Transcript:
The end of the evening was marked by Gerry Adams wandering in to see the Prime Minister on his own. He was friendly and philosophical, as always, but his underlying message was worrying: Sinn Fein wanted to sign up to a deal, but we had to give them a deal they could sign up to — and this had to involve more than just prisoner release. The Prime Minister took the opportunity to ask Hume and Mallon immediately afterwards whether he thought Sinn Fein would sign up. They thought Adams genuinely wanted to. But this question was to be a constant preoccupation for the next 36 hours.
We eventually returned to Hillsborough after midnight, frustrated that so little progress had been made during the day. We had arranged to meet Ahern again for breakfast the following morning.
Notes
- Gerry Adams was the leader of Sinn Fein, a nationalist, Republican political party. It had close associations with the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a republican paramilitary group.
- ‘Hume’ is John Hume, leader of the SDLP.
- ‘Mallon’ is Seamus Mallon, deputy leader of the SDLP.