Editing Downing Street Declaration (section)

=== Father Alec Reid ===
Although the final declaration was a triumph of diplomacy and negotiation between the governments of the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, its origins are more complex, and can be traced to the work of the Redemptorist priest, [[Alec Reid|Father Alec Reid]]. The idea of a joint declaration emerged from his attempts to create a pan-Nationalist front in the late 1980s by bringing John Hume's [[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]] and members of [[Fianna Fáil]] into conversation with [[Gerry Adams]] and other [[Sinn Féin]] leaders.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Mallie |first=Eamonn |title=The Fight for Peace |publisher=William Heinemann |year=1996 |isbn=0-434-00308-5 |pages=}}</ref> Reid argued that a declaration by the British government which recognised the right of the Irish people to self-determination would enable a Republican ceasefire and he called for an Irish Peace Conference to 'persuade' the British government to make such a declaration and to adopt a policy that would allow for the creation of a 'new, independent Ireland'.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Alec |date=1989 |title=Proposals for a Democratic Overall Political and Diplomatic Strategy for Justice and Peace |url=https://www.quillproject.net/resource_collections/352/resource_item/23591 |access-date=12 December 2023 |website=Writing Peace: Tomás Ó Fiaich, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford)}}</ref>