‘Reds under the bed’: official attitudes to communism in Northern Ireland

The early decades of the twentieth century were ones of social, political and geographical upheaval. This created a restless society, with many political organisations forming across the political spectrum. During […]

Ministry of Home Affairs archive (HA/32/1)

As the political ideology of communism and socialism spread after the formation of the USSR in 1922, many Western countries began to consider it a potential threat to national security […]

‘No longer stand[ing idly] by’? Irish army contingency plans, 1969–70

On 13 August 1969 the Irish cabinet discussed the developing Bogside crisis. Neil Blaney, minister for agriculture, suggested sending the Irish army across the border in an attempt to provoke […]

How much did Lynch know?

Ought he to have known about that attempt to import arms? The answer is certainly ‘yes’. But the burden of evidence that I have examined leads me to conclude that […]

Why did Lynch go on holidays?

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 […]