Extract from a report summarising talks between the UK government and various political parties and community groups in Northern Ireland, 14 October 1997. Catalogue Ref: PREM 49 / 119
Context notes
This meeting took place about six months before the final Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. The Prime Minister and Taoiseach met with all of the Northern Ireland parties. This extract records their discussions with the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC). This was a cross-community party founded in 1996 by a Catholic academic, Monica McWilliams and a Protestant social worker, Pearl Sagar. They did not campaign specifically as a feminist organisation, and they were not Nationalist or Unionist in their aims. The movement principally aimed to try to represent the views of the wider community and not the main political parties or the paramilitary groups.
Transcript
From the Private Secretary
14 October 1997
Dear Ken
NORTHERN IRELAND: TALKS WITH THE PARTIES, 13 OCTOBER
The Prime Minister spent well over an hour touring the party delegation offices in Castle Buildings, and meeting all the parties, together with the Independent Chairmen and the Irish delegation. I have recorded separately the meetings with the Alliance and Sinn Fein. I record below briefly all the other meetings. Dr Mowlam, Paul Murphy, Jonathan Powell, Alastair Campbell, Jonathan Stephens and I were there throughout.
Women’s Coalition
Monica McWilliams, Bronagh Hinds, Pearl Sager and three others were there. The Prime Minister began by recalling his previous meeting with the Coalition, and saying that he would be happy to meet them again in Downing Street. Monica McWilliams said that Dr Mowlam and Paul Murphy had done an excellent job, and transformed the situation. But she wanted to emphasise the wider aspects of the new Government’s policies to create a new democracy in Britain, for example creating a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly. The new principles of the Government should be applied to Northern Ireland too. Northern Ireland should not be run as it had been in the past. One issue was electoral systems. The list used for the Forum elections had real advantages, not just because it had put their Coalition in the talks, but because it helped pluralism and encouraged people to cross the traditional divides. She also hoped that the Government would pledge that any new Assembly would have 50 per cent women membership. She was also concerned that preparations should begin for the referendum campaign. To be successful, this would need resources and an early start, to educate people. The parties themselves could only do so much. The Government had to be fully involved.
The Prime Minister said that he would certainly like to see more women in politics in Northern Ireland and would proselytize for it, although it would be difficult to impose. He wondered whether old party loyalties would disappear after a settlement. McWilliams said that sectarianism was not likely to disappear overnight. But she hoped the smaller parties could get together and build new centre ground.
« Return to What led to the Belfast Good Friday Agreement? (KS5)Questions
Content
- Who is talking to whom at this meeting?
- What points were made about developments in the rest of the UK outside Northern Ireland?
- What were the leaders of the NIWC hoping for?
- How did Blair respond to the views of the NIWC leaders?
Inferences from the content
- Do you get the impression that the NIWC leaders are optimistic or pessimistic about the peace process?
- How would you describe Blair’s attitude towards the NIWC?
Inferences from the context
- What inferences can be made from the fact that these talks were taking place?
- Is it possible to make any inferences from the fact that this particular group (the NIWC) was involved in the talks?
Lines of Argument
- Which historian could use this document as supporting evidence?