The bill to ratify the Belfast Agreement, which was passed overwhelmingly by the people in the referendum, will be sent to the President, Mrs McAleese, for signature in 10 days' time.
Though the provisional results of the two referendums - on the Belfast Agreement and the Amsterdam Treaty - will be formally announced tomorrow a further seven days must be allowed, by law, for possible referendum petitions to the courts. It will be Wednesday week, therefore, before the President is obliged to sign the Bill putting the Belfast Agreement into law.
The promulgation of the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution Bill into law is the only immediate requirement in the Republic in the aftermath of the Northern referendum. The amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution will not, however, be written into the official version of Bunreacht na hEireann after the referendum because they will not take effect until the British-Irish Agreement is operative.
Long before last Friday, however, the Government set up an interdepartmental steering committee to co-ordinate and advance the implementation of the agreement. It is chaired by Mr Dermot Gallagher, head of the Anglo-Irish division in the Department of Foreign Affairs. The committee is already considering an extensive programme of action which will continue to dominate the Dail agenda for the next year.
To outline what happens next in this jurisdiction, it should be noted that the Belfast Agreement is technically made up of two agreements, each of which is annexed to the other. These are the multi-party agreement reached in the Good Friday negotiations, and the agreement reached between the British and Irish Governments, also known as the British-Irish Agreement.
Two actions are required to enable the British-Irish Agreement, which will trigger the changes to Articles 2 and 3, to come into force. The British government has to amend its constitutional legislation relating to Northern Ireland in a Bill at Westminster. This Bill will, according to the agreement, repeal the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 and introduce the principle of consent in the North. Legislation has also to be enacted in both the Oireachtas and Westminster to allow for the establishment of the new institutions: the North-South Ministerial Council and implementation bodies; the British-Irish Council; and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, which will replace the Maryfield secretariat set up by the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Government sources believe that it is unlikely that this legislation, to devolve powers from the Dail to the North-South institutions, will be passed by the Dail before the end of the year.
The Government is certain, at this stage, that it will be required to enact legislation to set up the North-South implementation bodies. The new Northern Assembly is due to meet in shadow form following the elections on June 25th and the North-South Ministerial Council is expected to be established in shadow form shortly thereafter. The council is required to identify, by October 31st, at least six policy areas in which implementation bodies will be created. Only then will the British and Irish Governments make the necessary legislative and other preparations to enable these bodies to be operational when th agreement is put into effect.
But the question of whether legislation is required for the operation of the North-South Council is being urgently examined by the Government. The Attorney General, Mr David Byrne, is considering the extent, if any, to which it may be necessary to define in legislation the role and responsibilities of the North-South Council itself.
It will also be necessary, in accordance with Article 29.5 of the Constitution, to obtain the formal approval of the Dail for the terms of the British-Irish Agreement before the State can be bound by it. The Government intends to hold consultations on the most convenient moment at which to lay the agreement before the Dail.
However, approval by the Dail will not mean that the agreement has entered into force. This will be done through an exchange of letters between the two Governments when each has completed the legislative process set out above.
Apart from the legislative mechanisms to give parliamentary authority to the agreement, action will also be required to implement various other elements of it; some will need legislation.
These include the establishment of a Human Rights Commission in this jurisdiction, with a mandate and remit equivalent to the one within Northern Ireland; and other measures to strengthen and underpin the constitutional protection of human rights, such as the ratification of the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities.
The Government is also committed to enhanced employment equality legislation, which is currently before the Dail, having completed all stages in the Seanad, and a new equal status Bill, which is currently in preparation for tabling in the autumn.
Orders will also have to be laid before the Oireachtas to bring the regulations developed by the Independent International Commission and the two Governments on the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons into force by the end of June.
It can already be seen, in the wake of Friday's historic referendum, that the Northern issue will continue to dominate the agenda of the Government and the Dail. It would be no exaggeration, in fact, to conclude that the implementation of the Belfast Agreement will impose the same seismic changes on the future workings of government as our membership of the EEC did 25 years ago.