As it turns 25, N Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement explained

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — It has been 25 years since the striking of the Good Friday Agreement, the landmark peace accord that ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, a period known as “the Troubles.” The agreement gave formal recognition to Northern Ireland’s multiple identities, allowing residents to identify as British, Irish or both. It ended direct U.K. rule and set up a Northern Ireland legislature and government with power shared between unionist and nationalist parties. But despite sporadic attacks since then by small splinter groups, peace has held. The 25th anniversary is being marked with celebration that peace has endured, but concern about entrenched divisions and continuing political instability in Northern Ireland.