Ireland’s Charles and Diana wedding ‘snub’ along with five other curious tales
Finding a ‘face-saving’ name for the new NI police force; Trinity College Dublin takes offence; and Casement’s ‘black diaries’
Finding a ‘face-saving’ name for the new NI police force; Trinity College Dublin takes offence; and Casement’s ‘black diaries’
British government came under pressure from Sinn Féin in 2000 to give immunity to republicans who were ‘on the run’ for offences from before the Belfast Agreement
Difference in fuel prices meant terrorists could profit by buying fuel in Republic and bringing it across Border, said Northern Ireland secretary Mandelson
State papers: Newly-released files show how the signatories to the Belfast Agreement came to view it as the least worst option
State papers: Canadian diplomat could not understand how ‘someone of Gerry Adams’s intellect’ failed to recognise benefits to Sinn Féin of decommissioning
State papers: An MP colleague also remarked that Mandelson’s tunnel vision was his greatest strength and his greatest weakness
Records released by Irish and British archives include details of a ‘republican’ artefact thief and a ‘radical’ UK proposal to hold asylum seekers on a Scottish island
State papers: Ahern viewed riots and disturbances around Holy Cross school in 2001 as sign of a ‘deeper malaise’ in Northern Ireland
State papers: After visiting refugee camps in Somalia the president gave an emotional press conference in which she criticised the UN’s approach to the camps and did not hide her anger about conditions
State papers: Justice minister sought ‘pre-emptive round-up’ of 150 dissident republicans
Civil servants feared it would anger Sinn Féin and put the progress of the peace process in jeopardy
State papers: 60% of Northern Ireland would be incorporated into the Republic, leaving just one of the North’s six counties fully intact, under proposal
Newly declassified files span 10 years in which the Republic became more liberal and Northern Ireland gained peace
Former Northern secretary saw the UUP leader David Trimble as ‘a deeply insecure leader’
Prime minister’s private secretary wrote that Blair ‘sees little scope for bi-communal support for a change to the law’
State papers: UUP leader David Trimble was seemingly unaware of meetings being held in 2001 with members of his own party
State papers: Election of new US president raised fears among Irish officials in 2001 that the White House shamrock ceremony would be scrapped
State papers published this week include confidential records showing what civil servants really thought about political leaders
There were calls for decontamination units to operate at capacity while protective clothing and supplies of antidotes, needles and syringes must be ‘built up’, top civil servant urged
State papers: Tony Blair wanted Wimbledon FC to move to Northern Ireland but senior civil servant warned it could be ‘another focus for sectarianism’
President Kennedy’s widow made the call less than 24 hours after her husband’s assassination in Dallas
Veronica Sutherland was alarmed that the depiction of a female British ambassador in Ireland might lead viewers to believe it was based on her
State papers: Gerry Adams wrote to Irish and British governments about the TG4 issue in 2000, citing commitments in the Belfast Agreement
Department of Foreign Affairs official told his British counterpart that as far as he was aware the prime minister and the royal family had ‘received nothing but praise for their gestures of sympathy’
Newly released State papers shed light on the years immediately after the Belfast Agreement, so much of which is still in dispute or open to interpretation
Official records from Dublin, Belfast and London cover years dominated by planning scandals, the dawn of the Celtic Tiger and a new start for Northern Ireland
State papers: British officials also raised issue of prisoner release, saying ‘life of a Garda’ could not be valued differently from that of a UK policeman
State papers: Former NI first minister grew increasingly frustrated during 2000 and 2001 as the IRA refused to decommission
State papers: ‘British intelligence are reportedly fearful that this disclosure could dwarf the Rosemary Nelson scandal,’ note Department of Justice files
State papers: Higher age of consent for homosexuality was ‘optimum’ to avoid it being seen as ‘perfectly normal’, AG’s office said in 1993
Credit card pioneer had plans to create a new town in Northern Ireland in 1972
Declassified State papers detail the journey to the Belfast Agreement, a deal some wholeheartedly endorsed but others reluctantly accepted
Constitution gives the name of the State as Éire or in the English language, Ireland
Economic link between NI and Clinton’s home state was rejected on grounds Arkansas was ‘too poor’
NI secretary favoured review with ‘overriding limitation that no soldier or other crown servant should be placed in jeopardy of legal action’
Declassified papers show British officials considered three options for addressing the problem
Peter Mandelson was singled out by the British Northern Secretary for having ability to ‘resist the pressures from both sides’, declassified papers show
Newly released state papers show how optimism around the Belfast Agreement in 1998 quickly gave way to stagnation
Ulster Unionist leader expressed concerns over protection provided at Stormont and on visits to London
Northern secretary Mo Mowlam also vowed no stone would be left unturned in inquiry into solicitor Pat Finucane’s killing
Legislation raised issue of ‘Church/State domination’ at sensitive time in Northern talks, Dermot Nally told taoiseach
All 269 passengers and crew on board the flight were killed when the plane was struck by a missile
IRA spectacularly ended its ceasefire in February 1996 with a massive explosion in London’s financial district
Despite disagreement on proposals, Jack Lynch Tunnel eventually opened in May 1999 at a cost of £70m
Representatives were more interested in travel expenses than negotiations, Northern Ireland Office civil servant complained
Many voters ‘cannot recall Gerry Adams wearing anything but Armani’, senior NIO official wrote
Official warned partisanship, ‘culture of dependency’ and ‘permanent opposition mode’ would complicate process
Galway curate travelled countywide on a motorbike during the 1930s recruiting young men into IRA
Details of negotiations around Drumcree Orange parade in 1998 and response of emergency services to Omagh bombing in newly-released files
Gerry Collins said Libya could have retaliated against Margaret Thatcher by transferring trade to Ireland rather than smuggling arms to the IRA
A decision by Michael D Higgins to lift the broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin when he was minister for arts in 1994 caused tension between the British and Irish governments
Advice followed from the success of a gay rights case at the European Court of Human Rights
Parties considered creating statue like Christ of the Andes as a means of overcoming decommissioning stand-off
Wilson’s call for no loyalist reprisals following Enniskillen bomb atrocity made world headlines, and he was later appointed to the Seanad
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices