New Ireland Forum
The Forum was established by Garret FitzGerald, then Taoiseach, under the influence of John Hume, for "consultations on the manner in which lasting peace and stability can be achieved in a new Ireland through the democratic process".Garret FitzGerald became Taoiseach after the Republic's 1981 general election and announced a "constitutional crusade", including a reframing of the state's attitude to Northern Ireland.When the Labour Government invited us to the Northern Ireland Convention, we again accepted the terms laid down by this House and were willing to negotiate, but again the Unionists said that in no circumstances were they prepared to share power.When the present Secretary of State announced his initiative, before the elections even took place both the Unionist parties made it clear that there were no circumstances in which they were prepared to share power, so the whole purpose of the Assembly was null and void before it began.It outlined three possible alternative structures for a "new Ireland": At Charles Haughey's insistence, the unitary state was presented as the most desirable option,[29][30] which Fitzgerald later rued as "ritual obeisance"."[36] She endorsed the view of political scientists Kevin Boyle and Tom Hadden, who stated:[37] Oliver MacDonagh identified in the report three new developments for Irish nationalism: an unequivocal rejection of not only violence but "even psychological coercion"; an argument for unity based on "basic common interests of North and South" rather than "the horrid rhetoric of rights and righteousness"; and an acknowledgement that "the Ulster Unionist identity was both fundamentally different and a permanent condition".[38] On 19 November 1984, at a press conference at 12 Downing Street after a British–Irish summit in Chequers, UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher dismissed the report's proposals:[39] This became known as the "out, out, out" speech.[45] The SDLP's loss of ground to Sinn Féin in the 1985 local elections in Northern Ireland was attributed in part to the "out, out, out" response to the Forum it had championed."[49] On the other hand, it has been seen to have led indirectly to a recognition by the British government of the need to include the Republic in the political process: Stephen Collins has said that Irish anger at Thatcher's "out, out, out" speech caused her to soften her tone in future negotiations, which made possible the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement.