Mayhew Meeting with Adams
From the collection of
From the collection of
An historic meeting, but what does it mean for the prospects of peace?
Ken Reid reports for UTV Live from Washington, where an historic informal meeting has taken place the night before between the British secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Sir Patrick Mayhew, and Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams. Emerging from the private meeting Adams is positive about how the talks have gone, a feeling not shared by Mayhew, who has been pressing for movement on the decommissioning of arms.
Later that day, President Clinton would address delegates at the conference for investment in Northern Ireland, expressing similar hopes of putting guns out of action. Gary McMichael of the Ulster Democratic Party (a party with links to the UDA paramilitary group), John Alderdice of the Alliance and John Hume of the SDLP are all interviewed to give their reactions to the events, while other delegates discuss investment in Belfast's shipyard.
Starting in 1993, UTV Live took over as Ulster Television's local news series, running a flagship programme each evening, with other bulletins throughout the day. In the 1990s it captured the unfolding story of the push towards a peace settlement in Northern Ireland, through all its twist and turns, which ended with the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998.