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Former Irish taoiseach Garret FitzGerald warned Thatcher in 1985 that failure of the Anglo-Irish Agreement could trigger a devastating civil war, according to newly released official papers.
As negotiations on the agreement, aimed at granting the Republic a consultative role in running the North, reached a head, the two leaders met on June 29 1985 during a European summit in Milan.
Dr FitzGerald sought to persuade the British PM that he needed more “confidence-building measures” if he was to sell the agreement to nationalists in the North.
According to notes taken by foreign affairs adviser Charles Powell, Dr FitzGerald claimed he was “the only person willing to take the risks.
“He did so because he believed that otherwise Sinn Fein would gain the upper hand amongst the minority in the North, and provoke a civil war which would drag the Republic down.”
