Recommendation 25

It is clear from our own commissioned research—and that undertaken by others— that there is widespread public dissatisfaction with the stability and effectiveness of the Strand One institutions. There is also evidence of growing dissatisfaction with The effectiveness of the institutions of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement 79 the emphasis placed on cross-community safeguards in the institutions, despite a recognition that these measures were a fundamental element of the Agreement. On that account, a measure of caution is still shown toward a drastic departure from those arrangements, with mixed levels of knowledge on the possible options for reform. Nonetheless, there is clear and compelling evidence that much of the public are further ahead of, and more open to change than, much of the political class. As such, we conclude that, given the right support, a formal informed public debate is essential to the substantive development of the Agreement’s institutions, and there is significant majority support for reform of some kind to the Strand One institutions. (Paragraph 147) Routes forward