[tom8517]

A little more history, a radio speech on RTE in 1969 by Taoiseach(teesha) Jack Lynch.

It is clear now that the present situation cannot be allowed to continue. It is evident also that the Stormont government is no longer in control of the situation. Indeed, the present situation is the inevitable outcome of the policies pursued for decades by successive Stormont governments. It is clear also that the Irish Government can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse. It is obvious that the RUC is no longer accepted as an impartial police force. Neither would the employment of British troops be acceptable nor would they be likely to restore peaceful conditions, certainly not in the long term. The Irish Government have, therefore, requested the British Government to apply immediately to the United Nations for the urgent dispatch of a Peace-Keeping Force to the Six Counties of Northern Ireland and have instructed the Permanent Representative to the United Nations to inform the Secretary General of this request. We have also asked the British Government to see to it that police attacks on the people of Derry should cease immediately.

This was 1969, the provos did not yet exist. The civil rights movement was not republican, or even particularly nationalist. There was no talk of reunification, the protestors were asking to be treated the same as any other citizen of the United Kingdom.

Had Lynch's suggestion of an impartial peace keeping force been taken, the situation may well have been settled in a few months. The provisional IRA would never have been born, the officials would have stayed in their offices debating Marxist theory, and over 3000 people would still be alive.