The Stormont House Agreement is a political accommodation between the British and Irish governments, and a majority of parties that make up the Northern Ireland Executive.
The Stormont House Agreement is intended to bind the parties and communities closer together on resolving identity issues, coming to a settlement on welfare reform, and on making government finance in Northern Ireland more sustainable.
The agreement was named after the building where the negotiations took place; Stormont House, the provincial headquarters of the Northern Ireland Office.
[2] In the aftermath of the Good Friday and St Andrews agreements which brought and restored devolution to Northern Ireland, several issues remained unresolved by the political parties.
Issues relating to the legacy of The Troubles, including victims’ rights and investigation of historic criminal activity, had not been the subject of compromise between the Unionist and Nationalist communities.
HM Treasury had been determined that Northern Ireland should adopt the welfare reform, and had imposed fines on the Executive for their failure to do so.
Whilst Sinn Féin had opposed passing welfare reform, the Democratic Unionist Party had attempted to do so, arguing that it was inevitable, and that failure to do so would incur further fines from London.
A primary aim of the Stormont House Agreement, particularly from the perspective of the UK Government, was to resolve the welfare dispute, and have reform passed.
Corporation Tax was agreed to be devolved from Westminster to Belfast by 2017, provided that the rest of the agreement is implemented by Northern Irish parties first.
[6] A group of civil society activists and academics have adopted a set of gender principles for dealing with the legacy of the conflict to address this gap in the agreement.