Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave was "not an exciting man", according to British officials preparing for his visit to No 10 Downing Street in March 1976, but he was "honest, courageous and firmly opposed to compromise with violence".
In a steering brief, written by the Northern Ireland Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before his meeting with British prime minister Harold Wilson, the taoiseach comes across as an honourable man, if a little boring.
It was believed that Mr Cosgrave was arriving in London in a strong negotiating position, due to recent Irish government successes in clamping down on Provisional IRA activity.
The senior delegation from the coalition government, which included tánaiste Brendan Corish and minister for foreign affairs Dr Garret FitzGerald, was also expected to be "more robust in deciding their Northern policy on its merits", because of divisions on this issue within Fianna Fáil.
Referring to the career of his father, WT Cosgrave, the steering brief suggested that the taoiseach had "entered politics out of a sense of family duty rather than choice". In opposition he had "lacked the edge to make a successful leader" and his style was "that of a committee man", reminiscent of former British Labour prime minister Clement Attlee. On the North, it was claimed that he "has little real feeling" and has "never fully understood the attitudes of its divided people, although in recent months he has shown a welcome realism in this respect".
On Garret FitzGerald, officials warned British negotiators that he was "sometimes too ready to accept the complaints (often orchestrated by the Provisionals) against British forces in the North and to take the part of the Northern Catholics . . . whatever the grounds". More generally, his views were those of a "moderate socialist". He was identified as "one of the best informed, most intelligent and articulate members of the Dáil, speaks well (and quickly), and at great length and commands respect".
Dr FitzGerald was "easy and approachable" but could be "naïve" and "impatient" of any objections to the ideas which "tumble out of his mind".
Brendan Corish, as a former hurler and footballer, was described as having "considerable presence". He was "vigorous in debate", "modest and easy in manner; a man of sincerity but few intellectual pretensions".