Northern pressure on Dublin for the arrest of IRA leaders such as Martin McGuinness is disclosed in minutes of the 1974 power-sharing executive, released this week by the Public Record Office in Belfast.
At a meeting of the executive at Stormont Castle on January 17th, 1974, the chief minister, Brian Faulkner, reported on his recent visit to the then taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, at Baldonnell.
He was satisfied that there was no going back on the Sunningdale declaration on the status of Northern Ireland.
Mr Faulkner made it clear to the taoiseach that the formal stage of Sunningdale could not take place until the Republic made clear that the status of Northern Ireland could not be changed without majority consent in the North.
The chief minister told Mr Cosgrave that he envisaged an early meeting of ministers to discuss the Council of Ireland.
The meeting also included a lengthy exchange of views on security matters and action to be taken in the Republic. According to the minutes, "the chief minister had made it clear to Mr Cosgrave that the apprehension of prominent IRA men like Martin McGuinness would do more to satisfy the Northern Ireland people than anything else".