Reading "Provos - the IRA and Sinn Fein" by Peter Taylor.
Given it was published in 1998 or so I was wondering what info had come to light since.
When talking about the start of talks in the mid 1970's he uses the name "Contact" for one of the go-betweens in Derry - has the identity of this person ever come out?
Relating to these talks he also mentions visiting a secluded farmhouse and reading the IRA army council minutes which provide a record of meetings and discussions - have these or portions of these ever come to light? Are they sitting in a the National Library or National archive at the minute next to other state papers?
Did any papers or info on this stuff get released from Her Majesty's Government under thirty year rule?
Obviously nothing might have given how much is still confidential, covered up and sensitive to one side or another - the disappeared, collusion to name just two!
Any other recent books that can be recommended that have more up to date info would also be great.
Thanks.
There are minutes from the British side of meetings with representatives of the Provisional IRA (21 June 1972) in the British National Archives. They are digitised on the [http://Cain.Ulst.ac.uk] (CAIN) website under 'Public Records'.
Most interesting is the fact that one of the IRA representatives was Gerry Adams.
Unfortunately sources from the paramilitary side are problematic. It is still an offence to have been in the IRA so people rarely go on the record. There is also great distrust of historians and journalists which has been worsened by the use of an oral history archive in Boston College by the police against the wishes of its founders.
Given what is now emerging about the role of British intelligence in the paramilitary groups, we also have to assume that the state Archives are heavily redacted but there is still a lot of useful stuff there.
Taylor is well regarded and seems to have reliable sources. Obviously he operates by very different rules than an academic historian.