- 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 14776: 1992-06-18 09:00:00
Peter Bell, David Fell and Derek Hill all submit responses to Bryony Lodge's 'Successor to the Agreement' paper.
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Derek Hill: Comments on Successor to the Agreement Paper 18.06.1992
TALKS: PAPER ON SUCCESSOR TO THE AGREEMENT
May I make one or two comments on Ms Lodge's paper on 15 June?
2. In para 13, the paper states that "human rights and the prevention of discrimination per se will principally be the concern of the Northern Ireland administration, and the Irish should have interest in such matters within the IGC only insofar as the Secretary of State retains any responsibility. I think this slightly mis-represents the possible situation. A Bill of Rights, if one proves possible in any form, will be a matter for the Westminster Parliament and therefore for the Secretary of State; and any Bill of Rights will bite more on those matters which are the responsibility of the Secretary (ie the police and emergency legislation) than on those which are the concern of the NI administration. Furthermore, the Secretary of State will retain some kind of over-arching responsibility for the new institutions in Northern Ireland. The formula of the last sentence in para 13 would therefore give the Irish a large entree into human rights matters. The following might be more accurate: "The Secretary of State and/on [sic] Westminster may retain some responsibility for human rights insofar as they are the guarantors of any Bill of Rights on other entrenched human rights provisions. At this level the Irish could certainly retain an interest. But particular anti-discrimination laws (eg Fair Employment) which were transferred should be the concern of the NI institutions".
3. Second, I notice little explicit mention of the European Community. Certainly, to judge from exchanges in the Sub-Committee, the SDLP see one future line of development as the expansion of all-Ireland EC schemes. For example, they would see as desirable the establishment of a common agricultural regime throughout the island of Ireland. Even the Unionists would accept that some co-operation between North and South on EC matters was legitimate. The SDLP may well argue that any Council of Ministers may be a forum for co-ordinating a line on EC matters between the Northern Ireland administration and the Republic in relation to transferred matters. This would be quite acceptable provided that it was well understood that the Northern Ireland administration could only be represented on the (EC) Council of Ministers by the UK. I would not propose an explicit mention of the EC here; but it may be that during discussions it will become apparent that something has become necessary to avoid confusion, eg in para 9(i): "The two parts of Ireland might discuss their common interest in the Community, with a view to promoting them through the appropriate channels".
Decisions yet to be taken
- Derek Hill: Comments on Successor to the Agreement Paper 18.06.1992 (introduced on 1992-06-18 09:00:00 - CREATE - e932906) [This document]
Document Timeline
- Derek Hill: Comments on Successor to the Agreement Paper 18.06.1992 (introduced on 1992-06-18 09:00:00 - CREATE - e932906) [This document] [view current proposal at this moment]