STATE PAPERS

1992 ended with a controversial speech by Patrick Mayhew in which he said that Sinn Féin could be included in future talks if the IRA ended its campaign. Photograph: Frank Miller

1992 in the North: 85 people killed in the Troubles

Peter Brooke was replaced by Patrick Mayhew as a new taoiseach was installed

British diplomat identified as ‘passionate lover of Ireland’

British diplomat identified as ‘passionate lover of Ireland’

The late Sir David Goodall was an ‘enthusiast for Irish and related causes’, official wrote

British and Irish traded concerns over security forces ‘collusion’

British and Irish traded concerns over security forces ‘collusion’

Files from 1991 reveal British disquiet over Irish soldier who gave information to the IRA

The Department of Foreign Affairs was “deeply concerned” about being named as a major arms exporter. Photograph: Reuters/Francois Lenoir

Ireland erroneously named as ‘15th most important arms exporter to Third World’

Officials wrote to Swedish peace research group after ‘very serious error’ in yearbook

Gardaí restrain protesters outside Cavan District Court against the rearrest for extradition of Maze prison escapee Anthony Kane in November 1987. Photograph: Peter Thursfield

Haughey’s foot-dragging on extradition angered British

Fianna Fáil leader told Northern secretary party ‘going berserk’ over UK co-operation

Plans for a five-storey extension of the Rotunda maternity hospital in Dublin were rejected because the number of live births in the region was ‘falling significantly’. Photograph: Alan Betson

Finance rejected plan for five-storey extension of Rotunda hospital

Officials said falling birth rates must mean existing facilities were ‘underused’

RTÉ presenter Marian Finucane photographed in 1987. Photograph: Peter Thursfield

RTÉ capital spending ‘cut to the bone’ as library building project cancelled

Department of Finance warned failure to invest would make quality of output slip

The Israeli ambassador said he told Ian Paisley obtaining arms ‘could be dealt with only between Governments’, according to files. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

Ian Paisley wanted ‘to obtain arms’ from Israel

Israeli ambassador reported to his Irish counterpart about an ‘unlikely’ request

Secretary to the government Dermot Nally wrote to say it was the view of the taoiseach’s department that because of the ‘highly sensitive nature of the issues involved’, other departments should be consulted on a ‘limited and confidential basis’. Photograph: Paddy Whelan

References to security situation in North deleted from ‘wartime emergency plan’

Taoiseach’s department argued sensitive issues should be dealt with by a cabinet committee

British soldiers at a look-out post near Crossmaglen, south Armagh, in November 1987. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

British proposed East German-style border for Ireland, files reveal

State papers from 1987 reveal proposal to erect a physical border along the 500km frontier

The library at the the Irish College in Paris, pictured in 2000. Photograph: Eric Luke

Funding ‘ill-defined’ plan for Irish College in Paris raised concern

Official questioned merits of spending money on a building owned by the French government

Lissadell House in Sligo is now owned by barristers Constance Cassidy and Eddie Walsh

State rejected offer to buy Lissadell House for £500,000

Relative of Constance Markievicz did not want estate turned into a ‘hurdy gurdy’ tourist attraction

The statue of Queen Victoria outside the Queen Victoria building in Sydney, Australia. Photograph: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Irish Embassy in Australia received threats over Queen Victoria statue

Embassy representatives said callers warned them to ‘stay away’ from unveiling in Sydney

Handout photos of the eight-man IRA unit killed in the Loughgall ambush in May 1987, which relatives believed was part of a British “shoot to kill” policy. Photograph: PA

Prosecutions of senior RUC expected over ‘shoot to kill’ policy

Indication of swift action could be ‘extremely valuable’ electorally, John Hume told AG

The triumphant Dublin return of Stephen Roche in July after he won the Tour de France Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

1987: The year that was

North’s death toll rises, general elections and a Tour de France win for Roche

Sir George Quigley, chairman of Ulster Bank in 1992, had identified the conditions necessary for the development of the ‘island market’. File photograph: Peter Thursfield

Idea of Dublin-Belfast economic ‘corridor’ floated in 1992

Former civil servant proposed European Community should treat island as single entity

John Hume at the announcement of the Belfast Agreement in 1998, a deal he roughly outlined to British officials eight years earlier. Photograph: Alan Betson

Hume’s outline of Belfast Agreement revealed in 1990 file

SDLP leader explained to British government his proposal for ‘double referendum’

Larry Goodman with Charles Haughey and Denis Buckley at the Fianna Fail National Business Conference in January 1987

‘Grave doubts’ were voiced over Goodman beef sector jobs plan

Comments appear as civil servants examine Programme for National Recovery pledges

New minister for finance Ray MacSharry unveiling his budget on March 31st, 1987

‘Grand larceny’ of Fine Gael fiscal policy by Fianna Fáil

Dukes puts the Fine Gael position on a more formal footing with the ‘Tallaght strategy’

Irish Defence Forces soldiers pictured in southern Lebanon in 2007. The government considered ending Ireland’s involvmenent in the Unifil mission 20 years earlier after a corporal was killed in January 1987. Photograph: Kate Geraghty

Killing of Irish soldier by Israelis believed to be ‘deliberate and unprovoked’

Cpl Dermot McLaughlin killed when Israeli tank shell hit Unifil post in January 1987

Gerard Harvey, chairman of the National Lottery (right) pictured with Raymond Keaveney, director of the National Gallery in 1989. The gallery carried out the renovation of the roof of the 1864 extension and the complete refurbishment of the Italian Rooms, which was made possible with an allocation of £950.00 from the National lottery Fund. Photograph: Peter Thursfield

Public feared ‘political interference’ with National Lottery

Lottery received legal threat before launch from man who had registered business name

Ian Paisley claimed officials had suggested that he would ‘eat himself to death’ on fast-food. Photograph: Frank Miller

Paisley protested over ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ smear in 1990

DUP leader complained about claim that ‘he would eat himself to death’

Former secretary of state for Northern Ireland Patrick Mayhew warned in 1992 that retention of a 1737 Act conflicted with the ‘liberalising approach’ of the British government which sought to place Irish on the same level as Welsh in the courts. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

Dublin wanted Irish to have parity with English in North

Files from 1992 reveal British efforts to legalise use of Irish in NI courts undermined internally

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams with Martin McGuinness at a funeral in May 1987. Photograph: PA Wire

Gerry Adams was ‘at most No 3’ on IRA army council, said priest

Sinn Féin leader ‘goes through the motions’ of being a Catholic, Irish official told

Chicago mayor’s proposed visit included lunch at an undisclosed ‘gothic castle’. Photograph: Frank Miller

Mayor of Chicago was persuaded to visit Ireland despite having no Irish roots

Diplomats arranged dispatch of reading material on Irish history

Taoiseach Charles Haughey at 10 Downing Street, London, with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1980. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images

‘Keep trying. You are most able’: Haughey’s soothing words to Thatcher

Transcript of 1987 meeting provides insight into how taoiseach dealt with prime minister

Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey waves to supporters outside Leinster House after his election as taoiseach in 1987. Photograph: Jack Mc Manus

Haughey told Thatcher that Ireland was financially ‘up against the wall’

State Papers 1987: Then taoiseach jokingly asked for loan of ‘£2bn or so’ from British PM

A statue of a soldier still stands atop the Enniskillen cenotaph on November 9th, 1987. Photograph: Reuter

Enniskillen bombing may have been ‘carefully planned’

Analysis of the Remembrance Sunday atrocity cast doubt on the IRA and Sinn Féin explanation

Fianna Fáil Rory O’Hanlon, Progressive Democrat TD Geraldine Kennedy and Paddy O’Hanlon, founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, at an SDLP conference in Newcastle, Co Down, in 1987. Photograph: Jack McManus

Kennedy’s inquiries about cabinet committee in North caused alarm

‘It is important we press to have questions disallowed wherever possible,’ official advised

A Garda checkpoint in Co Donegal at the Border with Northern Ireland in November 1985. Photograph: Alain Le Garsmeur/Getty Images

British military pilot flew as far as Mullingar after unauthorised Border crossing

Authorities ‘embarrassed’ after overflight took Beaver aircraft within 23 miles of Dublin airport

Unionist leaders the Rev Ian Paisley and James Molyneaux. They were described respectively as a “bigot” and “inconsiderable” by the Conservative Party’s Lord Hailsham. Photograph: Peter Thursfield

John Bowman: How Irish diplomats ‘dined for Ireland’

State Papers: 1987 files describe mission to promote Anglo-Irish Agreement

The artist Phil Coulter: Bruton said advertising and promotion campaigns were “a matter of individual taste, as is Phil Coulter’s music”. Photograph: Eric Luke

Penneys chair complained about Aer Lingus sponsorship of Phil Coulter

‘What can you gain by doing one-night stands in the US – it is like a midge flying into a hurricane?’

Ian Paisley was reportedly left cowering in a car as he waited for a burger and diet coke outside a takeaway in Slane, Co Meath. Photograph: PA Wire

Ian Paisley ‘hid in car’ outside Co Meath fast food joint

Scene played out as the DUP leader was nervous about being spotted by locals in Slane

An Phoblacht said an IRA volunteer had been authorised to show the document to an RTÉ journalist prior to Fenn going on holiday. Photograph: Frank Miller

British ambassador sought advice on dealing with leaking of travel plans to IRA

Nicholas Fenn expressed confidence in Garda after broadcast of details of trip to Kerry

Bruce Arnold and Geraldine Kennedy leaving the High Court after the judgment awarding them £20,000 damages each. Photograph: Dermot O’Shea

State sought to defend phone tapping despite conceding its illegality

Chief state solicitor wrote that Irish Times report rendered case ‘incapable of fair trial’

Northern secretary Tom King (left) with minister for foreign affairs Brian Lenihan in Dublin in September 1987. Irish officials reckoned King had “moved a considerable distance” since his “appallingly bad” start. Photograph: Kevin McMahon

‘Tough nuts’ Haughey and Thatcher get reacquainted as London says it’s business as usual

The nightmare for any Irish government was the extradition of an innocent citizen who would be wrongly jailed

Iranian revolutionary guards march during a 2008 ceremony near Tehran to mark the anniversary of the onset of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). Photograph: AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

Government was asked to allow Iranian soldiers to be treated in Dublin

Irish diplomat in Tehran feared how Iranians might react to ‘offensive programme on RTÉ’

Administrative burden: US ambassador Margaret Heckler (with President Hillery). Photograph: Pat Langan

Notification of US military aircraft overflying Ireland ‘a burden’ to its envoy

‘US agreed to apply for permission for each flight in advance and have been doing so since June, 1986’

The UVF wrote to Charles Haughey claiming British intelligence had sought his execution. Photograph: Jack McManus

Loyalists told Charles Haughey MI5 ‘asked us to execute you’

UVF wrote to taoiseach saying it refused request from British intelligence officer

The eight-man IRA unit killed in a shoot-out with soldiers following the bombing of the Loughgall RUC station. Clockwise from top left: Gerard O’Callaghan, Antony Gormley, James Lynagh, Eugene Kelly, Declan Arthurs, Patrick McKerney, Seamus Donnelly and Patrick Kelly. Photograph: PA

Sinn Fein denies Gerry Adams ‘set up’ IRA Loughgall ambush

State Papers 1987: Sinn Féin president was accused of being behind the killings

Martin McGuinness at the funeral of IRA man Larry Marley in 1987. Photograph: Pacemaker

Martin McGuinness ‘threatened to hold IRA man’s body hostage’

State Papers: Stand-off over burial of Larry Marley amid tensions with church authorities

IRA weapons pictured in 2001 after being recovered by security forces. Photograph: PA

Cost of running IRA was ‘up to £3m a year’ in 1980s

RUC chief told ministers the Provos had ‘no shortage of money to purchase weapons’

Official files are released for public viewing after 30 years at the National Archives in Dublin. Photograph: Frank Miller

Ireland’s stringent 30-year rule limits understanding

The British are moving to release official files after 20 years

Economist and campaigner Raymond Crotty: his Supreme Court case to prevent the government signing the Single European Act led to the landmark decision that the treaty must be put to the Irish people by way of a referendum. Photographer: Jack McManus

Haughey engaged in telephone diplomacy to ease fears on European referendum

Files reveal taoiseach spoke to French president the day after Supreme Court decision

Former taoiseach Charles Haughey in 1987: He wrote to ministers in May of that year and told them that a “radical approach” should be adopted to spending cuts and that no expenditure should be regarded as “sacrosanct”. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh/The Irish Times

Haughey banned ‘special pleadings’ over budget cuts

Proposals included charging secondary pupils £200 and introduction of a property tax

Garret FitzGerald to Margaret Thatcher: “I very much hope our paths will cross again.” Photograph: Photocall

‘For Ireland’s sake I hope you are returned’: FitzGerald’s note to Thatcher

Garret FitzGerald and Charles Haughey both wrote warm letters to the British PM

The observation post at Cloghoge in south Armagh, being dismantled in 2003. A decade earlier, a British official proposed selling advertising space on the structure. Photograph: PA/Paul Faith

British considered selling advertising space on Border towers

Officials sought ‘an imaginative way to smarten up and decorate security structures’

Officials at the Department of Finance considered cuts to child benefit. Photograph: Alan Betson

Government considered £20,000 income ceiling on child benefit

Finance officials said the move would make it difficult for couples who were already heavily taxed

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