Under Article 2 (b) of the Anglo-Irish Agreement the British Government accepts that the Irish Government will put forward views and proposals on matters relating to Northern Ireland in so far as those matters are not the responsibility of a devolved administration in Northern Ireland.
Article 5 (c) provides that, if it should prove impossible to achieve and sustain devolution on a basis which secures widespread acceptance in Northern Ireland, the Anglo-Irish Conference shall be a framework within which the Irish Government may, where the interests of the minority community are significantly or especially affected, put forward views on proposals for major legislation and on major policy issues. In the absence of devolved institutions since the signature of the Agreement in 1985, successive Irish Governments have made extensive use of the mechanisms of the Conference to this end.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement also provides, in Article 4 (c), that the conference shall be a framework within which the Irish Government may put forward views and proposals on the modalities of bringing about devolution in Northern Ireland, in so far as they relate to the interests of the minority community.
It has been generally accepted since the 1991-92 talks that devolved institutions in Northern Ireland will only be agreed as part of a comprehensive accommodation addressing all three sets of relationships and involving arrangements within Northern Ireland, between North and South, and between the British and Irish Governments. This understanding is reflected in the Joint Declaration and the Joint Framework Document.
The Government is actively engaged in the preparation of the all-party negotiations which are to begin on 10 June and which we hope will result in a comprehensive settlement. In our exchanges with the British Government on these matters, we continue to make ample use of the machinery set up under the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
