Transcript of an interview with Seamus Mallon, deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, by David Frost for BBC Breakfast with Frost on 11 March 2001. Three days earlier the Provisional IRA issued a statement declaring their openness to a meeting with John de Chastelain to progress the decommissioning issue. The announcement came within a period of high community and political tension following the Real IRA bombing in London on 4 March and the continued dispute over David Trimble's effective ban on Sinn Fein attending North-South ministerial meetings. In this interview Mallon discusses these issues and his own relationship with David Trimble. Breakfast with Frost was a weekly BBC current affairs programme.
Date of Release/Broadcast: 11 March 2001
Name of First Interviewee: Seamus Mallon
Role at time of Interview: Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and deputy leader of the SDLP
Interviewer: David Frost
Purpose: News
Media: Transcript
Copyright: © BBC Breakfast with Frost
Link: Read the transcript
Programme/Book/Article: BBC Breakfast with Frost
Time Period covered: 2001
Key Individuals: Seamus Mallon, David Trimble, John de Chastelain, George Bush
Key Words: SDLP, Sinn Fein, UUP, North-South bodies, Belfast Agreement, Good Friday Agreement, policing, decommissioning, IRA, IICD, American government