John Maxwell, 61, of Enniskillen. Lecturer.
Protestant. Voting intention: yes.
John Maxwell's son, Paul, was killed when the IRA blew up Lord Mountbatten's boat off Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in 1979. He heard the explosion from his cottage nearby and found his son's body in the remains of the boat.
He rarely speaks about the atrocity but in the weeks before the referendum, he joined the independent Yes campaign and spoke movingly about his son's death. He said: ''I think it is the greatest blow I have ever experienced in my life. Initially, I felt real anger and then utter desolation. It is a feeling that unless you experience you can't put into words.
''I remember thinking at the time - nobody should have to suffer this way, nobody in Northern Ireland, Catholic or Protestant, should have to feel this, and that has guided my actions ever since.
''I know it is very difficult for victims to say Yes but I think that those of us in this kind of position have to stand back from it and say that the greatest good for the greatest number of people is maybe more important than our own personal situations.''
Ray McCord, 44, of Belfast. Welder.
Protestant. Voting intention: No
Ray McCord's son, Raymond, 22, an ex-RAF radar operator, was murdered by the UVF on Remembrance Sunday last year. He had been out on bail on drugs charges and his father believes he was beaten to death to prevent him giving evidence against a loyalist drugs dealer.
He said: ''Mo Mowlam treated us, the victims, as an after-thought. She is more interested in the prisoners. The prisoners this, the prisoners that, and I don't believe their representatives, no matter what side they are on, should get anywhere near the table until the guns are handed in. But then they're not interested in giving them up anyway, because they are going back to war.
''But I can't understand why nationalists and unionists believe there will be peace if we vote Yes. I've two other sons and if I thought voting Yes would prevent them going through what their brother had to suffer, then I'd say 'Fine, okay'.
''I want peace as much as the next man. I am not a paramilitary. I'm not a thug. But I want justice as well and I want justice for my son and Mo Mowlam can't deliver that.''
Billy McCaughey, of Ballymena. Self-employed.
Protestant. Voting intention: undecided
former RUC officer Billy McCaughey served 16 years of a life sentence for the murder of a Catholic pharmacist shot dead in the village of Ahoghill, County Antrim, in l977.
He was a member of the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party at the time and was later expelled. He rejoined on his release from jail in May l994, but has allowed his membership to lapse.
''I couldn't identify with the way they were going,'' he said. ''I am definitely not voting against the agreement. I can identify with two-thirds of it which I find positive. For the first time, nationalist Ireland has accepted Northern Ireland's right to exist as a separate state.
''Even Sinn Fein have paid lip service to our constitutional status which cannot change without our consent.
''But I find it terribly difficult to understand why Sinn Fein and the IRA suddenly decided that Northern Ireland can be a legitimate state. Are they sincere, or is this some sort of tactic? I want to support this agreement. I want it to work, but don't want to be endorsing some republican plot.''
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