- 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 12784: 1991-06-03 07:00:00
Creation of the statement on staffing; follow up meetings with the Unionist and Alliance delegations.
Document View:
Letter from the Joint Unionist Delegation Leaders to the Secretary of State 3 June 1991
THE JOINT UNIONIST DELEGATIONS
Parliament Buildings,
Stormont,
BELFAST, BT4 3SY.
3rd June, 1991.
Dear Secretary of State,
Our colleagues have reported to us on the outcome of today's deliberations and we confirm our endorsement of the Workplan for Strand One as amended and presented by the Minister of State at the meeting.
We further confirm our acceptance of the memorandum entitled Staff in Strand Two on the basis of your undertaking that no Maryfield staff will be nominated by either Government as note-takers.
Turning to the Republic of Ireland's suggested amendments to the Procedural Guidelines for the Conduct of Strand Two, we will not oppose the deletion of the words "with the agreement of one or more Delegations" in Paragraph 2.
We seek confirmation that your statement to the House of Commons on 26th March 1991 permits that "the last plenary meeting in Strand two also provides an opportunity for any of the participating parties to put to the Government their views on Strand Three issues". Subject to this confirmation, we are prepared to accept the deletion of Paragraph 15. We have noted your assurance that both Governments are content that such an opportunity should be given.
In relation to Paragraph 10, we are not convinced that the suggested amendment is an improvement on the previous version which was, largely, drafted by your team. We would urge that, since we have accepted the other amendments, the Irish Government be encouraged to drop this unnecessary alteration. However, should they prove intransigent, we would ask you to confirm your undertaking given earlier today that the word "regular" is not intended to convey a series of meetings at such fixed intervals as to preclude the opportunity for essential non-plenary discussions.
We note that the suggested amendment to Paragraph 10 has excluded detail concerning the Strand 2 venues. In order that there is no departure from the agreed position, and to ensure the independent chairman is aware of that agreement, we would wish to have the venue agreement written into the Procedural Guidelines. We suggest, either at the commencement of new Paragraph 10, or as a new Paragraph, standing on its own, the following text:-
"The opening meeting of Strand 2 shall be held in London and the bulk of substantive discussions in Parliament Buildings, Belfast before a plenary meeting in Dublin. The London and Dublin meetings, it is anticipated, may last for longer than one day."
Since we trust that this communication finalises matters relating to two of the three outstanding issues pertaining to Strand 2 (and progress has been made on the third issue) we look to you to implement your suggestion of 21st May 1991 that "resolving two of the three remaining issues now should provide a basis for going forward. The identity of the Chairman could then be resolved in the margins". We feel that this is the proper approach and confidently look forward to commencing Strand 1 plenary sessions.
Yours sincerely,
[signed by:]
Rt. Hon. James Molyneaux M.P.
Leader Ulster Unionist Party
Dr. Ian R.K. Paisley M.P.
Leader Democratic Unionist Party
Decisions yet to be taken
Document Timeline
- Letter from the Joint Unionist Delegation Leaders to the Secretary of State 3 June 1991 (introduced on 1991-06-03 07:00:00 - CREATE - e833402) [This document]
[view current proposal at this moment]
- None (introduced on 1991-06-03 07:00:00 - REPORT_PROPOSAL - e833409) [view current proposal at this moment]