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.
Transcript
3 Turning to his meeting the previous evening with David Trimble, the Taoiseach said that Mr Trimble had made clear to him that his room to manoeuvre was very limited. He needed “something”. He understood the argument about the text of the Agreement (not explicitly linking decommissioning to formation of the Shadow Executive), but it could equally be argued that such linkage was not ruled out. In any case, he was now stuck with the realities of the position in which he found himself. The Taoiseach commented to Dr Mowlam that there was no doubting the scale of Mr Trimble’s political difficulties – as exemplified by the fact that there were parts of his constituency, previously strongholds of his, which he could now only visit with the protection of the RUC.
13 Dr Mowlam spoke warmly of the meeting of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body which she had just attended in York. She noted that after an initial exchange on the current political situation, most of the day was devoted to “routine” matters, such as Agriculture, Education etc. She found this very heartening. The Taoiseach said that he had mentioned the Body to David Trimble at their meeting. The latter had agreed that we were in a new situation and that the Interparliamentary dimensions of the new institutions would also have to be developed.
Questions
Content
- What does Trimble mean when he says he ‘needs something’?
Inferences from the Content
- What can a historian infer from the comment that Trimble needed RUC protection in parts of his own constituency.
- What would you say was the attitude of Mo Mowlam and David Trimble towards the British Irish Interparliamentary body?
Inferences from the Context
- What inferences could a historian make from the fact that this meeting was happening?
Lines of Argument
Which line(s) of argument A-E could use this document as supporting evidence?