'Friday 10 April 1998. Good Friday Agreement. After almost 30 years of violence and two years of intensive talks the Northern Ireland Peace Process reached a climax at 5.36pm when George Mitchell, then Chairman of the multi-party talks at Stormont, finally made the historic statement: 'I am pleased to announce that the two governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland have reached agreement'. The Agreement exceeded Mitchell’s deadline by almost 18 hours, and it was clear that there were elements of the Agreement which did not suit each of the signatories. The main points of the Agreement were: a Northern Ireland Assembly with 108 seats, elected by proportional representation; a 12 member Executive committee of ministers to be elected by the Assembly; the setting up of a North-South Ministerial Council within one year by the Assembly; the council being accountable to Assembly and Dail; amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution, to establish the principle of consent, and the repeal of the (British) Government of Ireland Act; a Council of the Isles with members drawn from assemblies in England, Scotland, Wales, Belfast and Dublin. Later it was learnt that Bill Clinton, then President of the United States of America (USA), had made, and received, a number of telephone calls to party leaders in an effort to encourage them to reach a settlement. Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), was heckled by some Loyalists as he addressed the media at Stormont. The DUP and the United Kingdom Unionist Party (UKUP), in addition to some leading members of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) led the opposition to the Agreement.' Source: CAIN website http://cain.ulst.ac.uk