- 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 12585: 1991-05-14 07:00:00
The Government team issues a proposal which is discussed with the SDLP and Alliance parties on 14 May. Communication with the Unionist delegation also take place but we have no minuted notes of a formal meeting with the delegation.
Document View:
Political Talks: Practical Issues Concerning Strands Two and Three
POLITICAL TALKS
Practical Issues Concerning Strands Two and Three
1. There has been extensive discussion of the venue for strand two, and other related practical questions, over the last two weeks.
2. In the light of that, with the benefit of the views expressed, and after close consultation with the Irish Government, I have decided to indicate the basis on which these talks would be held.
Strand Two
3. All meetings of strand two will have an independent chairman whose identity will be announced by the two governments after consultation with other participating parties.
4. Opening plenary meeting of strand two to be held in London.
5. Bulk of substantive exchanges in strand two to be held in Northern Ireland in a location to be determined. (It will of course also be open to the Chairman and the participants to hold non-plenary meetings wherever suits their mutual convenience.)
6. A plenary meeting of the strand two discussions to be held in Dublin towards the end of June.
Strand Three
7. While participating parties remain free to discuss strand three issues with the governments, strand three discussions will be concerned with the relationship between the two governments, and will take place between the two governments:
- other participating parties will be kept in touch with progress during strand three by regular liaison
- the two governments will meet other participating parties at their request for further discussion of strand three issues while strand three is taking place
- the outcome of strand three will be considered by all the participants alongside the outcome of the other two strands and nothing will be finally agreed in any strand until everything is agreed in the talks as a whole.
8. The strand one formation or the strand two formation, as appropriate, may consider issues further in the light of progress in strand three.
[Editor's Note: This copy of the government proposal appears as Annex 'A' to the minutes of the Bilateral with the SDLP on 14 May 1991.]
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Decisions yet to be taken
Document Timeline
- Political Talks: Practical Issues Concerning Strands Two and Three (introduced on 1991-05-14 07:00:00 - CREATE - e828115) [This document]
[view current proposal at this moment]
- None (introduced on 1991-05-14 07:00:00 - REPORT_PROPOSAL - e828116) [view current proposal at this moment]