- Event type: CREATE
Northern Ireland Brooke/Mayhew Talks 1991-1992
WORK IN PROGRESS - IN THE FINAL STAGES OF EDITING A series of talks launched by Peter Brooke, Secretary of State for Northern in Ireland, which began in April 1991, and were carried on intermittently by Brooke and his successor, Patrick Mayhew, until November 1992.
Office of the Strand 1 Chairman (British Government Delegation)
In order to adequately reflect the role of the Chairman and his staff in re-drafting documents and controlling the flow of information during bilateral negotiations, we are representing them as a separate committee. In contrast to other Quill negotiations, in these Talks much of the actual work of negotiation and making proposals took place in bilateral meetings between the Chairman and the party delegations. The minutes of these sessions have been preserved in the same format as the minutes of the plenary sessions, and the sessions are modelled from the minutes as separate Committees (British Government/Alliance Bilaterals, etc.). The Chairman would move between these meetings, reporting on the positions of the other delegations and trying to reach accommodation. It is beyond the scope of the current project to model all the internal government meetings which took place during the Talks (although documentation for at least some of them exists in the National Archives), but we can draw on evidence within the sources we are using to show that proposals and agendas for the bilaterals were agreed within the Government team. For example, in a particular round of meetings, the Chairman will open the meeting with a near-identical agenda and summary of the current position of the other parties. To adequately model the fact that the flow of ideas between the delegations was filtered by the Chairman in this way, we have set up a committee called the 'Office of the Chairman' to show the conclusions of each bilateral discussion passing through the Chairman's Office and being redrafted before being passed on to the next delegation.
To see the full record of a committee, click on the corresponding committee on the map below.
Session 12474: 1991-05-08 07:00:00
Conclusions from bilateral meetings on 7 May and 8 May are considered and compiled by the Chairman before being presented to the other delegations.
Document View:
Chairman's Assessment of the Position on the Evening of 8 May
Chairman's Assessment of the Position on the Evening of 8 May
A. The Chairman had met with all delegations and put to them his proposal regarding the venue for Strand 2:
1. Opening Meeting of strand 2 to be held in London.
2. Bulk of substantive exchanges in strand 2 to be held in the Belfast area in a location to be determined.
3. The provisional conclusions of the strand 2 discussions to be summarised at a meeting in Dublin which would also launch the discussions between the two Governments in strand 3, providing an initial opportunity for the Northern Ireland parties to put forward proposals relevant to that strand of discussion.
[Editor's Note: Appendix A of the minutes of the bilateral meeting between the SDLP and the UK Government on 8 May 1991 at 1730.]
All parties had agreed to consider the proposal.
B. Logistical Arrangements
The Chairman had also put to the parties his proposal that the talks should adjourn to Monday for reflection, during which time he would consult the Irish Government.
These logistical arrangements were rejected by the Unionist delegation. They proposed that talks continue on Thursday 9 May to avoid loss of momentum and damaging press speculation over the weekend. The Chairman agreed to put this to the other parties.
Decisions yet to be taken
Document Timeline
- Chairman's Assessment of the Position on the Evening of 8 May (introduced on 1991-05-08 07:00:00 - CREATE - e824260) [This document]
[view current proposal at this moment]
- None (introduced on 1991-05-08 07:00:00 - REPORT_PROPOSAL - e824263) [view current proposal at this moment]