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Writing Peace: The National Archives of the UK (TNA)

Record of a meeting between John Major and the SDLP on 17 July 1996

Thursday, 18 July 1996

i31128

This document records a meeting between SDLP [Social and Democratic Labour Party] leaders John Hume, Seamus Mallon, and Joe Hendron, and British Prime Minister John Major that took place on July 17 1996. They discussed the events surrounding the violence of the Drumcree March. Hume and Mallon told Major that there was a lot of anger in the nationalist community, suggesting that the British Government's repeated concessions to Unionist pressures had led the nationalists to believe that they could not trust the Government. Although Major disagreed with the SDLP's censure of the RUC [Royal Ulster Constabulary], he acknowledged the tension and agreed that it was important to move on beyond procedural matters in the talks. He also referred to his promise to hold a referendum after the talks, which would make any settlement that emerged from the talks impossible to ignore. Mallon insisted that the implementation of the settlement would still be difficult, and further stated that it was unfair for his party to bear the brunt of the pressure to keep David Trimble in the talks.

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