However, if there is no agreement by 24 November, the agreement specifies that the British and Irish governments would work together to implement a “Plan B” over the minds of Northern Ireland politicians. Key elements of the agreement included Sinn Féin`s full acceptance of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the commitment of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to share power with Irish Republicans in the Northern Ireland executive. The government`s plan called for the decentralisation of police and justice powers within two years of the reinstatement of the Northern Ireland executive. The parties had until November 10, 2006 to respond to the draft agreement. The first and deputy prime ministers would be appointed on November 24, 2006. After the parliamentary elections of 7 March 2007, 26 March 2007 was set for a new executive. In the parliamentary elections, the DUP and Sinn Féin won both seats and thus consolidated their position as the two main parties in the Assembly. Peter Hain signed the order to restore the institutions on March 25 and warned that the meeting would be closed if the parties did not reach an agreement before midnight the next day. DuP and Sinn Féin members, led by Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams, met for the first time in person on 26 March and agreed to form an executive on 8 May, with the DUP firmly committing to entering government with Sinn Féin. Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern welcomed the agreement.

On 27 March, the emergency law was presented to the British Parliament to facilitate the six-week delay. The St Andrews Agreement No 2 was passed without a vote in the House of Commons and the House of Lords and obtained royal approval, such as the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2007, that evening. On November 22, 2006, the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006, which implemented the agreement, received royal approval. The St Andrews Agreement also mentions the difficult issues on which the two major parties must agree to meet this timetable. 2.In Section 53 (agreements, etc., by people participating in North-South states… Reg Empey, president of the Ulster Unionist Party, called the agreement a “Belfast agreement for slow learners.” In the weeks following the Agreement between Paisley and Adams, the four parties – DUP, Sinn Féin, UUP and SDLP – indicated their choice of ministries within the executive and appointed members to fill. The Assembly met on 8 May 2007 and elected Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness as Premier and Deputy Prime Minister. It also ratified the ten ministers appointed by their parties. On 12 May, Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle agreed to hold three seats on the police committee and appointed three MLAs to take.

The chairman of the British Unionist Party, Robert McCartney, reportedly rejected the power-sharing agreements in the new agreement, which were deemed undemocratic. [3] The St Andrews Agreement (Irish: Comhaonté Chill R`mhinn; Ulster Scots: St Andra`s `Greement, St Andrew`s Greeance[1] or St Andrae`s Greeance[2]) is an agreement between the British and Irish governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland on the decentralisation of power in the region. The agreement was the result of multi-party discussions that took place from 11 to 13 October 2006 in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, between the two governments and all the major parties in Northern Ireland, including the two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin.