SDLP planned for 'Dublin' invasion of Londonderry in 1974 - author

THE SDLP submitted invasion plans for Londonderry to the Dublin Government as the prospect of a British withdrawal loomed in 1974, according to a new book by local author Tony Craig.

In 'Crisis of Confidence' which charts Anglo-Irish diplomatic and political relationship in the early Troubles, Mr. Craig points out that the SDLP envisaged that the Irish Army would have a number of bases in the city, namely St. Columb's College, Buncrana Road, St. Cecilia's and St. Brecan's school in the Waterside.

The "fairly detailed plan for an Irish Army invasion of Londonderry" were discovered in a number of discussion papers researched by Mr. Craig.

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It was however the Irish government which most feared a withdrawal of British forces, as lacking the perceived necessary 60,000 military personel to control Northern Ireland.

Mr. Craig explained: "With Britain seen to be prepared for a withdrawal, no Irish government would have lifted that particular poisoned chalice."

The SDLP invasion plans, handwritten by Michael Canavan, party security spokeperson were submitted to Department for Foreign Affairs in Dublin and described by Mr. Craig as 'very optimistic'.

They suggested that 'most of Derry could be held with 276 men and 17 armoured cars'.

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The Irish army, pointed out Mr. Craig, 'had left all their tanks in the Congo in the 1950s and only had 20 soft skinned trucks."

In addition to the 'military plan' the submission also included the Western Social Services locations of "its humanitarian supplies and contact details of all humanitarian and voluntary associations in the city."

"The plan," said Mr. Craig who is Irish Government Senior Scholar at Hertford College, Oxford, "was supplied with the full WHSSB emergency plan for the region and sought Irish troops to take and hold Derry as far as Coolkeeragh power station so as to thwart any PIRA attempt to take the city in the event of a British Army withdrawal to barracks."

The plan according to Mr. Craig: "Envisaged that Irish military forces would sweep across the border and across the River Foyle as far as Coolkeeragh, maintaining order with only seventeen armoured cars and 276 men.

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"This force would be headquartered in three Catholic schools, its base being the newly built St. Columb's College on the Buncrana Road less than three miles inside the border."

The purpose of Canavan's plan argues Mr. Craig was "to stem the flow of recruits to the IRA in the event of a civil breakdown" but was, he argues, "little more than a paper exercise."

The author outlines how the Republic's Interdepartmental Unit on Northern Ireland led by Dermot Nally, then assistant secretary of Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave's office, was opposed to any form of military intervention even on humanitarian grounds. "It would not be possible to limit intervention on these grounds as it would provoke retaliation," wrote Nally in a discussion paper uncovered by Mr. Craig in National Archives, Dublin.

"In all probability (that would mean) targeting this part of the country and minority areas away from the border."

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