Confronting the Irish Past: The 1912-1923 Decade in Light of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement - Hardcoverby S? amus Murphy (Author) Hannah Arendt, Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, argued that some parts of history need not just to be understood but to be confronted as well. The 1998 Belfast or Good Friday Agreement between the two communities (nationalist and unionist) in Northern Ireland arranged power sharing structures of governance between them. The Agreement was underwritten by the British and Irish governments. The signatories of the Agreement