Sensing that republicans were moving towards a ceasefire, Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and UK Prime Minister John Major developed a rival document which sought to encourage the political wing of republicanism while ensuring there was enough in it for unionists.

Their Downing Street Declaration of 1993 ambiguously told republicans that "doors would open" in the absence of violence. But London was already talking to republicans behind the scenes. The outcome of the controversial and disputed communications supported the view of many analysts that the IRA would declare a ceasefire if there was enough progress towards accepting the legitimacy of some of the republican agenda.

While ceasefire talk grew, an IRA attempt to blow up loyalist paramilitary leaders on the Shankill Road killed 10 people and the bomber. Loyalists retaliated by killing seven people in a bar in Greysteel. Eight IRA bombs were detonated in England and loyalists attacked SDLP members, fearing a pan-nationalist deal.