- 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 12921: 1991-06-26 07:00:00
The Government Team draws up a checklist based on discussions of Workplan Item 6.
Document View:
Working Document: Workplan Item 6
WORKPLAN ITEM 6
General Principles and Perceived Political Realities and Requirements: Key Points
Constitutional Status
1. Present Status - Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom.
2. Principle of Consent - there would be no change in that status without the consent of a majority.
3. Present views of a majority/the greater number - the present wish of a majority was for no change.
Local Institutions
6. Greater direct local political involvement.
7. Legislative as well as executive powers.
8. No unfettered majority rule.
9. Mechanisms to ensure an appropriate and fair role for representatives from both sides of the community.
External Relationships
10. Effect on internal politics situation.
11. Relationship with UK Government and Westminster Parliament (especially role of Westminster in relation to non-transferred matters).
12. Desirability of harmonious relationships with the Republic. Articles 2 and 3 should be dealt with as part of a wider agreement.
13. Need to consider value of any more formal North/South relationship. It might not be necessary for the Republic of Ireland to be directly involved in Northern Ireland affairs in the event of satisfactory internal arrangements being agreed.
14. Nature of relationship with EC institutions.
The Three Relationships
15. Desirability of settling all relevant external relationships.
16. Benefit of widely acceptable British-Irish relationship.
17. Need to give adequate expression to the totality of relationships (26 March).
Constitutional Politics/Defeating Terrorism
18. Commitment to constitutional, democratic means.
19. Potential long term security benefits of a political accommodation.
20. Desirability of a political consensus for security policies
Individual Rights
22. Machinery to protect individual/minority rights.
23. Cultural/community rights.
Endorsement
24. By the people of Northern Ireland.
Decisions yet to be taken
Document Timeline
- Working Document: Workplan Item 6 (introduced on 1991-06-26 07:00:00 - CREATE_FROM - e837635) [This document]
[view current proposal at this moment]
- None (introduced on 1991-06-26 07:00:00 - REPORT_PROPOSAL - e837637) [view current proposal at this moment]