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

Record of a lunch meeting between Veronica Sutherland and Nora Owen on 15 July 1996

Tuesday, 16 July 1996

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This document records a lunch meeting between Veronica Sutherland, the British Ambassador to Ireland, and Nora Owen, the Irish Minister for Justice, that took place on 15 July 1996. Sutherland reported that the meeting had been very friendly, and that both parties had agreed that it was imperative for the two Governments to work together. They spoke about the events that took place at Dumcree and Sutherland defended Chief Constable Hugh Annesley's actions on the basis that they had been driven by operational rather than political considerations. Owen explained that [Irish Taoiseach] John Bruton had had no choice but to give a statement along the lines he had given earlier in the week, in order to contain potential nationalist anger which could have manifested in violence. Sutherland replied saying that the words used by Bruton had been stronger than those a one head of Government might expect from another. The two parties then discussed the need for an IGC [Inter Governmental Conference], and the relationship between the British Government and the Unionists. Sutherland asserted that the British Government's approach to the talks had been even-handed, and Owen warned that allowing Unionists to put decommissioning on the agenda in advance of other issues would be disastrous for the talks.

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