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Prime Minister-Taoiseach Meetings - Details
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[Exact time unknown] Charles Haughey and John Major met in the margins of a European Council meeting in Rome.
2[Exact time unknown] Charles Haughey and John Major met in the margins of a European Council meeting in Luxembourg.
Charles Haughey and John Major met in Downing Street.
[Exact time unknown] Charles Haughey and John Major met in the margins of a European Council meeting in Luxembourg.
A tête-à-tête meeting was held between Prime Minister John Major and Taoiseach Charles Haughey, where the latter raised the possibility of a joint statement to be made by the two governments that he judged would secure a ceasefire.
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1[Exact time unknown] Following their tête-à-tête, Haughey and Major attended a Plenary meeting with the full delegations. No mention was made of the Joint Declaration explicitly, but the Taoiseach signalled his intention to review the situation in Northern Ireland.
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3138[Exact time unknown] The British and Irish Governments released a joint communique following John Major's meeting with Charles Haughey on 4 December 1991.
11John Major had a conversation with Charles Haughey over the telephone.
1[Exact time unknown] John Major and Albert Reynolds had a telephone conversation.
11141[Editorial session] Albert Reynolds replaced Charles Haughey as Taoiseach.
11Albert Reynolds and John Major had a tête-à-tête discussion. Dermot Nally and Stephen Wall joined as note takers.
22122194[Exact time unknown] Following their tête-à-tête, Reynolds and Major attended a working dinner with the full delegations.
14141155[Exact time unknown] John Major sent a letter to Albert Reynolds proposing a speech in Dublin.
1[Exact time unknown] John Major and Albert Reynolds had a phone conversation.
1John Major and Albert Reynolds met for a tête-à-tête discussion.
221175Following their tête-à-tête, Albert Reynolds and John Major attended a working lunch with the full delegations.
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1414[Exact date and time unknown] The Irish and British Governments issued a joint communique following John Major's meeting with Albert Reynolds on 25 September 1992.
1[Exact time unknown] John Major and Albert Reynolds met privately in Dublin.
[Exact time unknown] Albert Reynolds telephoned John Major to arrange a time to hand over JD6.
[Exact time unknown] Robin Butler met with the Taoiseach, who handed over the latest draft of the Joint Declaration (JD6).
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2Major and Reynolds had a tête-à-tête meeting. Robin Butler, Dermot Nally and Roderic Lyne were also present. JD6 was discussed with a view to further negotiation.
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63184We do not have a record of the plenary meeting between Reynolds and Major, but we know that it was held at this time and that the draft of a joint communiqué was finalised.
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23[Exact time unknown] The conclusions reached in the Butler/Nally meeting of 14 July 1993 were on the table from this point onwards.
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2[Editorial session] The conclusions of the informal bilateral meeting between Thomas and Ó hUiginn were received.
22[Editorial session] Reynolds sent a letter to Major.
11[Exact time unknown] The proposals made during the meetings of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and the Butler/Nally Group on 10 September 1993 were received.
2[Exact time unknown] Three documents were circulated from an informal bilateral meeting between Ó hUiginn and Thomas: the first British draft of the Framework Agreement; a revised Irish draft of the Joint Declaration (JD8); and a version of paragraph 4 further revised during the meeting.
13[Exact time unknown] The second Hume-Adams statement was issued on 25 September 1993. It announced that their discussions had made further progress and that they had put a proposal to Dublin. This session has been created to show the statement being received.
1[Editorial session] Major's reply to Reynolds was circulated.
1[Editorial session] JD12 became the most up-to-date version of the Joint Declaration.
11[Exact time unknown] Robin Butler met Albert Reynolds and Dick Spring to hand over a letter from John Major outlining his decision not to proceed with JD12. The tone of the meeting was apparently cordial, but the Taoiseach was deeply disappointed by this decision.
221382114[Exact time unknown] Reynolds and Major met in Brussels and issued a Joint Statement.
11[Exact time unknown: editorial session] From this point onwards, the most up-to-date version of the Joint Declaration on the table was JD13.
1[Exact time unknown] Reynolds sent a letter to Major protesting British refusal to engage with the Joint Declaration Initiative.
11[Exact time unknown] Roderic Lyne and David Blatherwick met with Albert Reynolds, and then with Martin Mansergh and Seán Ó hUiginn over dinner, to discuss the British and Irish government's respective positions on the Joint Declaration initiative. The Irish emphasised that they would go ahead with it with or without the British.
44211031910[Editorial session] From this point onwards, both delegations had sight of JD14.
1[Exact time unknown] John Major and Albert Reynolds had a phone conversation on the evening of 20 November 1993. They discussed the Joint Declaration initiative, the Hume/Adams Statement, and the Irish draft framework document leak.
[Exact time unknown] Robin Butler and David Blatherwick met Albert Reynolds to hand over an alternative British draft of the Joint Declaration and a letter from John Major explaining that he thought JD14 would not be saleable to the Unionists, and laying out the rationale behind the alternative draft. Reynolds was very angry.
4412223311512[Exact time unknown] Albert Reynolds sent a letter to John Major expressing his disappointment and anger at the submission of an alternative British draft of the Joint Declaration.
John Major and Albert Reynolds had a phone call to discuss the Joint Declaration, the divergent views of the two governments and the upcoming Anglo-Irish Summit.
The tête-à-tête meeting between John Major and Albert Reynolds began with an unminuted conversation between the two of them. Martin Mansergh and Roderic Lyne joined the meeting at 11.50. The two leaders agreed on their objectives and on the need to produce an acceptable text. They discussed the position of the PIRA, the Loyalist paramilitaries, and the Unionist politicians. They agreed to look at the Joint Declaration together after lunch with their delegations.
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11317Dick Spring, Patrick Mayhew, Douglas Hurd and Máire Geoghegan-Quinn met in parallel with the tête-à-tête meeting between the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, along with a large array of officials on each side. The main topic under discussion was British government contacts with the PIRA and Irish recriminations. Both delegations then went on to offer assessments of PIRA and Loyalist paramilitary positions.
21211216Following lunch, a plenary session was held to go through JD14 paragraph by paragraph. The Irish delegation proposed two amendments: the British delegation proposed 14. Many of these amendments included language mined from the alternative British draft, or suggested by Jim Molyneaux. The Taoiseach considered that the amendments proposed would completely upend the balance of the text, and that it would have no chance of ending violence under those circumstances. The meeting broke for half an hour so that both delegations could confer internally.
241621111134The Taoiseach indicated that the Irish delegation had considered the British amendments and still felt they upended the balance of the text. Four of them in particular were dealbreakers. After some intense back and forth on the necessity of the constitutional guarantee, it was agreed that Robin Butler and Dermot Nally would go through the text in detail before Brussels. Both sides threatened to issue a unilateral declaration if agreement were not reached.
2416162[Exact time unknown] John Major and Albert Reynolds met to discuss the Joint Declaration. Roderic Lyne and Martin Mansergh were also present. Both sides were concerned about the issue of balance, and Albert Reynolds criticised the line Roderic Lyne had taken with officials in the morning.
221212616641[Exact time unknown] John Major and Albert Reynolds spoke over the phone to discuss the Joint Declaration.
19[Exact time unknown] It had been arranged for John Major to phone Albert Reynolds between 9.30 and 10.15. We do not have a record of this meeting.
[Exact time unknown] Albert Reynolds and John Major issued the final version of the Joint Declaration (JD20).