[1] On 21 November, the Sunningdale Agreement was reached on a voluntary coalition of pro-agreement parties, and the Executive took office on 1 January 1974.

[2] Prominent members of the executive included former Ulster Unionist Party Prime Minister Brian Faulkner as chief executive, then Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Gerry Fitt as deputy chief executive, future Nobel Laureate and SDLP leader John Hume as minister for commerce and then leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Oliver Napier as legal minister and head of the Office of Law Reform.

[3] The UUP was deeply divided; its Standing Committee voted to participate in the executive by a margin of only 132 to 105.

[4] Since the partition of Ireland, unionists had been opposed to sharing power with the Irish nationalist minority and the end of majoritarianism caused great strife in the UUP.

Other contentious issues were internment, policing and the question of the planned Council of Ireland.