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  1. Overview: Northern Ireland Downing Street Joint Declaration (1993)
  2. Full Record: Northern Ireland Downing Street Joint Declaration (1993)
  3. Committee:Hume-Adams
  4. Saturday, 25 September 1993, at 12:00

Northern Ireland Downing Street Joint Declaration (1993)

WORK IN PROGRESS - This project is still under development. It models a series of formal and informal negotiations which led to the publication, in December 1993, of a declaration issued jointly by the British and Irish Governments. The Joint Declaration was a critical policy document which paved the way for a ceasefire and the entry of Sinn Féin into formal talks. It also laid out a shared set of principles – including, crucially, self-determination for the people of Ireland subject to the consent of the people of Northern Ireland – which would come to underpin the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and provide a framework for its ratification.

Hume-Adams

This committee has been created to model bilateral contacts between John Hume and Gerry Adams, along with the bilateral meetings which took place between the SDLP and Sinn Féin.

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Session 20875: 1993-09-25 12:00:00

[Exact time unknown] A joint statement was published summarising progress in the discussions and announcing that a report would be made to the Irish Government.

Membership (at session start):

Gerry Adams, John Hume (2 total)

Representing 2 delegations:

SDLP, Sinn Féin

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Enclosure: Annex B – A Brief History of the Joint Declaration Initiative - (file)

This document provides a comprehensive account of the Joint Declaration initiative, beginning with its inception during a meeting between John Major and then Taoiseach Charles Haughey on 4 December 1991. It follows the evolution of the initiative, including discussions between John Hume and Gerry Adams, which led the Irish Government to believe that it could pave the way for PIRA to declare a permanent ceasefire. The document tracks the various discussions and drafts exchanged, particularly through channels involving Dermot Nally on the Irish side and Robin Butler on the British side.

Enclosure: Commentary by Quentin Thomas on Draft Eight of the Joint Declaration Submitted by the Irish Government and Record of Discussion with Seán Ó hUiginn - (file)

Quentin Thomas encloses a record of a meeting between himself and Seán Ó hUiginn discussing the Joint Declaration Initiative, particularly a new draft (JD8) presented by the Irish government, of which Ó hUiginn was the principal author. This conversation was a preliminary meeting to a scheduled meeting of the Liaison Group in Dublin on 1st October, where principles and language relevant to the Joint Declaration Initiative (JDI) were to be discussed. The Irish government continued to prefer the JDI to overt political development and had resolved to exclude the Provisionals until the British could be brought onboard with the document's phrasing. Discussion between Thomas and Ó hUiginn centred on paragraph 4. Issues raised by the British government included silence in the draft on: the constitutional guarantee, reform of Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution. Also problematic were references to irish 'unity' and 'self-determination for Ireland as a whole'. The Irish government remained enthusiastic about the JDI following this discussion. The important context of the talks between John Hume and Gerry Adams - and how far these involved knowledge of the JDI - is discussed in a postscript.

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