(Paper circulated by the Government Team at 18.15 on 27 May 1992)

1. The purpose of establishing the sub-Committee was to try and deal with an impasse created by differences of view over the question of "majority rule" and the expression of the Irish identity in the institutions of Government.

2. The debate this morning produced a certain convergence of view on the question of majority decision-taking, and although more work will clearly have to be done in that area, that is no longer the obstacle that it seemed.

3. The remaining obstacle therefore is the one which we always expected to be the more significant, namely the expression of the Irish identity in the institutions of government in Northern Ireland. The means proposed by the SDLP has been rejected by all three other parties as being wholly unacceptable, both to the politicians and to their supporters.

4. The SDLP have nevertheless indicated that they are flexible and open to other suggestions, and there was interesting debate about Seamus Close's proposal for a tripartite structure, and the DUP assertion that their proposals in Strands II and III (taken with their proposals in Strand I), while not meeting exactly the SDLP's requirements, might nevertheless be just as, if not more than, acceptable to the SDLP.

5. However, these other suggestions cannot be revealed until we get into Strands II and III.

6. The Unionists will not go into Strand II until they have some idea of the internal structures within Northern Ireland. They will certainly not move to Strand II on the SDLP model. There is therefore no point in suggesting that the Secretary of State should formally propose a transition to Strand II when it is clear that three of the parties are unlikely to accompany him to Strand II while the SDLP model remains in play.

7. But the SDLP could not simply drop their proposal now, partly because it was leaked, and partly because, as the debate this afternoon has demonstrated, they do not have sufficient trust in the Unionists that they will be able to meet the SDLP requirements on Irish identity in Strands II and III.

8. The conclusion is, therefore, that if we are to fulfil the remit of the sub-Committee, we must:-

either arrange to construct a new model for the internal arrangements of government within Northern Ireland, which is not the property of any single party, but which would nevertheless help us to achieve sufficient consensus to enable us to move to Strand II.

OR

alternatively produce some procedural devices to enable us to move forward within the broad framework of the models tabled to date. Two such procedural devices have been outlined so far -

(i) first, that the SDLP model would be "parked" and that discussions would commence in Strand II on the basis of one of the other parties' proposals (adapted as necessary), and without prejudice to the SDLP maintaining that their preferred solution is the one that they themselves tabled in Strand I, and to which, of course, they might be able to revert, against the understanding of all of the parties that they may come back to Strand I issues at any time during Strand II or III.

(ii) that two models be carried forward to Strand II in parallel, one of which would be based on the SDLP model, and one of which would be based on one of the other parties' models, and without prejudice to a final decision being taken on which seemed the more appropriate, in the light of further developments in Strands II and III.

9. It is understood that both of these procedural devices are not acceptable to all of the parties, though that is a thesis to be further tested this evening. But it seems not impossible that there could be a variety of other procedural devices which could be constructed to deal with the circumstances outlined above. (A possible alternative is attached.)

10. In summary, we either need a new structural model, without the "thumb prints" of any single party on it, or we need some new procedural device to enable us to move forward meaningfully into Strand II, in a manner which addresses all of the parties' concerns in the analysis above. It is suggested that that be the agenda for the evening session.

Possible Alternative Procedural Device

Building on the possibility that the SDLP's concerns about the "identity" issue could be met by

(a) arrangements to ensure fair participation for representatives of the nationalist community in new political institutions in Northern Ireland; and

(b) a continuing role for the Irish Government (equivalent to the role it has under the Anglo-Irish Agreement) in respect of those matters in Northern Ireland for which HMG would retain responsibility,

it might be possible to proceed by

(i) launching Strand III to agree arrangements between the two Governments in regard to (b) (leaving other Strand III issues to be picked up later);

(ii) reconvening Strand I to consider (a) in the light of (i); and

(iii) then considering whether the resulting package would provide a sufficient basis for agreement to launch Strand II.

• Getting Round the Obstacles 27.05.1992 18:15 (introduced on 1992-05-27 15:15:00 - CREATE_FROM - e898714) [This document]

• Getting Round the Obstacles 27.05.1992 18:15 (introduced on 1992-05-27 15:15:00 - CREATE_FROM - e898714) [This document] [view current proposal at this moment]
  • None (introduced on 1992-05-27 15:15:00 - POSTPONE_DEBATE - e898719) [view current proposal at this moment]