Sunningdale Agreement Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Sunningdale Agreement in December 1973, was an attempt to solve the Northern Ireland problem. It established a form of devolution, which unlike the previous form, would not be dominated by the Ulster Unionist Party. Unionists, however, feared that it was intended as the first step towards a United Ireland. Hardline Unionists opposed it and called a political strike which caused severe food and power shortages and was aided by a campaign of violence by the IRA who also opposed any attempt to reach a political settlement. The resignation of all UUP Ministers in the Executive in May 1974 finished it off, but it had never really functioned effectively in any case.Sunningdale established a "Power Sharing Executive" - a voluntary coalition (unlike the provisions of the Belfast Agreement) - of pro-agreement parties. These were the members of the Ulster Unionist Party that supported the agreement, the moderate nationalist and Social Democratic and Labour Party and the moderate unionist and cross-community Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. Prominent members of the executive included former Unionist Prime Minister Brian Faulkner as Chief Executive, then SDLP leader Gerry Fitt as Deputy Chief Executive, and future Nobel Laureate and SDLP leader John Hume as Minister for Commerce.
The agreement also established provisions for a Council of Ireland to stimulate co-operation with the Republic of Ireland and this was the proximate cause of the Ulster Workers Council strike that brought down the executive.
Some twenty-six years after the collapse of Sunningdale, the Belfast Agreement replicated many of its principles and was famously described as "Sunningdale for slow learners" by SDLP Deputy Leader Seamus Mallon.
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