No immunity for Irish diplomats due to territorial claim Declassified Northern Ireland Office files show that Irish officials working at the joint Anglo-Irish Secretariat did not have diplomatic immunity Éamon Phoenix 30 December, 2020 00:01 IRISH officials working at the joint Anglo-Irish Secretariat at Maryfield, Co Down, did not have diplomatic immunity due to the Republic’s constitutional claim over the north. Declassified files show that the issue of immunity was raised following a parliamentary question by the UK Unionist MP for North Down, Bob McCartney, in March 1997. Mr McCartney asked foreign secretary Sir Malcom Rifkind whether Irish members of the Maryfield Secretariat and those involved in the Stormont talks had been granted diplomatic immunity and "what level of immunity of arrest and criminal charges this gave".