The genesis of former British prime minister Tony Blair's role in the Good Friday Agreement has been laid bare, after a cabinet briefing note weeks into his premiership hinted at a historic accord with his Dublin counterpart.

A PROVEN case of sectarian harassment in the private office of Northern Ireland Office minister, Baroness Jean Denton, in 1997 affected her close relationship with Dublin, newly-released files reveal.

THE British Government came under intense pressure in 1997 over the detention of Roisin McAliskey, the pregnant daughter of the former Civil Rights MP, Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey.

DUP leader Ian Paisley came under attack from party supporters in 1997 for his ‘soft line’ over a lack of applications from the Protestant community for European Union funding for community development.

SECRETARY of State Mo Mowlam asked her officials to see if the grounds of Stormont could be used as a concert venue.

A PROPOSAL for a 'fly on the wall' documentary about the Maryfield Secretariat was rejected by British and Irish officials in 1997.

MO Mowlam gave British and Irish officials a 'Comic Relief kissing kit' at a lunch hosted by the Joint Anglo-Irish Secretariat in March 1997.

IRISH officials claimed unionists were "mischief-making" over the workings of the Anglo-Irish Secretariat.

THE preservation of fish stocks in the Irish Sea was a major concern of the British Government, newly-released files from 1997 show.

THE Irish government continued its efforts in 1997 to get a fresh judicial inquiry into Bloody Sunday in Derry.

IRISH officials working at the joint Anglo-Irish Secretariat at Maryfield, Co Down, did not have diplomatic immunity due to the Republic’s constitutional claim over the north.

GERRY Adams privately asked the Dublin government to give preferential treatment to 11 IRA prisoners just days after the 1994 ceasefire, declassified files reveal.

BRITAIN'S Prince Charles abandoned a proposed visit to the Republic in the summer of 1996 amid concerns about his personal safety, previously classified documents show.

Irish officials raised concerns about LVF leader Billy Wright's move from Maghaberry jail in Co Antrim to the nearby Maze prison months before he was shot dead.

1997 began with the low-level continuation of the IRA campaign, resumed after the breakdown of its ceasefire a year earlier.

State papers, mainly from 1997, have been released by the Public Records Office today.

Files on dozens of suspected IRA men who were interned shortly before, or during, the Second World War have been declassified after more than 80 years.

Proposals to mark the 150th anniversary of the Great Famine with an ecumenical service in Liverpool to coincide with President Mary Robinson’s first visit to the UK were vetoed in 1996 by Prime Minister John Major.

ANGLICAN primate Robin Eames' suggestion that the secretary of state should visit Protestant-owned shops in Co Tyrone which were being boycotted over the Drumcree parading dispute was rejected in 1997.

An arson attack on a Catholic church in Ballymena prompted the RUC to take a tougher line against loyalist protests.