Endgame: ‘The Riddle of the Strands’: November

Abstract

On Tuesday afternoon 10 November, Irish ministers arrived for a brief plenary in which a statement was approved by all parties announcing the end of the talks. For all the argument that had preceded it, the statement was an anodyne affair of little more than 500 words, of which only around 150 words addressed any question of progress achieved or of future dialogue. ‘All parties accepted that nothing would be finally agreed in any of the three strands of the Talks until everything was agreed in the Talks as a whole. We report that the Talks did not reach this stage.’ It was depressingly little to show for six months of work. Mark Brennock commented cogently.