BRITISH ministers were reluctant to accept Martin McGuinness was “genuinely” committed to the peace process, archive files reveal.
Secretary of state Sir Patrick Mayhew also speculated whether the IRA was training after claiming the paramilitary group recognised that the end of the campaign of violence was in sight.
In a meeting with tánaiste Dick Spring, NIO minister Michael Ancram and other officials in February 1997, Sir Patrick discussed the intentions of republicans around the peace process.
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Officials noted that interest from British ministers went beyond whether there was a prospect of an early ceasefire, and included whether republicans would accept the framework document as a basis for a lasting peace agreement. Both Sir Patrick and Mr Ancram appeared reluctant to accept that Mr McGuinness was “genuinely” committed.
The details are contained in documents opened for public viewing under annual releases by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
They also show that the UK government insisted the RUC retain the power to make decisions over contentious parades in the first year that violence erupted at Drumcree. It had been noted that one of the main problems with the system, whereby the RUC made operational decisions on the basis of public disorder, was that it encouraged those who wished to stop a march to threaten disorder.
Policy suggestions for contentious marches included the creation of a commission to adjudicate on parades. However, the NIO said: “The issue should remain in the hands of police.”
The papers also reveal that contingency plans for the collapse of the assembly were excluded from legislation setting up the institutions because the UUP and SDLP believed they should not “plan for failure”. Since full powers were first devolved to the assembly in 1999, the institutions have been suspended on several occasions.