Sir John Major:

On this issue, Mr. Blair and I were pretty much at one. I was concerned about that. On Mr. Blair and I expressing our views about the worries about how it would impact on Northern Ireland, we were fairly roundly told by the then First Minister and the then UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland effectively that we did not know very much about Northern Ireland and we should pipe down. I would not mind revisiting that discussion at some stage, given what has happened subsequently. I am sorry on that occasion we were not able to persuade people of our concerns.