Declassified files: 12,000lb Derry bomb showed dissidents ‘prepared to make trouble’ amid Stormont talks

Confidential files newly-released under the 20-year rule show the Labour Government was confident, however, that the IRA had no intention of ‘turning the clock back’ but that it would be ‘a big step to disarm, and effectively, disband’.

At a Cabinet Meeting in 10 Downing Street on July 3, 2003, at a time when the power-sharing institutions were in cold-storage after unionists walked out following a raid by the PSNI on Sinn Féin’s offices at Stormont, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said ‘the British and Irish Governments had agreed a way forward on the peace process’ but that ‘the political parties of Northern Ireland would need to be engaged’.

Mr. Murphy, who was Secretary of State for the North, told colleagues at the same meeting that ‘the situation on the streets had been pretty good so far during this marching season’, although, he said, ‘dissident Republicans were still prepared to make trouble as their attempt explode a 12,000 pound bomb in Londonderry showed’.

Formerly secret minutes for 2003 show the British Government was anxious to achieve a restoration of power-sharing.

At a meeting on February 6, Mr. Murphy argued that the 'key question was whether the IRA could offer enough to persuade the Unionists to re-engage politically so that the institutions could be restored'.

Mr. Blair considered that the 'auguries for long-term peace had never been better'.

"The IRA did not want to return to violence, but the Unionist politicians were diverging from their mainstream supporters," he said, however, he expressed concern that planned elections in May 2003 could hinder progress.

A week later, on February 13, Mr. Blair told the Cabinet that getting all parties on board would be difficult but argued the 'prize would be the end of the IRA's campaign'.

"Key to success was getting support from the Loyalist community and engaging it in the political process," said Mr. Blair.

Mr. Murphy said: "A £3m community fund had been launched which was of particular significance from the Loyalists."

By March 6, the Secretary of State told Cabinet that Mr. Blair and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the political parties had made progress on negotiations to restore power-sharing but indicated the May elections may have to be postponed.

Any deal, he said, hinged on the IRA making progress on ‘acts of completion’ with respect to the decommissioning of its arsenal.

Mr. Blair remarked: “The ultimate success of the work to date was dependent upon what the IRA would do. He did not believe they could turn the clock back, but it was a big step to disarm and effectively, disband.

"The IRA needed to do this properly, both through a clear statement and by deed. The Loyalist camp was beginning to benefit from the community fund and other social support.”

In April of that year the Irish and British Governments published a joint declaration of proposals to get Stormont back up and running. It called for progress on decommissioning, normalisation and rights, among other key planks.

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This was met by a lengthy response by the IRA, signed P O'Neill, of the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau, Dublin.

However, In May at another Cabinet meeting at Downing Street Mr. Murphy questioned the IRA's commitment to ‘cease all terrorist and paramilitary activity'. The decision was also taken to postpone the scheduled Assembly elections until the autumn.

On May 8, Mr. Murphy argued: “The circumstances in Northern Ireland were not comparable with those of Wales of Scotland. Northern Ireland's situation was unique, with politics being based on the Good Friday Agreement. Insufficient trust and confidence existed to form an Executive and proceeding with elections for an Assembly therefore made no sense. Elections would be postponed until the Autumn.”

After the relatively quiet summer referred to by Mr. Murphy at Cabinet in July, significant progress had been made by October after the IRA met again with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) and carried out a third act of decommissioning involving, according to another statement from P. O’Neill, ‘the largest amount of arms to date’.

This meant that elections could take place in November.

At a Cabinet meeting on October 23, 2002, Mr. Murphy said: “Elections would go ahead on November 26; the decommissioning of IRA weapons had been substantial; and the Sinn Féin leadership had adopted a more positive political position than before.

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"But the Ulster Unionist Party was at present likely to be in electoral difficulty; and the Social Democratic and Labour Party was miffed to have been excluded from the negotiations to date.

At the same meeting Mr. Blair said ‘the Government would continue to strive for political progress’.

“An important point was that the IRA now acknowledged that the Good Friday Agreement was the key, rather than that violence would only stop when the cause of the conflict was resolved,” the Prime Minister said.

In the elections that followed the DUP surpassed the UUP as the biggest party within unionism while Sinn Féin eclipsed the SDLP for the first time as the largest nationalist faction.

Despite the fresh mandate the power-sharing institutions would not be restored until 2007. This followed a further act of decommissioning in 2005 and the announcement on July 28, 2005, that the IRA had formally ordered an end to its armed campaign.

This paved the way for the St. Andrew’s Agreement of 2006 and Sinn Féin’s endorsement of policing and justice in early 2007.

Declassified Files: Downing Street was prepared to give IRA a weapons amnesty in 1994