Transcripts of interviews with Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland Minister of Education, and John Reid, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, by Peter Sissons for BBC Breakfast with Frost on 12 August 2001. Two days earlier a temporary suspension of devolved government in Northern Ireland was imposed by Reid. The absence of Provisional IRA decommissioning, the Real IRA bombing at London Ealing on 2 August and the UUP's rejection of the British and Irish government's Belfast/Good Friday Agreement Implementation Plan all contributed to a loss in political confidence in power-sharing. In these interviews McGuinness and Reid discuss the possibilities of reinstating power to the Northern Ireland institutions within six weeks. Breakfast with Frost was a weekly BBC current affairs programme.
Date of Release/Broadcast: 12 August 2001
Name of First Interviewee: John Reid
Name of Second Interviewee: Martin McGuinness
Role at time of Interview: Martin McGuinness (Northern Ireland Minister of Education), John Reid (Secretary of State for Northern Ireland)
Interviewer: Peter Sissons
Purpose: News
Media: Read the transcript
Copyright: © BBC Breakfast with Frost
Link: Read the transcript
Programme/Book/Article: BBC Breakfast with Frost
Time Period covered: 2001
Key Individuals: Martin McGuinness, John Reid, John de Chastelain, David Trimble, Jeffrey Donaldson, David Burnside
Key Words: IICD, suspension of devolution, Belfast Agreement, Good Friday Agreement, decommissioning, IRA, UUP, British government, policing, Implementation Plan, referendum