- Friday, 08 October 1993, at 12:00
Northern Ireland Downing Street Joint Declaration (1993)
This project models the series of formal and informal negotiations which led to the publication, in December 1993, of a declaration issued jointly by the British and Irish Governments. The Joint Declaration was a critical policy document which paved the way for a ceasefire and the entry of Sinn Féin into formal talks. It also laid out a shared set of principles – including, crucially, self-determination for the people of Ireland subject to the consent of the people of Northern Ireland – which would come to underpin the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and provide a framework for its ratification.
British Government
This committee has been created to model internal British Government documents and meetings.
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Session 21013: 1993-10-08 12:00:01
[Editorial session] Quentin Thomas reported back the latest Irish draft of the Joint Declaration (JD12), which he had had over the phone from Ó hUiginn. In taking it down, he had accidentally reordered the sentence on self-determination, so the British JD12 at this point diverged slightly from the Irish draft. David Cooke also sent Jonathan Stephens a set of documents for the Prime Minister's use in a meeting.
Membership (at session start):
Michael Ancram, Kenneth Baker, Tony Beeton, David Blatherwick, John Blelloch, Ian Burns, Robin Butler, John Chilcot, David Cooke, Jim Daniell, Timothy Daunt, John Deverell, William Fittall, David Gillmore, Christopher Glyn-Jones, Richard Gozney, Douglas Hurd, Roderic Lyne, John Major, Jonathan Margetts, Peter May, Patrick Mayhew, John McConnell, David McIlroy , Danny McNeill, R. O. Miles, Anthony Pawson, Christopher Prentice , Stephen Rickard, A W Stephens, Jonathan Stephens, Quentin Thomas, Stephen Wall (33 total)
Representing 1 delegations:
Imported Documents
- Joint Declaration: JD12 (e1069900) imports from Informal British-Irish Bilaterals,
on Friday, 08 October 1993, at 12:00
Imported Amendments
- Accidental Re-ordering of Self-Determination Sentence (e1070453) imports from British Government,
on Friday, 08 October 1993, at 12:00
Exported Documents
Exported Amendments
Resources (5):
Resource Collections (0):
None
Resource Items (5):
Enclosure: Annex A – Annotated Draft Minute to John Major Outlining Key Considerations for the Joint Declaration - (file)
The document summarises the central positions at the heart of the Declaration proposal and talks with the Irish Government. This includes the likely reception both in Britain and Ireland to the Joint Declaration. The latest improvements to the text that hint at a constitutional guarantee that Northern Ireland requires consent to leave the United Kingdom are welcomed but not explicit enough, hence this documents concern with emphasising the importance of securing these in explicit terms. The issue of securing Jim Molyneaux of the UUP's support is also set out. For Mayhew, if both those issues are fixed then the Joint Declaration is worth the risk, which includes that the Provisionalists find the constitutional guarantee unacceptable. This draft in particular includes heavy annotations, including large parts of what will eventually form the document sent by Secretary of State for Northen Ireland Patrick Mayhew to Prime Minister John Major. Page 5 of the document is entirely hand written as is Section 7 across pages 10 and 11. We can assume that these notes are by Andrew Stephens.
Enclosure: Joint Declaration as Conveyed on 8 October 1993 (JD12) - (file)
Document begins by stating the joint desire to end violence and conflict in Northern Ireland. The beginning of paragraph four is lifted from former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Brooke's 9 November 1990 Whitbread speech. It reaffirms Britain's "neutral" position in Northern Ireland and recognises that self-determination dictates that, with the consent of the majority, Northern Ireland can leave the UK. The British Government take issue with the imprecise language of this paragraph and amend it to include a constitutional guarantee that it is for the people of Northern Ireland, not simply the Island of Ireland, to decide. The Irish Government also commits to establishing a permanent Convention to consult the relevant parties involved. This will not include the British Government, but will be open to democratically mandated parties so long as they openly condemn violence.
Enclosure: Working Draft of a Minute to John Major Outlining Draft Key Considerations for the Joint Declaration - (file)
The document summarises the central positions at the heart of the Declaration proposal and talks with the Irish Government. This includes the likely reception both in Britain and Ireland to the Joint Declaration. The latest improvements to the text that hint at a constitutional guarantee that Northern Ireland requires consent to leave the United Kingdom are welcomed but not explicit enough, hence this documents concern with emphasising the importance of securing these in explicit terms. The issue of securing Jim Molyneaux of the UUP's support is also set out. For Mayhew, if both those issues are fixed then the Joint Declaration is worth the risk, which includes that the Provisionalists find the constitutional guarantee unacceptable. This annotated draft differs from that sent by Patrick Mayhew to Prime Minister John Major and includes large written sections as well as notations. Page 6 is a written Section 8. Large sections have been crossed out but are still legible.
Fax from David Cooke to Jonathan Stephens Regarding Documents for the Prime Minister John Major's Meeting on the 14 October 1993 - (file)
A cover fax for a document detailing the key considerations in the Joint Declaration talks process ready for the Prime Ministers meeting on the 14 October. The document is enclosed with significant hand written edits presumably by Andrew Stephens.
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Procedure:
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Events (6)
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