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Following the collapse of the Sunningdale Agreement in May 1974, the Irish Government agreed that the Department of Foreign Affairs should make contact with leaders of ‘Ulster Protestant Opinion’. By mid-1975, these contacts included leaders of loyalist paramilitary groups such as the UDA and the Red Hand Commando. At the same time, the government maintained that it would not talk to the Provisional IRA. This paper examines the rationale behind who the government would (and would not) speak to during one of the most politically precarious periods of the Troubles, as well as exploring the desired outcomes for each group within these talks.

Dr Michael Kennedy is the head of the Royal Irish Academy’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (DIFP) research programme. In addition to editing fourteen volumes of DIFP (running from 1919–1973), he has published widely for over 30 years on Irish diplomatic, political and military history.

Dr Melissa Baird is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast and Assistant Editor of the DIFP series. Melissa’s research focuses on twentieth-century Irish-American relations.

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