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These documents were scanned, collated and catalogued by Ruth Murray, Annabel Harris, Isha Pareek, Eleanor Williams, Antoine Yenk, Harriet Carter, Oliver Nicholls, Kieran Wetherwick, and Cerys Griffiths.
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ANNEX
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 4
The British government has various political and other interests in Northern Ireland but they are not "selfish"; in other words there should be no comma after selfish. The use of the word "political" in that formulation may be new but, provided it is governed by the word "selfish", may be acceptable. The suggestion that the "sole interest" of the British government is to see "peace, stability and reconciliation established by agreement among the people who inhabit the island" is contentious. Even if it were true (and it might be), the wording - like the text as a whole - implies that "Britain" has already, in its heart, abandoned Northern Ireland. The matter would be eased considerably if the paragraph included an expression of the constitutional guarantee. The Secretary of State's Statement of 26 March 1991, launching political talks, including this sentence: "HMG reaffirms their position that Northern Ireland's present status as part of the United Kingdom will not change without the consent of a majority of its people."
The second sentence of paragraph 4 is much more difficult, though what it says is probably true, and it is full of sentiments which are admirable in principle. Firstly it divides the British Isles between the "people of Britain" and the "people of Ireland"; second, it suggests that the former wish to see the latter "live together in unity and harmony". Accordingly the language assumes and anticipates the departure of Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom (a polity not recognised, or indeed mentioned, in the document) and the creation of a united Ireland. (On the other hand the first sentence of paragraph 5 provides some counter-balancing reassurance.)
Paragraph 5
This paragraph describes the Irish government position, though in a joint document the British government must attend closely to what it says. It is in many ways admirable: it accepts "in practice" that the "consent and agreement" of the people of "Northern Ireland" are necessary pre-requisites to the exercise of self-determination of the people of Ireland; it commits the Irish government - as the Anglo-Irish Agreement does not - to work to create institutions and structures which respect the diversity of people; it implies that the development of trust is a necessary pre-requisite to unity; "unity" itself, though it carries enormous resonances, is in terms defined as "an agreed future leading to a closer form of unity by agreement". Unity may, in other words, be something different from a united Ireland as a single sovereign nation state. "Unity", whatever it means, is also acknowledged to require "institutional recognition of the special links" between the peoples of Britain and Ireland" (not "Northern Ireland", it should be noted.)
Paragraph 5 as a whole poses less difficulty for a British government committed (as a Labour government presumably would be) to the view that a united Ireland by consent is the favoured solution, than for one neutral on this issue.
Paragraph 6
This, too, is a unilateral paragraph which, in terms, describes action the Taoiseach proposes to take; but in a Joint Declaration the British government would be co-opted. (The "Note" at the end makes it clear that the Irish government would establish the proposal Convention anyway. It is not clear whether, at this stage, the Irish government is formally telling us this.) The Taoiseach would establish a permanent Irish Convention to "consult and advise" on the steps needed to remove barriers of mistrust. It appears accordingly to be a non-executive body, advising only the Irish government on how it should remove mistrust. Though the objective is to achieve, in effect, unity by consent, the enterprise of inducing the Irish government to think about gaining the confidence of the Unionists is a useful one which British officials and Ministers have periodically urged on the Irish side.
The Convention would be open to "all democratic parties in Ireland who share the objectives of a united Ireland achieved peacefully through democratic self-determination" (i.e. constitutional nationalists and, presumably, Sinn Fein if the "armed struggle" were abandoned). It will also be open to democratic parties in Ireland "who wish to share in dialogue about Ireland's political future and the welfare of all its people" (in principle this could bring in the Conservative Party and the Unionists, in practice it might attract the Alliance Party).
27 1988 - 2023
38 1993 - 1993
55 101 - 1991
64 1993 - 2020
26 1993 - 1993
57 1993 - 1993
59 1993 - 1993
51 1993 - 1993
18 1993 - 1993
24 1993 - 1994
41 1993 - 1994
32 1993 - 1994
72 101 - 1994
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1 1994
60 101 - 1994
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32 101 - 1993
77 1993 - 1993
58 101 - 2018
49 1993 - 1997
61 101 - 1992
38 101 - 1991
48 1992 - 1993
134 101 - ?-??
59 101 - 2023
84 101 - 1993
64 101 - 1991
44
11
31 1996 - 1996
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49 1996 - 1996
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32 1996 - 1996
48 1996 - 1996
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22 1996 - 1996
1992-01-30
Carries a paragraph by paragraph summary of the content of JD2 and critiques it from the British perspective.
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Unless otherwise specified, this material falls under Crown Copyright and contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The National Archives of the UK (TNA), digitzed by the Quill Project at https://quillproject.net/resource_collections/351/.