§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Prime Minister how many meetings have now taken place of Anglo-Irish Joint Studies; who have participated; where and when these meetings have taken place; what subjects have been discussed; and what future meetings have been arranged.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Anglo-Irish Joint Studies which I laid before the House on 11 November (Cmnd. 8414) were prepared at eight meetings in London and eleven in Dublin between 30 January and 14 October 1981. The United Kingdom was represented by senior officials of the Cabinet Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Northern Ireland Office, supported as necessary by officials from other Departments directly affected and by representatives of Her Majesty'a embassy, Dublin.
As I reported to the House at the time the subjects discussed were possible new institutional structures, citizenship rights, security matters, economic cooperation and measures to encourage mutual understanding. The task of the groups which prepared the Joint Studies was completed with the presentation of the studies to the then Taoiseach and me in November 1981. Accordingly, there have been no meetings since and none are planned.