DRAFT SUMMARY RECORD OF OPENING PLENARY SESSION -
WEDNESDAY 30 OCTOBER 1996 (10.00)
Those present:
Independent Chairmen
Senator Mitchell
Mr Holkeri
General de Chastelain
Government Teams
British Government
Irish Government
Parties
Alliance Party
Labour Party
Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
Progressive Unionist Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
Ulster Democratic Party
Ulster Democratic Unionist Party
United Kingdom Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
1. _The Chairman_ convened the meeting at 10.00. He reminded participants that the agreed order of business was for the Alliance Party to make its presentation on decommissioning; then the Ulster Unionist Party would be afforded the opportunity to make a presentation\, followed by the British Government presentation. He also reminded participants that all had agreed to submit written presentations to the Chairmen's office by Friday. The presentations would be copied and circulated to all participants. The following week would be devoted to consideration of the presentations. He proposed that participants should aim to complete their consideration of all the presentations next week and that in order to achieve this target the sessions should be as long as necessary\, since it was important for every participant to have a full opportunity to elaborate on their own presentations and proposals and to comment on and question the other parties on their presentations. He proposed that Monday's session convene at noon in order to give parties time to complete their deliberations on the presentations and that the Tuesday and Wednesday sessions should each commence at 10.00am.
2. _The UDP_ expressed support for the proposal but requested that the Monday session commence at 13.00. _The Chairman_ asked if there was any objection to the UDP proposal. It was agreed that the Monday session would commence at 13.00. _The UKUP_\, in relation to the Chairman's proposal that the session continue "as long as necessary" asked if it had not been agreed that sessions would not continue beyond 18.00. It was agreed that there was no firm decision on this point and _the Chairman_ stressed that\, given the importance of the issue of decommissioning and the need to give participants full opportunity to explore the other parties presentations and the desirability of completing the process next week\, the participants should be prepared to consider extending the sessions beyond the normally accepted finishing time.
3. _The DUP_ said that there might well be difficulty on Tuesday when there was important Parliamentary business. _The Chairman_ said that as always sympathy would be given to the needs of those representatives with parliamentary commitments. _The UKUP_ also expressed a reservation on the conflict with parliamentary commitment. _The Chairman_ asked if there was agreement to extend Monday's session until 20.00 or 21.00. _The UDP_ said that a number of participants had duties elsewhere on Monday evening but that the party was prepared to field a team. _The DUP_ stated that it was prepared to continue until 20.00 on Monday. _The SDLP_ acknowledged the parliamentary commitments of the various parties including its own but stressed the need to hold to schedule.
4. _The Chairman_ proposed that the sessions for next week should be:
Monday 13:00-20:00
Tuesday 10:00-18:00
Wednesday 10:00-18:00
with the target of completing deliberation on all of the decommissioning presentations. Every effort would be made to accommodate the MP's commitments on Tuesday. After some further discussion this proposal was agreed by all participants.
5. _The Chairman_ again reminded the participants of their agreement to submit written presentations by Friday and then invited the _Alliance Party_ to make its oral presentation on decommissioning. The presentation was completed at 11.35 and the Chairman proposed a short break but first enquired of the UUP about its intentions. _The UUP_ said that it would make a presentation but that it was unlikely that it could be concluded before the lunch interval and proposed that half of the presentation be made before lunch and half thereafter. _The Chairman_ proposed that there should now be a break\, that the session reconvene at 12.00\, that the UUP deliver part of its presentation until 13.00\, that the meeting adjourn again for lunch and reconvene at 14.00 when _the UUP_ would complete its presentation\, to be followed immediately by _the British Government_ presentation. This was agreed.
6. _The DUP_ inquired if the offer made by _the Alliance Party_ during its presentation to release copies of it now\, applied to the other participants. _The Alliance Party_ said that four copies of its presentation had been given to the Independent Chairmen with once copy for duplication and circulation to the other participants. _The Chairman_ said that he was advised that the necessary copies were now available and had been circulated. He then adjourned the discussion until 12.00 noon.
(By agreement of the participants, the facilities of the Chairmen's office were made available for circulation of documents submitted by participants.)
Independent Chairmen Notetakers
31 October 1996
OIC/PS37
