§ 22. Mr. SkinnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent discussions he has held with political parties regarding the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
§ Sir Patrick MayhewMy colleagues and I have been maintaining contacts with the main constitutional political parties in Northern Ireland and the Irish Government over the past weeks to establish how best we can make political progress. A new and more broadly based agreement or structure could be one of the outcomes of the talks process, arrived at through direct discussions between those concerned.