STATE PAPERS

Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam wanted to write an article criticising the wrongs of all parties during the Famine. Photograph: Reuters/Corbis

Civil servants opposed Mowlam wish to write Famine article, files show

Northern Ireland secretary could detract from Blair statement of regret, officials feared

Maryfield fly-on-the-wall documentary nixed over unionist suspicions

Maryfield fly-on-the-wall documentary nixed over unionist suspicions

State Papers: Officials believed greater transparency would only fuel conspiracy theories

UK officials accused Dublin of ‘partitionist’ attitude to BSE crisis

UK officials accused Dublin of ‘partitionist’ attitude to BSE crisis

State Papers: Stance was seen as an ‘own goal’ and unhelpful for North-South trade

A letter from Downing Street to the Northern Ireland Office stated that John Major ‘would certainly not wish the government make a formal expression of regret’. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Wire

British state papers: John Major did not want admission of ‘regret’ over Bloody Sunday

Former British prime minister refused to sign letter to John Hume on 25th anniversary

Taoiseach John Bruton and British prime minister John Major at Downing Street on November 28th, 1995. Photograph: Sean Dempsey/Pool/Reuters

Leaked phone calls held up talks between John Major and John Bruton

Peace talks: PM told that taoiseach was using conversations for his own political ends

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams gives his view of the Framework Document, February 22, 1995. Photograph: Russell Boyce/Reuters

British state papers: PM John Major saw Gerry Adams as a ‘clever little devil’

Private memo in 1997 advised Major about publication of article by then SF leader

Former US senator George Mitchell was chairman of the peace talks, with Martha Pope as his senior aide. Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP

NI ‘awash with money’ for special interest groups, US diplomat said

Martha Pope, frustrated by slow progress of peace talks, said people were ‘out to get her’

In 1998, David Trimble and John Hume were co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to secure peace in the North. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

British state papers: Trimble did not trust Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient Hume

Memo from 1997 records meeting between Michael Ancram and David Trimble

Prince Charles with president Mary Robinson at Áras an Uachtaráin on June 2nd, 1995. Photograph: Joe St Leger

Prince charming: First Irish visit by Charles was ‘turning point’ in history

But secret plan for follow-up trip in 1996 was abandoned over security fears

British state papers: Minister’s decision to alter tourism logo described as ‘crass’

Jim McDaid was accused of ‘destroying a small but potent symbol of a new Ireland’

David Donoghue, who served as Irish head of the Anglo-Irish secretariat between 1995 and 1999. Photograph: Eric Luke

British annoyed at not being consulted over ‘Facts about Ireland’ booklet

Inclusion of chapter about North seen as ‘insensitive’, state papers show

Former taoiseach Charles Haughey with former minister for foreign affairs Gerry Collins (front right). Photograph: Eddie Kelly/The Irish Times

‘Serious umbrage’ at attempted all-Ireland approach to Europe

Officials feared Republic would use its European Community presidency to set agenda

IRA arms cache. File Photograph: PA

Garda concerned IRA weapons would go to criminals, declassified files show

Sir John Chilcot notes Irish government’s ‘fear of the arms stores ...leaking out ... in an uncontrollable way’

SDLP leader John Hume with party colleague Seamus Mallon. Hume was concerned that the British government, particularly in the run-up to the Westminster general election, would be ‘unable to engineer forward movement’. File photograph: Reuters

John Hume’s discreet attempt to restore IRA ceasefire

SDLP leader tried to start a fresh initiative using ‘medium of Protestant Church leaders’

Irish emigrants embarking for America at Waterloo Docks, Liverpool, in 1850. Photograph: Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images

Extent of British discomfort at commemorating Irish Famine revealed

John Major said 1996 service would look like an apology and offend unionists, files show

Northern secretary Mo Mowlam with SDLP leader John Hume and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in 1997. Photograph: Brian Little/PA

Mo Mowlam: Irish first impressions of her were largely negative

It was recorded that an Irish diplomat found her ‘flaky’ and ‘not pro-nationalist’

Crowds file on to the Aintree racecourse in Liverpool due to the IRA bomb scare that led to postponment of the Grand National. File photograph: Mike Cooper/Allsport.

When the fragile peace process verged of extinction – 1997

State Papers: Incoming PM Tony Blair and taoiseach Bertie Ahern struck the right note

Orangemen on parade in Portadown in 1999. File photograph: Paul Faith/PA

Orange Order suggested Parades Commission monitor traffic at GAA grounds

Newly declassified note shows proposal to address unionist concerns over the authority

Declassified briefing notes for Northern Ireland Office ministers point out that ‘creating such a zone as proposed undoubtedly faces very major legal and practical obstacles’. Photograph: Getty

British officials were sceptical of North-South free trade zone with US, files show

Proposal was ‘non-starter’ because EU had ‘sole competence ’ to negotiate such agreements with non-EU states

A note from Peter Bell to Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam in 1997 outlines concerns over the Anglo-Irish Secretariat Christmas party. File photograph: Frank Miller

Planners of Anglo-Irish Secretariat Christmas party had to contend with LVF threat

Officials behind 1997 event also faced concerns inviting Sinn Féin would deter other guests

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams (L) with Martin McGuinness at the King’s Hall in Belfast on May 23rd, 1998. File photograph: Max Nash/AP Photo

SF may not be able to bring all militants on peaceful course, diplomat reportedly said in 1997

Confidential note shows official doubts three months after restoration of IRA ceasefire

Taoiseach John Bruton speaks at a Fine Gael dinner in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, in April 1997. File photograph: David Sleator

Northern Ireland Office praised Bruton for ‘stepping out from under nationalist cloud’

Newly declassified papers show positive reception in 1997 for speeches by taoiseach

Orangemen parade down to the police line at Drumcree Church, Portadown, in July 2005. Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP

Local activists believed to be behind boycott of Protestant businesses after Drumcree

Northern Ireland Office initially thought boycott was ‘top-down’ Sinn Féin/IRA activity

Loyalist Billy Wright. Photograph: PA

Billy Wright murder: Dublin was concerned about loyalist’s prison transfer

Irish side feared ‘King Rat’ had requested move to the Maze for sinister motives

SDLP leader John Hume and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in Belfast in 1998. Photograph: Frank Miller

5:06 Adams told Hume of ‘worry’ IRA would assassinate Thatcher

State Papers: British feared IRA could continue campaign of violence indefinitely

Former taoiseach Charles Haughey with former US president George Bush in the Oval Office

Bush agreed to provide advice to help Ireland establish the EPA

In a meeting in 1990 the former US president asked Haughey for his views on the implications of German reunification

Ulster unionist leader Brian Faulkner with taoiseach Liam Cosgrove during tripartite talks on the future of Ireland at Sunningdale, December 6th, 1973. Photograph: Dennis Oulds/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

State Papers: Secret committee sought to change territorial claims in Constitution

The 1973 coalition produced draft amendments to remove State’s claims to island of Ireland

West German chancellor Helmut Kohl, French president François Mitterand and taoiseach Charles Haughey at the European Community summit in Dublin in March 1990

Haughey pushed prescient vision of ‘citizens’ Europe’ during presidency

State Papers: Taoiseach saw future of cheap flights, open borders and common currency

Margaret Thatcher: she questioned the commitment of the Irish authorities to defeating the IRA

Dublin rejected UK claims it was ‘too pernickety’ about Border incursions

British saw blowing up cross-Border road as a response to Thatcher claims that the IRA was engaging in ‘guerrilla warfare’

Minister for foreign affairs Gerry Collins, taoiseach Charles Haughey, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and British foreign secretary Douglas Hurd

Faultline that would lead to Brexit evident in Haughey-Thatcher meetings

State Papers: Prime minister excoriated European Commission, calling it a ‘politburo’

Margaret Thatcher and Charles Haughey had a sharp exchange during a meeting in 1990. File photograph: Getty

Thatcher rails against Supreme Court decision on extradition

Dermot Finucane and James Pius Clarke walked free from court after appeals upheld

Nelson Mandela addresses the Dáil where then ceann comhairle Seán Treacy (top left) and taoiseach Charles Haughey were present. File Photograph: Frank Miller/The Irish Times

Delight that Mandela meeting Haughey before Thatcher

ANC leader, who was released from jail in 1990 after 27 years, visited Ireland in July

President-elect Joe Biden as second ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations committee in 1990 introduced a motion in the Senate calling for release of the Birmingham Six. Photograph: The New York Times

White House-bound Joe Biden urged release of Birmingham Six in 1990

State Papers: Irish men held for 16 years in British prison for crime they did not commit

Aftermath of the 1990 IRA car bomb attack in Derry when five soldiers died and van driver Patsy Gillespie was also killed. File photograph: Pacemaker

IRA sought to bypass Sinn Féin in talks with British, new files suggests

Party’s ‘socialist views’ did not impress some senior IRA members, according to prison chaplain

The Ireland soccer team are greeted by some 500,000 fans at College Green following their World Cup campaign in 1990. Photograph: Frank Miller

1990: The year that was

State papers released under the 30-year rule cover a 12-month period that included a World Cup and a presidential election

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