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Writing Peace: George J. Mitchell Collection

Record of an opening plenary meeting on 1 July 1997 at 14.07 (OIC/PS69)

Monday, 07 July 1997

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This is the draft summary record of an opening plenary session on Tuesday 1 July 1997 at 14.07. The two governments had tabled their document outlining possible conclusions on decommissioning. The British Government said that the proposals were built on common ground between the participants and followed the recommendations of the International Body. The two governments re-affirmed their commitment to the Mitchell principles. The Irish Government confirmed it fully endorsed the paper and saw it as a way out of the decommissioning impasse. Alliance, Labour, the NIWC, PUP, SDLP and UDP all spoke in favour of the government paper. The DUP objected to the Irish Government's involvement in the paper and advocated treating decommissioning as a security issue. The UKUP echoed this and also criticized the British Government's position on the entry of Sinn Féin into the talks. It then asked Mo Mowlam to disavow a speech she had made in 1988 on a united Ireland. The UUP considered the paper a basis for debate and amendment. It wanted to do this bilaterally and bring the conclusions to plenary. The Chairman suggested trilateral meetings, to which the UKUP and DUP objected. The proposal was agreed, with Alliance, UDP and SDLP noting they would prefer an earlier meeting of plenary. The UKUP and DUP wanted to know whether the document was amendmendable. The two governments did not want to respond. The UKUP was convinced this was because the document had been endorsed by 'IRA/Sinn Féin'.

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