GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT

an agreement reached on Good Friday 1998 between Irish political leaders and the British government. The agreement ended the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and established new Irish political institutions, including a new Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast . Other parts of the agreement concerned the release of prisoners and the giving up of weapons. The agreement was the result of talks led by the US Senator George Mitchell between Unionist and Republican groups, and was signed by politicians including Gerry Adams , David Trimble , John Hume , Mo Mowlam and Tony Blair . Most of the people of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic supported the agreement in a vote held in May 1998.