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State Papers

Last year
2024
Not allowing Irish citizens to take up jobs in NI civil service was 'illegal', SDLP warned
Photos backed up Sinn Féin's stance that republicans had not hidden 'spiked weapons' on roofs
Tourism Ireland plan delayed because David Trimble objected to Britain being called 'overseas'
DUP accused government of being 'scared of the provos' after IRA abduction
Veteran republican Bobby Tohill was abducted in Belfast in 2004, damaging Sinn Féin’s reputation amid peace process talks.
Quiz: How well do you remember 2004?
Man posing as Republican group made credible threat to poison English water supplies in 1990s
Stakeknife revelations left republicans 'paralysed and damaged', confidential records show
Ireland warned US that labelling IRA a terrorist organisation might encourage more people to join
The issue was a talking point during Bertie Ahern’s visit to Washington DC in March 2001, newly released documents show.
Jack Lynch confused over request by James Joyce's son to bring his body back to Ireland
A loyalist paramilitary was caught by police in the 1990s... because he took a shower
State Papers: British general called Bloody Sunday inquiry a ‘cynical move’ to 'scapegoat' troops
Russian ambassador was 'exquisitely embarrassed' after Yeltsin failed to get off plane at Shannon
Nuala O'Loan 'badly shaken' after her teenage son was beaten up in 2002, State Papers show
Blair wanted to 'race through' meetings with unionists but would have to 'listen to their whinges'
British and Irish officials were also concerned about ‘daft’ plans to name members of the IRA Army Council in 2004, State Papers reveal.
All time
'Sex aids' being imported to Ireland in 1992 had officials abuzz with questions
McAleese was urged to meet loyalists of Holy Cross school dispute weeks before renewed violence
Wimbledon FC moving to Dublin never happened, but Tony Blair pushed for a Belfast move instead
9/11 sparked fears for nuclear or chemical attack preparedness in NI, State Papers reveal
Claim IRA members were in Colombia on holiday, not to train FARC, 'insulted US intelligence'
Tony Blair wanted to have 'a good time' during 1993 trip to Ireland, ideally involving U2
'Reproductive fascism': Read the letters calling on Mary Robinson to intervene in X Case
Many people, from Ireland and abroad, contacted the president about the controversial case in 1992.
The X Case centred on a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped
The letters to Robinson highlight how divisise the issue was in Ireland and abroad
'It is with disbelief and disgust that we heard about the young girl who has been forbidden to leave Ireland'
British officials 'perplexed' by exclusion of Garda McCabe's killers from GFA early release plans
Princess Diana referred to NI as part of the Republic, according to Irish ambassador's note
SF should move away from violent links to stop attracting 'head bangers', Adams agreed in 2001
Jackie Kennedy rang Irish Embassy to ensure Defence Forces would play role in JFK's funeral
Govt heard of British collusion in murder of man wrongly identified as IRA mole 'Stakeknife'
Ireland considered making 21 age of consent for gay people when decriminalising homosexuality
One 1993 document noted that moving from “criminalisation to equality might be too major a change at one go”.
The age of consent for heterosexual intercourse at the time was, and still is, 17 years old
21 was described as "probably the age most acceptable to those who do not want decriminalisation but recognise that there is no choice"
However, if 21 was chosen, "there would be an attempt to portray this country as backward", officials warned
State Papers 1999: Mo Mowlam told Alec Reid she was 'f****d' if paramilitary killings continued
When Bertie met Paisley: Attacks on Presbyterian churches led to meeting between two leaders
Canary Wharf: Adams was glad he 'didn't know about bombing' as he couldn't report or prevent it
Young Boris Johnson argued for 'hard egg' approach to dealing with the IRA after Canary Wharf
Tony Blair told John Bruton 25 years ago that British people feared 'losing control' to the EU
FW de Klerk told Haughey that lifting fruit & veg ban would help 'mainly Black' South Africans
Tony O'Reilly offered newly widowed Robert Mugabe a stay in his estate and a lend of his jet
Irish officials warned 'Garvaghy Road won’t exist' if 1998 Orange Order march didn't go ahead
Report into Aidan McAnespie shooting found it ‘difficult to accept’ soldier’s claims
Ahern sought rubber bullet ban to put pressure on UK to restrict their use in Northern Ireland
The secret story of the Princess of Prussia's family jewels being stolen at gunpoint in Dalkey
Real IRA not ‘overly active’, Ahern told Blair two weeks before Omagh bomb
How Bill Clinton's Kerry statue owes its roots to a visit by Dick Spring to Martha's Vineyard