This is a development site

[Exact date and time unknown] Butler and Nally met in December 1991 to consider the possibility of a Joint Declaration.

[Exact time unknown] First meeting between Dermot Nally and Robin Butler where Nally presented the first draft of the Joint Declaration that was given to the Irish Government by John Hume.

[Exact time unknown] Butler and Nally met for a second time on 24 January 1992, and Nally formally tabled the text of the Joint Declaration (JD2).

[Exact time unknown] Butler and Nally met for a third time.

[Exact time unknown] JD6 was handed over to the British Government on this day, and circulated.

[Exact time unknown] Nally met with Butler in London to discuss JD6.

[Editorial session] In a tête-à-tête meeting between Major and Reynolds, it was decided that Chilcot and Ó hUiginn should be invited to join the negotiating team. We have therefore shown them joining this committee after the tête-à-tête had finished.

[Exact time unknown] The negotiating team met over lunch to discuss JD6. The British delegation made it clear they were unable to negotiate on the document, but provided a detailed commentary on their objections. The teams discussed principles to be included in the Joint Declaration. They agreed on some of these, but found self-determination to be the sticking point for the British delegation. It was tentatively agreed that the British objections would be conveyed to Sinn Féin and a further meeting would be held some time in late July/early August.

The Irish delegation attempted to persuade the British to begin the process of negotiating on and amending JD6. They were not successful. The Maastricht vote and its consequences, the allegations of a Conservative/UUP deal, and the possible creation of a Northern Ireland Select Committee were also discussed in some detail.

[Editorial session] The conclusions of the informal bilateral meeting between Thomas and Ó hUiginn were received.

[Editorial session] Reynolds sent a letter to Major, which was circulated.

[Exact time unknown] The Butler/Nally Group met to discuss JD6. The British delegation made it clear they would not get into drafting, but suggested that the Framework document that the Intergovernmental Conference had mandated the Liaison Group to produce should be used to produce text which could then be imported into a further Irish draft of JD6. Nally and Ó hUiginn agreed to take this proposal to the Taoiseach.

[Exact time unknown] Three documents were circulated from an informal bilateral meeting between Ó hUiginn and Thomas: the first British draft of the Framework Agreement; a revised Irish draft of the Joint Declaration (JD8); and a version of paragraph 4 further revised during the meeting.

[Exact time unknown] The second Hume-Adams statement was issued on 25 September 1993. It announced that their discussions had made further progress and that they had put a proposal to Dublin. This session has been created to show the statement being received.

[Editorial session] JD9 as considered by Thomas and Ó hUiginn in their informal bilateral meeting became the most up-to-date version of the Joint Declaration. We have created this session to show it being on the table for the next meeting.

The Butler-Nally Group met to discuss the latest version of the Joint Declaration (JD10), and amended it, producing a later draft with amendments ad referendum to the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach (JD11). Butler asked for four assurances from the Irish delegation, which they agreed to convey to the Taoiseach.

[Exact date and time unknown: editorial session] John Major and Albert Reynolds issued a Joint Statement.

[Exact time unknown] The Butler-Nally group met to discuss the Joint Declaration initiative. The new copy of the Joint Declaration, JD13, with Archbishop Eames' additions, was on the table. The British delegation made it clear that they were still under instructions not to proceed with the Joint Declaration initiative. The Irish delegation threatened recriminations. The atmosphere was severely strained.

[Exact date and time unknown; editorial session] From this point onwards, the amendments to JD14 were under consideration.

[Exact time unknown] A Butler/Nally meeting was held to discuss the text as it emerged from the Anglo-Irish summit on 3 December 1993.

Robin Butler and Dermot Nally met to discuss the text of the Joint Declaration. They narrowed the issues down to '2 1/2 substantive points'.