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.
Meetings between the British Government, the UUP and the DUP. Dates of meetings created from source material, but records of discussions not currently available to us.
To see the full record of a committee, click on the corresponding committee on the map below.
Bilateral Meeting held with the Unionist Parties in Parliament Buildings at 14:40 on 22 May 1991
Conclusions of the Meeting with the Joint Unionist Delegation on 22 May 1440
Venue for substantive meetings of Strand 2
The substantive meetings of Strand 2 should be held in Parliament Buildings. This was on grounds of practicality, physical resources, physical security, arrangements for the media and in terms of continuity from one strand to another.
Terms of Reference/Standing Orders of the Independent Chairman (TOR/50)
Staffing for the Chairman
The Chairman might need a private secretary. This role would provide continuity of support wherever the talks take place.
Standing Orders for the Chairman
The Chairman should have authority to settle procedural questions, and to convene, postpone and adjourn the meetings (paragraphs 7 and 12 of the Unionist TOR).
It would be better not to have too many rules, but some indication on the length of contributions might be helpful which the Chairman could invoke if necessary.
Confidentiality
There should be no press or public comment by or on behalf of the chairman.
Minutes
The chairman should ensure that suitable minutes are kept of each meeting and that these minutes should be distributed to those entitled to receive them. Minutes of plenaries would go to everyone involved but the minutes of bilaterals only to those participating in them. There might be a requirement to agree minutes at the next meeting, as also happened in the Assembly. In the case of other bilaterals the participants should agree what record they would keep, as these meetings fell outside the scope of the Talks Secretariat and might take place in a fairly unstructured way.
The chairman should be restricted to meeting participating delegations only.