The IRA's leaders took a great risk by entering into talks with the British government in the early 1990s, former British prime minister Sir John Major said last night.
The former Conservative MP told an audience at Iveagh house in Dublin that the success of the 1993 talks depended on the IRA's leaders. He said while he and then Taoiseach Albert Reynolds were risking their political careers, "the IRA's supporters were more deadly than our backbench colleagues - and their leaders were taking a risk too - possibly with their own lives". Sir John spoke to mark the 20th anniversary of the Downing Street Declaration, signed by the then Conservative leader and Mr Reynolds, whom he also praised.