Thousands of declassified documents are being released this week from the archives of Dublin, Belfast and London, bringing new insight into Irish events, politics and personalities of times past.
Dublin’s archival material focuses mostly on documents which have turned 30 years old this year, centring on 1994. Here are five things we learned from the State Papers.
1. Bertie Ahern overruled objections to continue weapons purchases from Israel in 1990s
Ireland continued to purchase ammunition from Israel despite “strong reservations” from then minister for foreign affairs David Andrews. The then minister for finance Bertie Ahern overruled Mr Andrews, who argued that Ireland should not continue to buy weapons from a country that had been involved in many incidents in Lebanon where Irish peacekeeping troops were targeted.
2. Mary Robinson was blocked by government from taking up UN role in 1993
Tánaiste and minister for foreign affairs Dick Spring warned the then president, Mary Robinson, that taking up a UN position would “fly in the face” of what the public understood her role to be. In 1993 Mrs Robinson was invited to co-chair a high-level international group set to report on the role of the United Nations to mark its 50th anniversary in 1995 and to recommend a way forward for the organisation.
State Papers: Five things we learned, from details of Boris Yeltsin’s Shannon no-show to blocking Mary Robinson’s UN role
Senior Northern Ireland judge disliked Jews just as much as he did Catholics, officials told
Hoax water threat could have been a loyalist smear, British officials believed
Government agreed to pay Michael Noonan legal costs for libel case over alleged IRA money
3. Russian ambassador ‘exquisitely embarrassed’ by Yeltsin’s no-show at Shannon Airport
Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s infamous no-show at Shannon Airport was a big news story in 1994 and newly released archive files shed much new light on the background to the incident. Taoiseach Albert Reynolds had cut short his visit to Australia to be present on the tarmac when the presidential plane carrying Mr Yeltsin was scheduled to arrive on September 30th from a conference in Seattle.
4. Jack Lynch puzzled by request to repatriate James Joyce’s remains
James Joyce’s only son Giorgio wanted to repatriate his father’s remains to Ireland, but then taoiseach Jack Lynch was highly sceptical of the proposal. Giorgio Joyce expressed a preference for his father to be buried in Ireland during a conversation with the writer and biographer Ulick O’Connor in 1968.
5. Notorious apartheid police chief ‘Prime Evil’ was refused entry to Ireland over fears he would settle
A notorious apartheid-era police chief was refused entry into Ireland because of fears that he would settle permanently and try to escape punishment for his crimes in South Africa. Col Eugene Alexander de Kock, known as Prime Evil, was wanted in South Africa following the fall of apartheid and the election of the first African National Congress (ANC) government.
1994 overview
The Dublin material focuses on 1994. In a contemporary review of events, The Irish Times then described it as “a pivotal year for politicians, the Catholic Church and Anglo-Irish affairs”, highlighting themes that remain central in newly released material.
The year began with Fianna Fáil under Albert Reynolds in office with the Labour Party and Fine Gael’s John Bruton under pressure from an internal putsch. By its end, Mr Bruton was taoiseach, in a rainbow coalition with Labour and Democratic Left.
For the church, it was the “year of the paedophile priest”, then-religious affairs correspondent Andy Pollak wrote. Fr Brendan Smyth was jailed after pleading guilty to 17 charges of indecent assault involving the sexual abuse of five girls and three boys. The hierarchy was in turmoil.
In Northern Ireland, as well as Dublin, London and an increasingly interested Washington DC, it was the year of the ceasefire. Negotiations and false starts marked 1994, and the new papers provide further insights on the efforts behind the scenes to progress towards the moment on August 31st, 1994, when the IRA agreed to lay down arms as part of the peace process.
Meanwhile, Ireland took revenge on Italy at the USA World Cup, Riverdance debuted during the Eurovision interval as Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids secured a record three-in-a-row for the country, and transition year was rolled out to mainstream schools.
Around the world, the mercurial figure of Boris Yeltsin captured international attention as Russia’s transition from communism took shape. Elsewhere, slaughter in the Balkans and Rwanda made for grim reading, but South Africa’s first free election provided an optimistic note, installing former freedom fighter Nelson Mandela as president.
In Belfast and London, the documents released are under the UK’s 20-year rule, relating to 2004, and Dublin’s archivists have chosen to release some files related to Anglo-Irish relations for the period from 1995 to 2004 that deal with similar events.
And as ever, there are other stories, of curiosity and importance both: the young JFK’s views on partition, the young Binyamin Netanyahu’s lobbying efforts and the fate of a rock from the moon, among others.
Coverage will run until New Year’s Eve, in print and online
State Papers articles
- Bertie Ahern overruled objections to continue weapons purchases from Israel in 1990s
- Mary Robinson was blocked by Government from taking up UN role in 1993
- Russian ambassador ‘exquisitely embarrassed’ by Yeltsin’s no-show at Shannon Airport
- Jack Lynch puzzled by request to repatriate James Joyce’s remains
- Plans to name IRA Army Council ‘daft’, agreed Irish and British officials
- Dublin blindsided on Chris Patten’s appointment as head of NI policing commission, State records show
- Loyalist paramilitaries’ increased professionalisation in early 1990s concerned Dublin, State papers reveal
- More should have been done to protect assassinated lawyer Rosemary Nelson, British officials later accepted
- Family of Irishman assassinated on Bloody Sunday by Collins ‘Squad’ compensated by British
- Irish government feared retaliation over decision not to prosecute Dessie O’Hare
- Senior British general ‘furious’ about new Bloody Sunday Inquiry he saw as ‘cynical political move’
- How John Bruton, the last Redmondite, got to grips with the IRA, the UK and the peace process
- Notorious apartheid police chief ‘Prime Evil’ was refused entry to Ireland over fears he would settle
