Video interviews with Mitchel McLaughlin (chairperson of Sinn Fein), David Trimble (designate First Minister of Northern Ireland), Tony Blair (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) and Bertie Ahern (Irish Taoiseach) for ITN on 31 March 1999. Two days into the Hillsborough talks on decommissioning and the establishment of a power-sharing Executive, the IRA’s Easter statement affirmed its commitment to the peace process but did not refer to decommissioning. McLaughlin, Trimble, Blair and Ahern discuss the statement and the potential outcome of the talks. The Hillsborough Declaration from the British and Irish governments one day later created a framework for progress towards power-sharing government and invested the IICD with responsibility for scheduling IRA decommissioning.
Date of Release/Broadcast: 31 March 1999
Name of First Interviewee: Mitchel McLaughlin
Name of Second Interviewee: David Trimble
Name of Third Interviewee: Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern
Role at time of Interview: Mitchel McLaughlin (Chairperson of Sinn Fein), David Trimble (leader of the UUP), Tony Blair (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) and Bertie Ahern (Irish Taoiseach)
Purpose: News
Media: Audiovisual
Copyright: ©2013 ITN All rights reserved
Link: Watch the video
Programme/Book/Article: ITN
Time Period covered: 1998-1999
Key Individuals: Mitchel McLaughlin, David Trimble, Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern
Key Words: Sinn Fein, UUP, British government, Irish government, Belfast Agreement, Good Friday Agreement, decommissioning