- 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 12654: 1991-05-21 07:00:00
Bilateral meetings were held with the Unionists in order to redraft their position paper.
Document View:
Record of a Bilateral Meeting Between the Government Team and the Joint Unionist Delegation Held in Parliament Buildings on 20 May 1991 1527
Record of a Bilateral Meeting Between the Government Team and the Joint Unionist Delegation Held in Parliament Buildings on 20 May 1991 1527
[Editor's Note: At present we only have a copy of the [more comprehensive] internal record of the meeting in our Resource Collection, on which the session is modelled. We are creating this blank document as a place holder on which the Unionist amendments to the record can be recorded.]
On page two, in paragraph 4(ii) - "(entitled strand two venue alternative 6)" inserted after "13 May paper".
In line 16, after "the Unionist Delegation" - "acknowledged" to be replaced by "were informed".
On page 3, in the final sentence of paragraph 4(iii) - "were content with" to be replaced by "noted".
On page 4, the penultimate sentence should be amended to read "no party should hold out for their preferred candidate in the face of opposition from others, and all should if appropriate..."
On page 5, paragraph 4(vi) should be amended to read:
"Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution. The Unionist Delegation confirmed again that they were not requiring from the Irish Government a prior commitment before strand two talks could start that Articles 2 and 3 would be amended or replaced. The Unionist Delegation stated that a major objective for them in the talks would be the removal of the Irish Republic's claim over United Kingdom territory and that they would be seeking to establish from the Government of the Irish Republic at the first meeting of strand two that they would consider this matter. The Government Team noted this position".
At the end of paragraph 4(vi), there should be a sentence recording that the Secretary of State had said that he expected to receive representations from the parties on Articles 2 and 3.
A final sentence should be added to paragraph 5 reading: "the Unionist Delegation said that plenary strand one talks should commence immediately."
Decisions yet to be taken
Document Timeline
- Record of a Bilateral Meeting Between the Government Team and the Joint Unionist Delegation Held in Parliament Buildings on 20 May 1991 1527 (introduced on 1991-05-21 07:00:00 - CREATE_FROM - e830288) [This document]
[view current proposal at this moment]
- None (introduced on 1991-05-21 07:00:00 - REPORT_PROPOSAL - e830290) [view current proposal at this moment]