Extract from a report written by John Holmes to Tony Blair, Friday 10 April 1998

Transcript

Before they could even be circulated, a mini-crisis arose over the Annex listing the areas where separate or joint North-South implementation bodies would be set up. The Irish had been unhappy with the number of areas on this list (12), together with the fact that few of them were what they wanted. They had pressed throughout for an Irish Language Promotion Body and a Trade Promotion and Indigenous Company Development Body.  The UUP had resisted both fiercely, one on political grounds and the other because of competition worries.

The Irish claimed to have persuaded the UUP at some time during the night to accept both

We stupidly took their word for it. When the UUP saw the new list, they blew a fuse, accused the Irish of duplicity and refused to accept any more than the original list. The Irish in turn dug in their heels, and a lengthy impasse followed, with Mitchell unable to circulate a new text and getting increasingly angry. We were also tearing our hair out.