Irish Boundary Talks Shrouded in Secrecy as Cosgrave and Craig Gather in London
Amid deep mistrust in Dublin and growing optimism in London, W.T. Cosgrave, Sir James Craig and Northern ministers converge for closely guarded negotiations on the future of the Irish border.
The President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, W.T Cosgrave, The British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald and then prime minister of Northern Ireland Sir James Craig at Chequers
By Cormac Moore
December 01, 2025 at 6:00am GMT
December 1 1925
There was optimism in London yesterday as to a settlement of the Irish issue, but grave doubts in Dublin.
The conferences of Saturday and Sunday were not resumed, but negotiations are going on in circumstances of the utmost secrecy. To resume his direction of the Free State side in the consultations, President [WT] Cosgrave last night left Dublin for London, where it is expected definitive developments will take place today.
A Northern Government delegation has arrived in London to support Sir James Craig.
Lord Birkenhead yesterday deplored the conduct of the “Morning Post” in depriving Northern Ireland of “the unanimous decision of all three arbitrators” by publishing its forecast. Incidentally he revealed the interesting fact that the “Daily Telegraph” on patriotic grounds had refused to publish that document.
Mr [Stanley] Baldwin had nothing to state at Westminster yesterday beyond the fact that “discussions were still in progress”.
The Press Association wired yesterday: –
There are indications that progress is being made in the succession of conferences concerning the Irish Boundary difficulty, and in well-informed quarters there is growing optimism of a settlement.
The field of discussion has been widened by the inclusion of more representatives of Northern Ireland. Sir [Richard] Dawson Bates (Home Minister), Mr AB Babington, KC, (Attorney-General), Col [Wilfrid] Spender (Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance), and Mr CH Blackmore (Secretary to the Cabinet), are in London, and, with Sir James Craig, their Prime Minister, are waiting to attend further conferences when called upon to do so.
Mr Kevin O’Higgins (Minister for Justice), and Mr [John] O’Byrne (Attorney-General), are in London as representatives of the Free State.
Mr PJ McGilligan (Minister for Industry and Commerce), who took part in the discussions at Chequers during the weekend, has returned to Dublin.
There was no meeting with Mr Stanley Baldwin in the morning, but it is expected that conversations will be resumed during the day.
Interviewed yesterday in London by the “Belfast Telegraph’s” correspondent, Mr Blackmore, secretary to the Northern Cabinet, said he was unable to add anything to Mr Baldwin’s statement in the House of Commons. The discussion had not concluded, he said, but the position was quite unchanged.
The week of intense negotiations between the Irish Free State, British and Northern Ireland governments continued before culminating in a tripartite agreement on December 3.
Policy of detention without trial also described as barbaric and anti-human at SDLP conference
By the end of 1975, almost 2,000 people had been interned at the Long Kesh internment camp
By Cormac Moore
November 29, 2025 at 6:00am GMT
November 29 1975
MOVING the attack on internment at the SDLP’s annual conference in Belfast, Mr Brendan McAllister (Newry) said it had rightly been called the Provisional IRA’s greatest propaganda weapon.
It was also barbaric and anti-human, he said, but it must be remembered and must never be endured again.
Seconding, Mr Cathal O’Boyle (Newcastle) said there was no excuse for talking away a person’s liberty without a fair trial. Internment was designed to break down human feeling and this objective was even more vicious than internment itself.
Convention member Mr Paddy Duffy said the party had succeeded in convincing the Irish Government that internment was helping IRA recruitment.
Had it not been for the murders and other violence of the past week, said Mr Duffy, internment would have been ended before their conference began.
Mr Frank Irvine (East Belfast) urged the party to be conscious of the problems faced by people who had suffered the iniquitous system of internment and to do everything possible to help to rehabilitate them.
Convention member Mr John Turnly said that far from offering compensation, the British Government had been quibbling over even giving internees the state benefits to which they would have been entitled had they not been interned. The party should demand £100-a-week compensation for every internee.
Mr E McAteer (Rosemount) hoped that this would be the last time internment would have to be included in the conference agenda.
Mr Sean MacGabhann (Newtownabbey) said the SDLP policy on internment represented a good start but a bad finish. “The party has been too half-hearted all along the line regarding internment”, he said.
Convention member Mr Paddy O’Donoghue said the SDLP was the only party or group which had pressed for compensation for internees, but they had received no positive response from the Northern Ireland Office.
The NIO’s response to a demand for payment of Grade 1 National Insurance benefits was simply that such a move would require a change in the law.
Dealing with election law, Mr Alban Maginnis (North Belfast) said that in a period of direct rule, which might well have to be faced, the SDLP would need to increase its representation at Westminster.
If the government were to give increased representation to Northern Ireland it would be thoroughly logical and politically right to call for PR, he said.
At the fifth annual conference of the SDLP, a long debate ensued over the folly of internment which was about to be ended by the British government days later.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement, signed on November 15, 1985, gave the Irish Government an advisory role in Northern Ireland’s Government and proved to be a stepping-stone in the peace process.
Irish Central Staff
@IrishCentral
Nov 15, 2025
Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.
Former Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald appealed to Ronald Reagan’s sense of Irish history and neighborly pride to help broker the ground-breaking Anglo-Irish agreement, which was signed on November 15, 1985.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement, which aimed to bring the Troubles to an end, gave the Irish Government an advisory role in Northern Ireland’s Government while also confirming that there would be no change to the region’s constitutional position unless a majority of citizens agreed.
It additionally set out the conditions for a devolved power-sharing government in the region and proved to be a stepping-stone toward peace in the region.
The Agreement was signed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald on November 15, 1985, at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland.
In 2012, a summer school set up in honor of FitzGerald heard that former US President Ronald Reagan played a key role in brokering the deal between the Irish and British Governments.
The inaugural Garret FitzGerald Summer School in Killarney heard in 2012 how the FitzGeralds and the Reagans came from the same parish in south Tipperary.
The Irish Times reports that FitzGerald’s son Mark told the Summer School how the ancestral links between the two families helped to sway British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to back the agreement.
He said: “Mr. Reagan’s huge help to Ireland in that period, in the run-up to 1985 and the signing of the agreement, was not fully appreciated.”
Mark revealed how the FitzGeralds from Skeheenarinky and the Regans from Ballyporeen came from the same hillside.
“The families lived “3½ miles apart in south Tipperary, and the Fitzgerald’s and the Reagans had actually been godparents at each other’s christenings,” he revealed.
The paper reports that Dr. FitzGerald’s grandfather, Patrick FitzGerald, a laborer, emigrated to London in the 1850s or 1860s, while Mr Reagan’s great-grandfather had also left for London around this time, and afterward went to the US.
Dr. FitzGerald’s father, Desmond, Minister for External Affairs in the first Irish government after independence, was born in London.
Mark Fitzgerald added: “It is not widely known how influential Mr Reagan had been in working on my father’s and Ireland’s behalf in persuading Margaret Thatcher, then British prime minister, to come around to the terms of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
“There were regular telephone calls and consultations between my father and Mr Reagan to help bring about the agreement, which laid the foundations for the Belfast Agreement 13 years later.
“Reagan was a huge help to us in persuading Thatcher to sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement. She’d agree to anything Reagan wanted. He helped Ireland in a big way.”
Speaking at the event organized by Young Fine Gael, Mark FitzGerald added: “Garret loved young people, he loved Fine Gael and politics but what would Garret say if he were here today?
“He would say the most important thing in politics is to have common high standards while embracing different views. He would say challenge people, be curious. He always said don’t complain – do something.”
Although the Anglo-Irish Agreement failed to bring the Troubles to an end, it did improve cooperation between the Irish and British Governments and was therefore a key initial step in the Northern Irish peace process.
By signing the Agreement, the British Government acknowledged the legitimate wishes of the Irish Government to have an interest in the affairs in Northern Ireland and also boosted the popularity of the peace-advocating SDLP among nationalist communities.
Liam Clancy was born in 1935 in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, and became one of Ireland’s most beloved folk singers before his death in 2009. As the youngest member of The Clancy Brothers, he helped the group achieve something remarkable—they became what many consider Ireland’s first true pop stars, reaching massive international fame during the 1960s.
Together with Tommy Makem, Liam and his brothers introduced Irish ballads to audiences around the world. They sold millions of records and filled prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, captivating listeners with their powerful performances. Their breakthrough moment came with a famous 1961 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which brought Irish folk music into American living rooms.
What set Liam apart was his extraordinarily rich, dramatic voice and his gift for storytelling through song. After his time with The Clancy Brothers, he went on to build an impressive solo career. He also reunited with Tommy Makem to perform as Makem and Clancy, continuing to shape how Irish ballads were interpreted and performed. His influence can still be heard in the work of folk artists today, making him a true giant of Irish traditional music
