- Event type: CREATE_FROM
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 12559: 1991-05-09 07:00:00
Conclusions from bilateral meetings on 9 May are considered and compiled by the Chairman before being presented to the other delegations.
Document View:
Location of Strand 2: Meeting with SDLP to Discuss Government Proposal (9 May 11:07)
Strand 2 Arrangements
1. Opening meeting of strand 2 to be held in London.
2. Bulk of substantive exchanges in strand 2 to be held in Northern Ireland in a location to be determined.
Two possibilities being considered by the Government were noted to be the Belfast Harbour Commissioners' Office and Cultra Manor.
The SDLP reiterated their preference for Armagh as a location.
3. The provisional conclusions of the strand 2 discussions to be summarised at a closing meeting in Dublin.
The SDLP would not be opposed, were it necessary, to a move back from strand three to strand two or even to strand one. There was, however, a clear need to separate strand two from strand three and there should be no fudges in the process. The status of the meeting in Dublin should be clearly understood and it had to be seen as the last meeting of strand two.
Decisions yet to be taken
- Location of Strand 2: Meeting with SDLP to Discuss Government Proposal (9 May 11:07) (introduced on 1991-05-09 07:00:00 - CREATE_FROM - e826812) [This document]
Document Timeline
- Location of Strand 2: Meeting with SDLP to Discuss Government Proposal (9 May 11:07) (introduced on 1991-05-09 07:00:00 - CREATE_FROM - e826812) [This document] [view current proposal at this moment]