THE contents of the telephone conversation between Mr John Bruton and Mr John Major at 10.30 p.m. last Tuesday hold the key to the latest Anglo Irish controversy. It was the only serious attempt to co ordinate the responses of the British and Irish governments to the International Body's report.
The question of securing such co ordination was uppermost in the Government's mind when the Cabinet sub committee considered Senator George Mitchell's findings on Monday night, within two hours of receiving them.
Three members of the Anglo Irish liaison group of officials, Mr Paddy Teahon, Mr Sean O hUiginn and Mr Tim Dalton, flew to London on Tuesday morning. Their counterparts had no instructions from their political masters, whose cabinet subcommittee was not meeting until 5 p.m. They assessed the report, nonetheless, and the British side indicated it wanted to be "as positive as possible" about the findings. The question of an assembly came up but it was not highlighted.
The officials returned to Dublin in the early afternoon and there was no further contact until the Prime Minister rang the Taoiseach, after the British cabinet meeting, at 10.30 pm. The contents of that call are at the core of the dispute.
Mr Major's subsequent announcement that elections in Northern Ireland were the only alternative to a decommissioning gesture for entry into all party talks has, effectively, stalled the peace process in its tracks.
In the Downing Street version, Mr Major "made clear his intention" to restate his support for the Washington 3 test as the most direct route to talks. He would endorse the concept of elections as an alternative way to negotiations and parallel decommissioning. He also told Mr Bruton he would "signal his readiness to bring forward legislation to create an elected body and to seek urgent support for it".
Mr Major concurred when the Taoiseach observed that any elected body would have to be widely acceptable to the communities in Northern Ireland, according to Downing Street.
In the Dublin version, Mr Bruton reiterated that the end of February was the firm date for the start of all party talks. He said the question of an election would be something that would flow from all party talks and "that an election would not be the way to start all party talks".
Mr Bruton also made it clear that any proposal for "a negotiated arrangement" would have to be one in which all relevant parties would take part. It was his view that nothing should be announced that "laced any party with a proposal which they felt they had to reject immediately".
Nothing was agreed in the conversation, according to the Dublin side, except the Prime Minister's undertaking to have Sir Patrick Mayhew or his deputy, Mr Michael Ancram, take the Irish side through the House of Commons statement before it was made.
The British stated further that Mr Major's press secretary, Mr Christopher Meyer, took the Taoiseach's press secretary, Mr Shane Kenny, through the terms of Mr Major's "intended statement" separately that night. Mr Kenny rejects this out of hand. He was speaking to Mr Meyer after 11 p.m. on Tuesday, he said, about the technicalities of releasing the reaction statements from both governments. Mr Kenny said Mr Meyer did indicate there would be a positive response to the Mitchell report and that he, Mr Meyer, would make it plain in his briefing that it was going to help all party talks by the end of February.
The Taoiseach reported to Government colleagues, after his 35 minute conversation, that it was Mr Major's firm intention to mention an elected body in his speech in a fairly passing way. The only assembly envisaged, he said, would come out of negotiations. It would not come from nowhere.
Mr Bruton's understanding of Mr Major's intentions on Tuesday night was that an elected body was going to form part of his response. The context in which it was presented, as an alternative pre condition, was not revealed until the following day.
The Government waited on Wednesday morning for contact from Mr Mayhew or Mr Ancram about the content of Mr Major's speech. None came. There was contact between Anglo Irish officials in the late morning when it was indicated that the speech was still being written. It would be a positive response. It was made clear to officials that the Taoiseach was going into the Dail at 2.30 p.m. to answer questions about Northern Ireland.
Mr Kenny phoned Mr Meyer at 1.15p.m. after the report from RTE's London correspondent, Brian O'Connell, of speculation in Westminster that the British government would announce procedures for an elected body.
In a note to the Taoiseach at 1.20 p.m., after the telephone call, he reported "Chris Meyer tells me that is wrong. There will be no specific proposals. But the Prime Minister will say in general terms that the elected body could produce a way forward, it may work, it's a matter for the parties."
The copy of Mr Major's speech was faxed to the Taoiseach's office at 2.21 p.m. nine minutes before he was due in the Dail for Question Time. Mr Bruton didn't see it before he went into the Dail. He knew his officials were trying to contact their British counterparts, as he was speaking in the Dail.
On his way to RTE to do an interview about the Mitchell report, Mr Bruton still had not seen the text of Mr Major's speech. He was given a verbal briefing on it by officials in the car.
