State Papers

Peace process prisoner releases prompted warning that not all would become ‘good guys’, State papers show

British NI minister noted ‘legitimate concerns’ that released prisoners could end up teaching children of their victims

Albert Reynolds clashed with banks over call for more small business funding

Taoiseach criticised excessive profitability of lenders, prompting accusation of ‘anti-bank sentiment’

Trimble and Mallon feared DUP ministers would not honour Executive confidentiality

Peter Robinson and Nigel Dodds refused to attend Executive meetings due to objections to SF’s McGuinness and de Brún

John Bruton believed nationalists were not properly represented by Sinn Féin or SDLP

New taoiseach caused concern as IRA grappled with ceasefire and decommissioning decisions, papers show

Narrow Water Bridge: £500,000 proposal was turned down in 1970s before rocketing to €100m

NI official found proposal ‘most attractive’ for tourism but ‘cannot see money being available for this’ in 1975

Roger Casement told own defence team ‘black diaries’ were a forgery

British government leaked the diaries to sway public opinion over Casement after his arrest for treason

Northern Ireland’s construction industry was ‘rotten’ with paramilitary links, officials told

IRA and Loyalist paramilitaries were able to ‘cream off’ millions through extortion rackets

Irish officials requested that inward investment be kept out of North-South co-operation

During final, critical negotiations ahead of 1998 Belfast Agreement, Dublin officials were ‘clearly under pressure’ from IDA, NI civil service noted

How Sinn Féin came in from the cold: British state’s changing attitude to republicans tracked over time

Arrival of Sinn Féin members as elected representatives in 1980s met with caution and secrecy by officials

‘Show some respect’, Brian Cowen told Gerry Adams in furious Belfast meeting, records show

Kidnapping of dissident Tohill in 2004 heightened tensions, with McDowell comparing Sinn Féin to Nazis

Nazi film Triumph of the Will shown in Dublin’s Olympia in 1935 - and removed overnight due to threats

Department of Justice feared communists in Ireland would target film’s screening

Nationalists feel ‘sense of ease’ when they travel south, Dick Spring told

Residents of Dunloy village, north Antrim, suffered sectarian abuse and oppressive policing

Government wrestled with Mary Robinson’s plan to make historic first visit to Queen Elizabeth II

President signalled intention in newspaper interview, to the consternation of taoiseach Albert Reynolds

DFA helped Irish people find family in Australia in days before online communication

Emigrants sometimes lost touch with relatives who had no way to contact them

Ireland was offered secret meeting with Iranian president over Brian Keenan hostage situation

Belfast man kidnapped by Islamic Jihad in 1986 in Beirut during Lebanese civil war

Trimble blocked Tourism Ireland campaign in Britain, records show

Unionist leader objected to Britain being designated part of ‘overseas’ market

US attorney general believed IRA tried to buy weapons after 1994 ceasefire, State papers reveal

Bill Clinton overruled objections to let Gerry Adams fundraise – and to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in White House

US ambassador said Ireland was a den of German and Axis spies during second World War

State Papers: Beleaguered Irish legation in Washington briefed that German and Italian embassies only had six staff

Attempts to build Irish arms industry failed due to concerns over neutrality and misuse by rogue regimes

Dutch company Eurometaal NV planned shell factory in Ireland, but Brian Lenihan was ‘extremely dubious’

Irish officials thought proposed Anglo-Irish talks chair was ‘bitchy’, ‘petulant’ and ‘widely disliked’

Former House of Commons speaker was a ‘Welsh Uncle Tom’, Foreign Affairs note records

Papers handed to Irish ambassador cast doubt on whether Yeats’s remains were correctly identified

Nephew of painter Hannah Gluckstein, a member of poet’s late circle, approached embassy with information in 1978

Binyamin Netanyahu lobbied for embassy during visit to Ireland as a rising star politician in 1990

Future Israeli prime minister defended opposition to Palestinian statehood and downplayed settlements and occupations

John Hume faced party pressure over focus on IRA distracting from SDLP interests

Deputy leader Seamus Mallon warned against ‘hand-holding’ of Sinn Féin in 1995

Concessions to Loyalist Volunteer Force horrified Dublin, records show

Irish officials suspicious of ‘malign mandarins’ encouraging ‘King Rat’ Billy Wright

Senior Northern Ireland judge disliked Jews just as much as he did Catholics, officials told

Issue raised over possible elevation of well-regarded lawyer Ronnie Appleton to bench

Hoax water threat could have been a loyalist smear, British officials believed

Alleged attempt to put weed killer in English water supplies was taken seriously

Tony Blair thought NI nationalists would support England in World Cup if Ireland were out, files reveal

Former PM ‘crestfallen’ when SDLP leader failed to agree with suggestion, officials noted

From Blair and Clinton to civil servants in the shadows, archive papers reveal scale of peace push

IRA Army Council management by Gerry Adams, Bertie Ahern’s referendum worries and unionists’ mistrust are revealed in documents

British under fire over claim Henry VIII cannons smuggled from Irish waters into Tower of London

The guns, which sank with the HMS Post in 1566 near Tramore, were allegedly put on display in London with no reference to their provenance

Government agreed to pay Michael Noonan legal costs for libel case over alleged IRA money

Businessmen sued for defamation over then-minister’s statement, claiming it was for legitimate pork export business

Stakeknife allegations ‘traumatised’ Sinn Féin, Ahern and Blair believed

Disclosure ignited ‘all kinds’ of conspiracy theories about who was being protected and who eliminated

JFK’s four days in Ireland among happiest of his life, his father told De Valera

President John F Kennedy visited Ireland for four days in June 1963, the year of his assassination

NI Policing Authority report nothing more than RUC ‘propaganda’, Irish official believed

Eamonn McKee complained the report’s ‘studied neutrality’ was not intended to reflect Catholic attitudes accurately

Irish America appalled by De Valera’s visit to German minister after Hitler’s death

Furious messages to diplomats in US took issue with taoiseach’s action amid wartime neutrality

No, Sir: Government refused Oliver J Flanagan’s request to use title after papal honour

No precedent for papal knights calling themselves ‘Sir’, Catholic Church confirmed

How John Bruton, the last Redmondite, got to grips with the IRA, the UK and the peace process

Once dismissed as ‘John Unionist’ in the Dáil, Bruton’s lifelong interest in history served him in key 1990s talks

Dublin blindsided on Chris Patten’s appointment as head of NI policing commission, State records show

June 1998 briefing note prepared for then taoiseach Bertie Ahern complained of ‘strong dissatisfaction’ with British handling of the matter

Jack Lynch puzzled by request to repatriate James Joyce’s remains

Then taoiseach wished to know if Giorgio Joyce, the writer’s son, expected the government to pay

Senior British general ‘furious’ about new Bloody Sunday inquiry he saw as ‘cynical political move’

Department of Foreign Affairs found open criticism of political leaders remarkable

Loyalist paramilitaries’ increased professionalisation in early 1990s concerned Dublin, State papers reveal

One loyalist aroused suspicion after arriving to an RUC station freshly showered, as he was ‘not known for his regular bathing habits’

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