Irish officials believed the September 11th attacks would impact how US politicians viewed the Northern Ireland peace process.

A memo where the two governments discussed the robbery of €29.8 million in cash from the Belfast bank in 2004 was released as part of the annual release of the National Archives in Dublin.

The former Sinn Féin president was speaking ahead of the 20th anniversary of the end of the Provisional IRA’s armed struggle.

The Irish Government wanted to appeal to the UK side against ‘manipulating’ every scenario for favourable election results in Northern Ireland.

So where did the traditions start? 

‘A far better course would be to admit that a mistake had been made and say that it would not happen again,’ a US diplomat said.