 The substance of the Agreement ( formally referred to as the Belfast Agreement ) was later endorsed by referendums in both parts of Ireland . The Agreement restored self @-@ government to Northern Ireland on the basis of power @-@ sharing in a regional Executive drawn from the major parties in a new Northern Ireland Assembly , with entrenched protections for the two main communities . The Executive is jointly headed by a First Minister and deputy First Minister drawn from the unionist and nationalist parties . Violence had decreased greatly after the Provisional IRA and loyalist ceasefires in 1994 and in 2005 the Provisional IRA announced the end of its armed campaign and an independent commission supervised its disarmament and that of other nationalist and unionist paramilitary organisations . 
