Extract from a note by a UK government official on a meeting about cross-border bodies November 1998

Context notes

Part of the Belfast Agreement of 1998 was the setting up of cross border bodies – organisations which took responsibility for a range of issues across the whole island of Ireland. For example, the North/South Ministerial Council was established. The Council takes the form of meetings between ministers from both Ireland and Northern Ireland and is responsible for twelve policy areas. Six of these areas are the responsibility of corresponding North/South Implementation Bodies. For Unionists in particular, agreeing to these bodies was a massive step as it allowed for deeper cooperation with the Irish government on matters affecting Northern Ireland and Ireland. Trimble was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Mallon was Seamus Mallon, Deputy Leader of the Social and Democratic Labour Party (SDLP), the main Nationalist party at this time.

Extract from a report of a meeting between the Taoiseach and the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in September 1998

Context notes

This extract comes from the notes taken at a meeting between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam. They discuss a wide range of issues, but these extracts focus on two issues. In section 3 they are discussing the challenges being faced by David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Decommissioning meant the process of paramilitary groups giving up their weapons. The Shadow Executive was the term used for the new Northern Ireland devolved government before it officially took up its full powers. In section 13 the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body was an organisation formed in 1990. It was made up of 25 UK MPs and 25 Deputies of the Irish Parliament. They met to discuss issues of common interest and to promote understanding.

Extracts from a letter between the UK Prime Minister’s Office and the Northern Ireland Office. The letter was sent in October 1998.

Context notes

This letter was written in October 1998, by the Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, a very senior figure in the UK civil service. He had been talking to David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, the largest Unionist Party in Northern Ireland at that time, about the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), a Loyalist paramilitary organisation whose activities were causing concern. In the course of the conversation, they had talked about several other issues as well. The letter is reporting Trimble’s views to a colleague in the Northern Ireland Office.

Extracts from a letter from the Irish Ambassador in London to Dermot Gallagher, a senior official in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland June 1998

Context notes

The author of this letter was Ted Barrington, Ireland’s Ambassador to the UK. He was reporting back to his superiors in the Foreign Affairs Department of the Irish Government about a phone conversation with Mo Mowlam. Mowlam was the UK Government’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Paul Murphy MP was a UK Government Minister, a senior UK official, who worked in Mo Mowlam’s department as Political Development Minister of State for Northern Ireland. A major part of Murphy’s job was liaising with officials from Ireland.

A letter from the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, 10 June 1998

Context notes

One of many controversial issues in the history of Northern Ireland was the system of policing. Many in the Nationalist community felt that the existing police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) did not represent them properly. As part of the Agreement, the RUC was to be replaced by a new force called the Police Service of Northern Ireland. An Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland was set up to study policing and make recommendations about how Northern Ireland was to be policed in the future. There was a great deal of heated debate about who should be appointed to be part of this Commission. The situation was not helped when a confidential document about the Commission was leaked to the press on 4 June 1998 and revealed how tense and angry the debate was over the Commission.

The text of a speech by the Taoiseach Mr. Bertie Ahern, TD on the Approval of the Multi-Party Agreement in Belfast on Good Friday, 10 April 1998. The speech was delivered on 22 April 1998.

Context notes

Bertie Ahern was the Irish Taoiseach, the Prime Minister of Ireland. In this speech he was setting out the Agreement to the Irish Seanad, the upper house of the Irish Dáil. The Agreement was the culmination of years of political initiatives, negotiations and many setbacks. It involved politicians from Northern Ireland, Britain, Ireland, the USA and the European Union.

Extracts from an opening statement by Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which was led by David Trimble, at the peace talks in Stormont, Belfast, on 7 October 1997. Catalogue reference: PREM 49/403

Extracts from a Northern Ireland Office (UK government department) record of a morning session during the peace talks on 12 June 1996 in Stormont, Belfast. The notes were recorded by a UK government official. Catalogue reference: CJ4/12228

A letter from Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Féin, to Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (a UK government minister) Catalogue reference: CJ4/12383