1. Downing Street Declaration 1993
• Leaving Cert History
• Case Study
• Northern Ireland 1949-1973

2. Background
• 11 January 1988
John Hume, then leader of the Social Democratic and
Labour Party (SDLP), met with Gerry Adams, then
President of Sinn Féin (SF). This was the first in a
series of discussions between the two men.
• Talks end in August
• Members from four Northern Ireland political parties
met for talks in Duisburg, West Germany. Alliance
Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), Social Democratic
and Labour Party (SDLP), Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)
and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Little progress
was reported from the meetings.

3. Background
• 5 March 1989 Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn
Féin (SF), made a speech in which he said that he
sought a "non-armed political movement to work for self-
determination" in Ireland.
• 24 July 1989 Peter Brooke was appointed as
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
• 3 November 1989 Speech by Peter Brooke, then
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in which he
admitted that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) could not
be defeated militarily. He also said that he could not rule
out talks with Sinn Féin (SF) if there was an end to
violence.

4. • 9 November 1990
Peter Brooke made a major speech on the
British position to an audience in London. In the
speech he said that Britain had no "strategic or
economic interest" in Northern Ireland and
would accept unification of Ireland if that was
the wish of the people of Northern Ireland.
• 15 November 1990
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF),
made a response to Peter Brooke's speech of
the 9 November 1990.
Background

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6. • 29 April 1991
A ceasefire announced by the Combined Loyalist Military
Command (CLMC) began on midnight.
• 14 March 1991
Peter Brooke, announced to the House of Commons that talks
involving the four main parties in Northern Ireland would take
place during a gap in the operation of the Anglo-Irish
Conference meetings. These talks were the first of a series
lasting from March 1991 to November 1992 which became
known as the Brooke / Mayhew Talks.
• 25 March 1991
All the parties involved in the Brooke / Mayhew Talks agreed to
the arrangements for the talks.
Brooke / Mayhew Talks

7. Brooke / Mayhew Talks
• 26 March 1991
Peter Brooke announced that the Brooke /
Mayhew Talks will involve a three-strand
process. This process was to include
– relationships within Northern Ireland,
– between Northern Ireland and the Republic of
Ireland,
– between the British and Irish Governments.
• 3 July 1991
Peter Brooke, announced at Westminster that he
was bringing this stage of the Brooke / Mayhew
Talks to an end.

8. More Talks
• 4 July 1991
The Combined Loyalist Military Command
(CLMC) announced the end of the ceasefire, as
of midnight, that had begun on 29 April 1991.
• 16 September 1991 - 20 September 1991
Peter Brooke held a series of meetings with
leaders of the political parties in Northern Ireland
to try to restart the talks process.

9. UK Election
• 9 April 1992
A general election was held in the United Kingdom
(UK). Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF),
lost his seat in West Belfast to Dr Joe Hendron of the
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
• 11 April 1992
Patrick Mayhew replaced Peter Brooke as Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland.
• 27 April 1992
There was an announcement at the Anglo-Irish
Intergovernmental Conference that there would be a
three month break in its meetings to allow the Brooke
/ Mayhew Talks to recommence.

11. More talks
• 27 April 1992 There was an announcement at
the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference
that there would be a three month break in its
meetings to allow the Brooke / Mayhew Talks to
recommence.
• 29 April 1992 The Brooke / Mayhew Talks
recommenced at Stormont.
• 12 June 1992 The parties involved in the
Brooke / Mayhew Talks agreed to begin work on
Strand Two and Strand Three of the process
even though discussions on Strand One were at
a standstill.

12. Paisley and Molyneaux
• 10 August 1992 Patrick Mayhew, then Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland, announced that the
Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was to be banned
from midnight.
• 9 September 1992 Ian Paisley, then leader of the
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), walked out of the
Brooke / Mayhew Talks.
• 21 - 23 September 1992 Jim Molyneaux, then
leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), led a
delegation from the UUP to talks in Dublin with the
Irish Government. The talks were based on Strand
Two. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) did not
attend the talks in Dublin.

13. Talks Collapse
• 26 September 1992 The Democratic Unionist Party
(DUP) returned to the resumed Brooke / Mayhew Talks at
Stormont.
• 6 November 1992 The Irish Coalition Government
collapsed and a general election was called for 25
November 1992.
• 10 November 1992 Unionists withdrew from the Brooke /
Mayhew Talks and brought the process to an end. Their
action was provoked by the restart of work of the Maryfield
secretariat, set up as a result of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

14. IRA
• 24 December 1992
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) called a three-day
ceasefire.
• Wednesday 7 April 1993
Gordon Wilson met with representatives of the Irish
Republican Army (IRA) to try to persuade them to stop
their military campaign.
• Friday 9 April 1993
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) issued its Easter
message.

15. Hume / Adams Talks
• Sunday 11 April 1993 The secret talks held between
John Hume, leader SDLP, and Gerry Adams, President of
Sinn Féin became public knowledge when the Sunday
Tribune newspaper ran a story. The talks were criticised by
a number of parties and individuals.
• 24 April 1993 John Hume, then leader of the Social
Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and Gerry Adams,
then President of Sinn Féin (SF), issued a first joint
statement.
• 4 September 1993 to 11 September 1993
There was a suspension in IRA activities for one week.

16. Hume / Adams Talks
• 4 October 1993 Irish Republican Army (IRA) issued a
statement welcoming the Hume/Adams Initiative.
• 19 October 1993 James Molyneaux, leader of the Ulster
Unionist Party told John Major, British Prime Minister, of his
party's opposition to the Hume/Adams initiative.
• Saturday 23 October 1993 Ten people were killed
when a bomb being planted by the Irish Republican Army
(IRA) exploded prematurely in a shop on the Shankill Road,
Belfast. With the exception of one of the bombers who was
also killed, the rest of those who died were Protestant
civilians.

18. Violence continues
• 29 October 1993
John Major, then British Prime Minister, and Albert
Reynolds, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), issued a
joint statement from a meeting they held in Brussels.
• 30 October 1993
The Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) killed six Catholics and
one Protestant in an attack on the 'Rising Sun' bar in
Greysteel, County Derry. There was widespread
condemnation of the attack.

20. Downing Street Declaration
• 16 November 1993 A story appeared in the media
alleging that the British Government and Sinn Féin (SF) had
been having a series of secret talks.
• 27-28 November 1993 The fact that there had been a
series of secret talks between the British Government and
Sinn Féin (SF) was confirmed.
• Wednesday 15 December 1993
John Major, then British Prime Minister, and Albert
Reynolds, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), issued a
joint declaration from 10 Downing Street, London (the
document became known as the Downing Street
Declaration)

21. SinnFein
• Wednesday 6 April 1994 - Friday 8 April 1994 The
Irish Republican Army (IRA) called a three-day ceasefire.
• Thursday 19 May 1994 The Northern Ireland Office
(NIO) published a 21 page clarification of Sinn Féin (SF)
questions that arose from the Downing Street Declaration
• Saturday 18 June 1994 The Ulster Volunteer Force
(UVF) killed six Catholic men in a gun attack on a bar in
Loughlinisland, County Down. The attack was widely
condemned.
• Sunday 24 July 1994 Sinn Féin (SF) held a special
conference in Letterkenny, County Donegal to consider the
Downing Street Declaration Sinn Fein were critical of the
document and most observers took this to mean that the
proposals had been rejected.

22. IRA Cessation
• Tuesday 16 August 1994 Patrick Mayhew, Secretary of
State for Northern Ireland, and Michael Ancram, Political
Development Minister at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO),
held a secret meeting in Derry with Gerry Adams, then
President of Sinn Féin (SF), and Martin McGuinness, the
Vice-President of Sinn Féin (SF).
• Wednesday 31 August 1994
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) announced a "complete
cessation of military activities" in a statement to the media

23. Good Friday Agreement
• Good Friday 10 April 1988 After years of talks the two
governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland
sign the Good Friday Agreement
• Basis of Agreement
– The establishment of a power-sharing executive
– Cross-border co-operation
– Decommissioning of paramilitary weapons
– a commitment to "the mutual respect, the civil rights and
the religious liberties of everyone in the community".

24. The Chuckle Brothers

26. • Presentation prepared by:
• Dominic Haugh
• St. Particks Comprehensive School
• Shannon
• Co. Clare
• Presentation can be used for educational purposes only – all rights remain with author