Downing Street Declaration

United Kingdom-Ireland [1993]

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June 25, 2026

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The Downing Street Declaration, issued in 1993 by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, established a framework for peace talks in Northern Ireland. It affirmed that Northern Ireland's status would only change with the consent of its majority population. This declaration was a significant step towards ending "the Troubles," a violent sectarian conflict between Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists that lasted from about 1968 to 1998. The conflict involved paramilitary groups like the IRA and loyalist organizations, alongside the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary. The declaration aimed to create a basis for all-party negotiations, leading eventually to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.12

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the Troubles
The Anglo-Irish Agreement and Downing Street Declaration
Street Declaration, which established a framework for all-party peace talks. A cease-fire declared by the Provos in 1994 and joined by the principal loyalist paramilitary groups fell apart in 1996 because Sinn Féin, which had replaced the more moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) as the leading nationalist party,…
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Street Declaration, which established a framework for all-party peace talks. A cease-fire declared by the Provos in 1994 and joined by the principal loyalist paramilitary groups fell apart in 1996 because Sinn Féin, which had replaced the more moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) as the leading nationalist party,…
Read More

Ireland
Relations with Northern Ireland
…a joint peace initiative (the Downing Street Declaration), in which they pledged to seek mutually agreeable political structures in Northern Ireland and between the two islands. In 1994 the IRA declared a cease-fire, and for the next 18 months there was considerable optimism that a new period of political cooperation…
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…a joint peace initiative (the Downing Street Declaration), in which they pledged to seek mutually agreeable political structures in Northern Ireland and between the two islands. In 1994 the IRA declared a cease-fire, and for the next 18 months there was considerable optimism that a new period of political cooperation…
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Northern Ireland
Power-sharing agreements and the establishment of a fragile peace
…for all-party peace talks—notably the Downing Street Declaration (1993), issued by the British and Irish prime ministers, John Major and Albert Reynolds, respectively—were put forward. These guaranteed self-determination for the people of Northern Ireland, promised British government recognition of a unified Ireland if a majority of Northern Ireland’s people agreed,…
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…for all-party peace talks—notably the Downing Street Declaration (1993), issued by the British and Irish prime ministers, John Major and Albert Reynolds, respectively—were put forward. These guaranteed self-determination for the people of Northern Ireland, promised British government recognition of a unified Ireland if a majority of Northern Ireland’s people agreed,…
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