- 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 13130: 1992-10-27 09:00:00
Conclusions of a bilateral with the Alliance Party.
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Conclusions of the Bilateral Alliance 27 October 1992
Conclusions of the Bilateral Alliance 27 October 1992
The Alliance Delegation wished to focus on the security issue, in particular on the SDLP proposition that the RUC be split into a "Civil Crime" and "Anti-terrorist" wing, the first coming within the ambit of a new NI Administration, and the second within the ambit of a new North/South Institution. Alliance see considerable problems of principle with the second aspect of this proposal, and major problems of practicality with the entire proposal. They believe all of the other participants are likely to reject most or all of the proposition.
The Alliance Delegation proposed two main solutions:
1. There should perhaps be a plain-clothes "mini-Interpol" operating on both sides of the Border, whose principal activity would be intelligence gathering, but whose officers might have powers of arrest in either jurisdiction. (to which the Government Team commented on difficulties on principle and practice but suggested RUC and Gardai co-operation could be further developed.)
2. there should be a gesture in the direction of returning responsibility for law and order matters to local hands by establishing, within a new devolved NI administration, a Department of Criminal Justice, with responsibility for Prisons, the Probation Service, Criminal Damage Compensation, and some aspects of criminal justice/Courts administration, though not judicial appointments. At a later stage, this Department might assume responsibility for Police matters. (to which the Government Team saw merit in the idea.)
Turning to Strand I, Alderdice mused that it was impossible to make progress while the SDLP retained their reservations on the Strand I Sub-Committee Report, and wondered whether HMG had any evidence that John Hume would ever be willing to remove his insistence on 3 externally nominated Commissioners.
Mr Fell replied that nothing was ever certain, but Mr Hume could well be ready to drop that part of his Strand I proposals given the right circumstances.
The Alliance Delegation lastly urged that the Talks should be extended as far as possible into the week beginning 9 November, and that the description of the IGC on 16 November should be altered in ways which might enhance the prospects of the process continuing thereafter. The Government Team assured them that they were dealing with these issues.
Decisions yet to be taken
- Conclusions of the Bilateral Alliance 27 October 1992 (introduced on 1992-10-27 09:00:00 - CREATE_FROM - e842294) [This document]
Document Timeline
- Conclusions of the Bilateral Alliance 27 October 1992 (introduced on 1992-10-27 09:00:00 - CREATE_FROM - e842294) [This document] [view current proposal at this moment]