ANNEX
DUBLIN, 3 DECEMBER: AMENDMENTS PROPOSED TO JD14
Irish Proposed Amendments
1. Para 2 Line 9: After "given." insert "Beginning now and over the coming generation".
2. Para 7 Line 1: Delete "Despite the" and insert "Both Governments have affirmed in the Anglo-Irish Agreement that Irish unity can be achieved only by those who favour this outcome persuading those who do not, peacefully and without coercion or violence, and that, if in the future a majority of the people of Northern Ireland are so persuaded, both Governments will support and give legislative effect to their wishes. Notwithstanding the solemn".
British Proposed Amendments
3. Para 2 Line 11: After "encompassing" insert "arrangements within Northern Ireland, for".
4. Para 2 Line 11: Delete "its relations with the neighbouring island" and insert "between these islands".
5. Para 4 Line 1: After "that" insert "while their fundamental interest in Northern Ireland is to uphold by all legitimate means the democratic wishes of its people as to their constitutional status,".
6. Para 4 Line 2: Delete "in" and insert "within the United Kingdom against the wishes of the greater number of its people".
7. Para 4 Line 2: After "Ireland" insert "within the United Kingdom against the wishes of the greater number of its people".
8. Para 4 Line 7: After "enable" insert "the process of reaching".
9. Para 4 Line 7: Delete "a process of".
10. Para 4 Line 10: Delete "independent".
11. Para 4 Line 10: Delete "The British Government agree that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish" and insert "The British Government reaffirm Northern Ireland's statutory guarantee; agree that the people of the island of Ireland, North and South, should be free separately, without coercion or violence, to determine whether a united Ireland should be established; and agree that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, on this basis, to exercise their right of self-determination".
12. Para 4 Line 17: Delete "and collectively".
13. Para 5 Line 3: After "any" insert "new".
14. Para 5 Line 7: Delete "with" and insert "subject to".
15. Para 5 Line 11: After "agreement." insert "It would be wrong to seek a united Ireland unless a majority of the people of Northern Ireland freely consented."
16. Para 7 Line 1: Delete "Despite the" and insert "While recognising".
17. Para 7 Line 22: After "referred." insert "He confirms that, in the event of an overall accommodation being agreed, the Irish Government will put forward proposals for a change in the Irish Constitution whereby the claim of right to Northern Ireland is no longer exerted and the principle of freely-given consent in Northern Ireland is fully reflected."
18. Para 9 Line 1: After "seek" insert ", along with the Northern Ireland constitutional parties through the Talks process,".
19. Para 10 Line 1: Delete paras 10 and 11 and insert "The British and Irish Governments reiterate that all those claiming a serious interest in advancing the cause of peace should renounce for good the use of, and support for, violence. If and when such a renunciation has been made and sufficiently demonstrated, new doors could open and both Governments would wish to respond imaginatively to the new situation which would arise. The Prime Minister and the Taoiseach confirm that if the IRA were to end violence for good then – after a sufficient interval to ensure the permanence of their intent – Sinn Fein could enter the political arena as a democratic party and join the dialogue on the way ahead. The British Government confirm that they would be prepared to enter preliminary dialogue with Sinn Fein three months after a genuine and unequivocal cessation of violence by the IRA had been announced and established.".
