- 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 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:
Summary of Events on 9 May and Next Steps
Summary of Events on 9 May and Next Steps
- [The Government Team] had met the SDLP in the morning to discuss the proposition which they had circulated to all the parties at 9.30 am. They had explained that the Unionists had already submitted a written response but that they wished to verify their understanding of it before discussing it with the SDLP. The SDLP had indicated that for their own part they were willing to accept the Government Team's proposition subject to certain amendments in the language.
- They had then met the joint Unionist delegation and had explained to them the SDLP's position. The Unionists had raised the question of chairmanship and had said that they had assumed that the Secretary of State would chair all the meetings; the Government Team had made it clear that this would not necessarily be the case. The Unionists had also asked about the involvement of the political parties in strand three. The Government Team had accepted that the modalities for feeding into strand three the views of other participants in the talks was an important question but had explained that it was not a matter on which the Government Team could give a definite view without speaking to the Irish Government.
- They had then met the SDLP again in the afternoon who confirmed that they were still opposed to the idea of meeting in Europe on grounds of public expenditure, practicality and security. The Government Team had raised the question of venues in Northern Ireland and the SDLP had said that their preference was for Armagh, that they would consider any proposal but that they were not attracted to the idea of Stormont. As to the question of chairmanship, the SDLP had said that they had not considered this an issue and so had not given it any thought, off the tops of their heads they thought that the nature of the agenda suggested that joint chairmanship would be appropriate.
- Finally, the Government Team had seen the joint Unionist delegation to warn them that the situation was nearing an impasse; to tell them that they would be speaking to the Irish Government about the questions of venue and chairmanship; and to ask them to reflect on their position over the weekend. On Monday morning the Government Team would attempt to establish if the situation had changed in any way; if it had not, then they would put forward their own proposition. If all the parties assented the talks would proceed, if any of them dissented the talks would be brought to as tidy a conclusion as possible.
Decisions yet to be taken
Document Timeline
- Summary of Events on 9 May and Next Steps (introduced on 1991-05-09 07:00:00 - CREATE - e827138) [This document]
[view current proposal at this moment]
- None (introduced on 1991-05-09 07:00:00 - REPORT_PROPOSAL - e827139) [view current proposal at this moment]