chambers, Ruth Patty, Pearl Brown
Andrew Thompson, Sarah Thompson, Bernard McGrath, Susan McGrath, Edward Phillips, Trevor Richards, Christopher Carter, Fidelma Carter, Betty Carter, Susan Carter
Under section 7 of the Northern Ireland (Entry to Negotiations, etc) Act, it was possible for the Forum to be suspended and revived as necessary via statutory Order, subject to a sunset date of 31 May 1997 when section 3, the provision detailing the existence of the Forum,[1] would be automatically repealed, and the Forum abolished. However, this date could itself be extended via statutory Order, but could not be set after 31 May 1998.[3]
These powers were made use of several times:
The Northern Ireland (Entry to Negotiations, etc) Act 1996 (Cessation of Section 3) Order 1997, which suspended the Forum effective 22 March 1997,[4]
The Northern Ireland (Entry to Negotiations, etc) Act 1996 (Revival of Section 3) Order 1997, which revived the Forum effective 3 June 1997 and extended its existence to the latest possible permitted date, 31 May 1998,[5] and,
The Northern Ireland (Entry to Negotiations, etc) Act 1996 (Cessation of Section 3) Order 1998, which abolished the Forum effective 25 April 1998, upon the conclusion of the negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement.[6]
.jpg)
.JPG)
