NIO minister viewed Sean Brady as ‘more republican’ than predecessor Cahal Daly

Mr Ancram’s private secretary circulated a note of a November 12, 1996 meeting between the minister and new Catholic primate Sean Brady.

The note, declassified at the Public Record Office in Belfast, said: “The minister felt this was an interesting meeting which demonstrated the significant difference in knowledge and perspective between Archbishop Brady and his predecessor.

“Brady is much more of an old fashioned republican but also seems less well informed. The minister feels there is work to be done here and he intends to repeat this exercise to explain HMG’s position.”

Two years earlier, in a December 12, 1994 despatch from the British Embassy in Dublin, the British Ambassador said that the Papal Nuncio had phoned that day to inform him that Sean Brady, then a parish priest in Cavan, would be announced as the new Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, the presumptive successor to Cardinal Daly. the following day.

The Ambassador said: “The Nuncio explained that Rome had initially wanted a diocesan bishop for the job, but had changed their minds. He thought that Brady, who had spent 13 years in the Irish College in Rome, many of them as rector, would be a popular choice in the church here.

“Brady is not known to us.”

MORE FROM THE DECLASSIFEID FILES:

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Irish Government deliberately did not condemn ceasefire murders by IRA in 1996 to keep Sinn Féin on board, declassified file reveals

Ulster Farmers’ Union lobbied for ‘unequivocal’ government statement on beef safety – months before BSE link to humans, declassified file shows

Mo Mowlam had ‘pro-nationalist’ plan for her first months in office, her key aide told the NIO in newly-declassified document

Civil servants paid equivalent of £2,000 a day for advice from ex-civil servant, declassified file reveals

‘Surreal’ moment as Irish Presbyterian leader ‘insisted to diplomats that he wasn’t Irish’

Gerry Adams was ignorant of basic Protestant views and didn’t think he had to persuade unionists to back a united Ireland: Declassified file

Government pondered renaming or giving away Stormont as it meticulously planned for the Good Friday Agreement, declassified files reveal

NIO wanted to give lump sum to war hero Forum chairman due to job’s stress prior to 1998 Agreement, declassified file shows

Foreign Office urged Tony Blair towards a closer relationship with ‘pragmatic’ new Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 1997: Declassified Files

Powerless Forum members lamented their poor media coverage in 1996

NIO minister viewed Sean Brady as ‘more republican’ than predecessor Cahal Daly

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