query: instance_of nationalist party 
supports: The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement (or ; Ulster-Scots: "Guid Friday Greeance" or "Bilfawst Greeance") was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s.  Ulster (or "Cúige Uladh" , Ulster Scots: "Ulstèr" or "Ulster") is a province in the north of the island of Ireland. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "rí ruirech", or "king of over-kings". The Home Rule League (18731882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party or the Home Rule Confederation, was a political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, when it was replaced by the Irish Parliamentary Party. The Northern Ireland Act 1998 (c.47) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established a devolved legislature for Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Assembly, after decades of direct rule from Westminster. Isaac Butt, QC, MP (6 September 1813  5 May 1879), was an Irish barrister, politician, Member of Parliament (M.P.), and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations, including the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836, the Home Government Association in 1870 and in 1873 the Home Rule League. The Northern Ireland Assembly (Ulster Scots: "Norlin Airlan Assemblie") is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive. It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, which resulted in Ireland seceding from the Union and forming the Irish Free State in 1922. Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the House of Commons at Westminster within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland up until 1918. Its central objectives were legislative independence for Ireland and land reform. Its constitutional movement was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Irish self-government through three Irish Home Rule bills. Northern Ireland (; Ulster Scots: "") is a top-level constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the northeast of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or "part" of the United Kingdom, amongst other terms. Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the UK's population. Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the British government. Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland in some areas, and the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to "put forward views and proposals" with "determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments". The Nationalist Party was the continuation of the Irish Parliamentary Party , and was formed after partition , by the Northern Ireland - based members of the IPP . The Nationalist Party did not enter the House of Commons of Northern Ireland until 1924 , having won six seats in the general election of 1921 . In 1965 , it agreed to become the official opposition party in the House of Commons . On 20 June 1968 , Austin Currie , Nationalist Party MP at Stormont , with others , began a protest about discrimination in housing allocation by ' squatting ' ( illegally occupying ) a house in Caledon , County Tyrone . The house had been allocated by Dungannon Rural District Council to a 19 - year - old unmarried Protestant woman , Emily Beattie , who was the secretary of a local Unionist politician . Emily Beattie was given the house ahead of older married Catholic families with children . The protesters were evicted by officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary ( RUC ) , one of whom was Emily Beattie 's brother . The next day the annual conference of the Nationalist Party unanimously approved of the protest action by Austin Currie in Caledon . This was one of the catalysts of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland . The party became involved in the Derry civil rights march in October 1968 , which ended in violence amidst allegations of police brutality . As a result , the party withdrew from its role as official opposition on 15 October 1968 , following the controversy of two weeks earlier . The party developed a reputation for being disorganised and being little more than a collection of elected members with their own local machines . Many calls were made for the party to develop an overall organisation but it fell apart in the late 1960s . Earlier , many members had formed the National Democratic Party ( NDP ) after attempts at reform failed . The NDP merged into the Social Democratic and Labour Party at that party 's foundation in 1970 and many remaining nationalists followed them . One of the Nationalist Party 's last electoral contests was the 1973 election for the Assembly created as part of the Sunningdale Agreement . The lack of success in that election meant that the inevitable outcome was obvious , although a handful of councillors were elected to Omagh District Council and Londonderry City Council in 1973 and 1977 . In October 1977 , the party merged with Unity to form the Irish Independence Party which also included non-aligned republicans . Although it was successful for a while in capturing the Republican vote , it faded from view due to the rise of Sinn Féin in the early 1980s . Ireland, also described as the Republic of Ireland ('), is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the eastern part of the island, and whose metropolitan area is home to around a third of the country's 4.75 million inhabitants. The state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint George's Channel to the south-east, and the Irish Sea to the east. It is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The legislature, the ', consists of a lower house, ', an upper house, ', and an elected President (') who serves as the largely ceremonial head of state, but with some important powers and duties. The head of government is the ' (Prime Minister, literally 'Chief', a title not used in English), who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, and appoints other government ministers.
candidates: 1918 assembly association channel city confederation country five founder good government head of state home instrumental january league legislature may member number parliament part party political party politician population process province republic rule saint sea september society state union upper house war war of independence
answer: political party