John Major ‘shouted at’ by Irish justice minister in Troubles-era meeting

Sir John Major said being “shouted at” by an Irish Justice minister was like “being in the House of Commons”, according to state documents which show that Padraig Flynn took UK officials to task on co-operation over Northern Ireland.

In September 1992, Mr Flynn was exercised by a range of security issues as well as a lack of clarity from Mr Major’s government on the place of Northern Ireland in the Irish Constitution.

The dispute has been revealed in a confidential note on a meeting in London which has been made public as part of the annual release from the National Archives of Ireland.

In a meeting with the Prime Minister and Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mayhew as well as Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, Mr Flynn expressed concern that there had been an escalation of Loyalist paramilitary violence in the absence of meetings of the Anglo-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference.

Prior to this meeting, Mr Major had held an hour-long tete-a-tete with Mr Reynolds where the Prime Minister had contended that co-operation on security matters had been better than it had ever been.

However, that assessment was challenged when Mr Flynn and Mr Mayhew joined the leaders.

The Justice Minister raised several issues including the closure of cross-border roads, the rebuilding of a British military watchtower near Cloghogue school, and a preference for mobile patrols over permanent vehicle checkpoints.

In a record by an Irish civil servant which is not meant to be considered verbatim, Mr Flynn said he did not wish to “intrude a discordant note” but contended that cooperation with the Anglo-Irish Secretariat had decreased due to the break of meetings in the Conference.

Mr Major told him not to worry about being discordant and assured him matters would be looked at.

Mr Mayhew said that his officials had been “tied up” in talks with Northern Ireland political parties, but said there “will be no lack of co-operation”.

The Prime Minister joked that this meant officials who had been working 16 hours a day would now be working 24 hours a day.

On the checkpoints and closure of roads, Mr Mayhew said the official advice was that they were all necessary for security purposes.

Mr Major asked Mr Mayhew if he wanted to get his “own back” towards Mr Flynn, to which the Northern Ireland Secretary replied: “No, Prime Minister – not long ago I would have wanted to.”

The Justice Minister said the talks with Northern Ireland political parties were “sniffing around the mulberry bush” but “going nowhere”.

He said DUP leader Ian Paisley had previously absented himself from the talks but still reserved the right to return to negotiations for the purpose of insisting on a change in the Irish Constitution’s territorial claim to the whole island of Ireland.

Mr Major said he did not want to see the talks derailed: “You have to deal with the Unionists in these talks but I deal with them every day. We must not lose sight of what you and I want to see come out of these talks.”

Mr Flynn said “it is not helpful when Her Majesty’s Government says that the Irish Constitution must be changed” and said there had been a hope that Mr Mayhew would have been able to use influence to pressure unionists on the issue.

“Let us not get into double speak here. Let us be clear: If the Unionists feel comfort from your or that a change in the Constitution is possible, there will be misunderstanding.”

The Northern Ireland Secretary said he wished it was true that he had influence over unionists, contending that they only hang on his words because they feel they are about to be betrayed.

This sentiment was shared by Mr Major who told Mr Flynn that he may feel the UK Government has “more control over the Unionists than we have”.

The Justice Minister said he, along with his Fianna Fail party and founder Eamon de Valera, had “been insulted” during the party talks and sought a commitment to a strong Government-to-Government foundation on the matters of the constitution.

Mr Major reiterated his Government’s sincerity and attempted the resolve the row amicably: “I don’t mind being shouted at – it is quite like the House of Commons.

“Let us agree we are going to do this – but you must not go away with suspicions about us.”

Apparently still in good humour, the Prime Minister ended that meeting by saying they would now “go meet the reptiles” – in reference to the press gathered in the courtyard outside.

– This article is based on documents contained in the file labelled 2023/50/204 in the National Archives of Ireland.