Northern Advisory Committee to
Provisional Government
Introduction from Chronology
The Northern Advisory Committee
to the Provisional Government meets in Dublin and carries out extensive review
of Provisional Government policy towards Northern Ireland
government.
More Detail
In attendance are practically all
members of the Provisional government, a number of northern Roman Catholic
clergy (including 3 bishops), northern Sinn Féiners
and O/Cs of the 2nd and 3rd Northern Divisions of the
IRA. Collins asked if the recent pact with Craig should be terminated
given Craig’s refusal to have an enquiry into the recent murders in
Belfast. Also, a war policy against the NI government was considered but,
primarily because of the vulnerable position of the Catholics in Belfast, it
was decided to implement the pact.
In particular, it was decided to
implement the clause in the pact that proposed the creation of Catholic
Specials. However, it was decided to only do this in Belfast as it was
recognised that a large section of the northern Catholics (especially those in
the border areas) were against this proposal as it gave recognition to the NI
government. (A Catholic police advisory committee had already been set up in
Belfast under the chair of Bishop MacRory.)
On the issue of local government
bodies in NI with Sinn Féin/nationalist majorities giving recognition to the NI
government, it was decided to convene a meeting of relevant councillors to
consider the issue.
On the issue of what should
happen in the education sphere it was agreed that Minister of Education (Prof
Hayes) should meet his northern counterpart to explore a basis for reasonable
compromise. Finally, two northern advisory committees were set up – one
to deal with general matters and the other to deal with the educational issue.
Phoenix comments that for Collins
the continued working of his pact with Craig depended on Craig (1) responding
positively to the demand for an enquiry into the recent murders; (2) releasing
prisoners and (3) curbing the Specials.
The Second Collins-Craig Pact
does not last long – see Apr-20-22/2