Transcript
The UUP and Irish eventually met late that evening, for a long and evidently tense discussion. It did not focus on the new text, as we had hoped, but on the difficult issues, in particular the Irish need for guarantees about the establishment of North-South implementation bodies and preference for Westminster legislation, and the UUP reluctance to contemplate anything “pre-cooked”, before the Assembly could take a view. It was agreed that both sides would go away overnight to draft words to reflect their respective ideas. Some of the Irish side seemed encouraged by the meeting, but Ahern himself commented that it had finished just in time, before blows were exchanged. Andrews and Liz O’Donnell in particular had clearly taken a negative line – a problem which was to plague us further in the next 24 hours.
The Prime Minister was furious that the Irish and UUP had not been prepared to stay up all night to sort out the problems and agree a text. He feared that the delay would make things worse — a fear which proved amply justified the following morning. But Ahern was clearly too tired for an all-night session to be possible.
Notes
- ‘Westminster legislation’ refers to laws passed by the UK Parliament.
- ‘The Assembly’ refers to the Northern Ireland Assembly, a proposed new legislature (parliament) for Northern Ireland.
- ‘Andrews’ is David Andrews, the Foreign Minister of the Irish government.
- Liz O’Donnell was a junior Foreign Minister in the Irish government.