Documents on Irish Foreign Policy XIV, 1969-73

DIFP XIV, covering the period from June 1969 to March 1973, has two major themes: the outbreak of the Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1969 onwards, and Ireland’s entry into the EEC (later the EU) in 1973. 

DIFP XIV is an essential collection of source material on the outbreak of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, laying out, in comprehensive detail and using many never previously published documents, the response of Jack Lynch’s Fianna Fáil government to events in Northern Ireland, which came to dominate Irish foreign policy between 1969 and 1973.  By early August 1969, the rapidly worsening crisis in Northern Ireland saw violence break out in Derry and in Belfast and subsequently across Northern Ireland. The search for a peace settlement that could provide stable government in Northern Ireland moved to the forefront of British-Irish relations for the remainder of the twentieth century. 

The volume also covers other topics in detail: Ireland’s policy at the United Nations, Dublin’s response to the ending of the Biafran War; relations with the Nixon administration in the United States, especially in relation the ongoing long-term dispute with the United States over landing rights for transatlantic flights at Dublin; the proposed expansion of Ireland’s diplomatic reach and trade relations into Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and Asia; the emergence of a development aid policy; and a more pronounced interest in human rights and social affairs internationally. The context of the Cold War is evident in Ireland’s involvement in the early stages of the negotiations leading to the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), and in Ireland’s wider relationships as a neutral, though generally western-aligned state. 

The selection of documents, as always, is intended to illuminate how decisions were reached while also providing a window into key events from an Irish perspective, with many documents offering an eyewitness view of events ‘on the ground’ in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.