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  1. Overview: Northern Ireland Downing Street Joint Declaration (1993)
  2. Full Record: Northern Ireland Downing Street Joint Declaration (1993)
  3. Committee:Informal British-Irish Bilaterals
  4. Thursday, 21 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.

Informal British-Irish Bilaterals

This committee has been created to model bilateral contact between British and Irish government delegates which happened outside of the more formal structures set up for intergovernmental negotiation. These informal meetings were sometimes crucial to the development of the Joint Declaration.

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Session 21726: 1993-10-21 12:00:00

[Exact time unknown] Quentin Thomas, David Cooke and Seán Ó hUiginn met in the margins of the Liaison Group to discuss John Major's decision not to proceed with the Joint Declaration. Ó hUiginn said that this decision had been very badly received.

Membership (at session start):

David Blatherwick, Douglas Hurd, Martin Mansergh, Patrick Mayhew, Dermot Nally, Dick Spring, Quentin Thomas, Seán Ó hUiginn (8 total)

Representing 2 delegations:

British Government , Irish Government

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Record of a Meeting between Quentin Thomas and Seán Ó hUiginn on 21 October 1993 in the Margins of the Liaison Group - (file)

The Irish opinion was that the British were neglecting a unique opportunity for peace following Hume/Adams due to parliamentary arithmetic and excessive fear of loyalist backlash. The Irish were unlikely to press on alone, and (different versions of) the text of the JDI were likely to be leaked by the Provisionals, the Irish Government, or John Hume. Discussions about the possibility of American involvement ended with an agreement that British/Irish discussion was the most profitable channel.

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