If the myopia of the British Labour government in early August 1969 is hard to fathom, it is equally difficult to understand why Lynch felt he could start his annual leave only a few days before the predicted outbreak of open conflict in Derry and right across Northern Ireland. Detailed contingency plans needed to be … Read more
When Jack Lynch left Dublin on 9 August 1969 to begin his holidays in West Cork, he had cause to be both relieved and very apprehensive. Seven weeks earlier, on 18 June, he had led Fianna Fáil to a convincing general election victory. Lynch’s presidential-style leadership campaign echoed that of Éamon de Valera. Yet he … Read more
During late August 1969, shortly after the violence that had shaken Belfast and elsewhere, Irish army intelligence gave their assessment of the situation to the Dublin government: ‘. . . some element of [the] IRA was certainly in action in Belfast during [the] night of 14th August . . . as in [the] Bogside, [the] … Read more
In mid-1969 the Department of Justice presented the Irish government with its view of the threat posed by the IRA, which it suggested had perhaps 1,200 members in the Republic. IRA members were said to be centrally involved in housing protests and land agitation, having decided that ‘social unrest would be exploited’ in order to … Read more
Augustus (Gusty) Spence, a shipyard worker and former regular soldier in the Royal Ulster Rifles as well as an active Orangeman, has recalled accepting a lift early in 1965 to a farm near Pomeroy, Co. Tyrone. Once there, he and three others were led into a building lit by hurricane lamps. In the presence of … Read more