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Writing Peace: George J. Mitchell Collection

Record of informal discussion on procedural guidelines and agenda for plenary session on 25 June 1996 at 11.06

Thursday, 27 June 1996

i24743

This document contains the summary record of the informal discussion on procedural guidelines and the agenda for the plenary session that took place on 25 June 1996. The meeting began with Michael Ancram and Mervyn Taylor giving opening remarks on the draft rules of procedure document. Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson asked both Ancram and Taylor if they were in agreement with each other's remarks, and Ancram responded that both Governments' views were based on paragraph 7 of the Ground Rules paper. Seamus Close and Malachi Curran said that the current discussion was not helping the progress of the talks, and David Ervine indicated that his party was ready to proceed as they accepted the draft rules as they stood now. Bronagh Hinds noted that NIWC believed that the basis of the talks was in the Northern Ireland Act and the Command Paper 3232 as well as the Scenario paper. She also spoke about how the principles of the rules of procedure should be enabling rather than preventative, and that it was not democratic to rule out items on the agenda for discussion. Seamus Mallon stated that the Ground Rules were central to SDLP's decision to contest elections for the Forum, and also that he was opposed to attacks on or cherry-picking of Ground Rules. Robinson stated that DUP's presence in the negotiations did not rely on the invitation they received on 6 June 1996 or the Ground Rules, and both him and Cedric Wilson expressed that they did not believe it was necessary to rush to reach an agreement on important procedural rules. Robinson asked the Governments whether the Ground Rules would still have effect after the delegates had agreed on the draft set of rules, and Wilson asserted that UKUP would not accept the Ground Rules, any provision within the Anglo-Irish Agreement or any change in the constitutional status of the union. David Trimble and Robinson supported a single rules of procedure document, and Trimble criticized both Governments for their contradictory positions on the status of the Ground Rules. Hinds inquired whether all the delegates had agreed to maintain confidentiality. The Chairman asked if they would accept a formal ruling on confidentiality, and Paisley asked both Governments if they had been briefing Sinn Féin with updates regarding the discussions - both Governments said no. Ancram noted his agreement with Trimble's idea of having a single document, which led Robinson to ask whether the Ground Rules were amendable. Paisley also expressed alarm at the idea that Ground Rules had been used to bring SDLP into the talks as he thought it would be used to bring Sinn Féin into the talks as well. Hinds recommended bilaterals between UUP and a set of participants, Ancram proposed an amendment to paragraph 17a of the draft document, and the Chairman adjourned the meeting at 12.59. The document encloses the opening remarks made by Ancram and Taylor.

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