UN intervention in the Troubles?

In 1969, Dublin requested that the United Nations send a peacekeeping mission to Northern Ireland, to stop what was seen as Unionist/Protestant bias in the Ulster Constabulary and British Army and nip a possible civl war in the bud.

How could this have actually come about? Greater violence? leaked documents showing Westminster complicity in Unionist action? Maybe an ATL US President (I'm thinking RFK and his friends in the Irish-American lobby) that would be more concerned about events. Naturally this would strain Anglo-American relations but following Britain's refusal to enter Vietnam and a scandal regarding sectarian bias from the government would the US take a Suez Crisis approach? Ie, both morally unable and geopolitically impracticle to stand by her British ally, with a little revenge mixed in.
 
I don't think anyone would be that bothered internationally, but the UK would hardly accept UN troops on its territory.

AFAIK the Irish Govt tried to press the British into sending the Army in to counter the sectarian proclivities of the RUC, by moving its own troops near to the border during the late 1960s: the idea being that if the British Govt didn't do anything, the Irish Army would invade (bloodlessly) and thus hope to involve the UN before otherwise being kicked out forcibly. I'm not sure they'd have gone ahead with it anyway.
 

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That would have been suicide for the irish government. And Ireland, Britain may not have stopped at the border.
 
I don't think UN would do that much in Northern Ireland, it's not their style. More likely, they would have functioned as border patrol. So a few border intermessos would be most likely the casuse.
 
I don't think anyone would be that bothered internationally, but the UK would hardly accept UN troops on its territory.

AFAIK the Irish Govt tried to press the British into sending the Army in to counter the sectarian proclivities of the RUC, by moving its own troops near to the border during the late 1960s: the idea being that if the British Govt didn't do anything, the Irish Army would invade (bloodlessly) and thus hope to involve the UN before otherwise being kicked out forcibly. I'm not sure they'd have gone ahead with it anyway.

I've not heard that...
I know the Irish govt and the UK one have always co-operated vs. the IRA and (to a admittedly lesser extent but in large part due to them being a more purely UK problem) Unionist Terrorists.
 
I think a peace-keeping force needs all votes of the UN Security Council? So that rules it out straight away. Plus, we are talking about the height of the Vietnam War, the USA might realise if it really hacks off the UK then there is a danger that if the Vietnam comes up again in UN or UNSC discussions the UK would side against them.

In 1969, Dublin requested that the United Nations send a peacekeeping mission to Northern Ireland, to stop what was seen as Unionist/Protestant bias in the Ulster Constabulary and British Army and nip a possible civl war in the bud.

How could this have actually come about? Greater violence? leaked documents showing Westminster complicity in Unionist action? Maybe an ATL US President (I'm thinking RFK and his friends in the Irish-American lobby) that would be more concerned about events. Naturally this would strain Anglo-American relations but following Britain's refusal to enter Vietnam and a scandal regarding sectarian bias from the government would the US take a Suez Crisis approach? Ie, both morally unable and geopolitically impracticle to stand by her British ally, with a little revenge mixed in.
 
I've not heard that...
I know the Irish govt and the UK one have always co-operated vs. the IRA and (to a admittedly lesser extent but in large part due to them being a more purely UK problem) Unionist Terrorists.

Yes in 1969 Irish Taioseach Jack Lynch did I believe make a television broadcast where he broadly hinted at the possibility of Irish intervention. It was decided against because of the possibilty (or really the certainty) that this would lead to massive reprisal on Catholics by Protestants in N Ireland.

Of course to have Irish intervention (or UN intervention for that matter) you would have to get the UK to be totally unwilling to intervene, so you would have to get a POD to make the UK feel that N Ireland wasn't work the trouble of sorting out themselves.
 
There was no real prospect of an Irish invasion of NI to support the nationalists. Setting aside the fact that UK would have won that fight easily, Ireland could have found itself at war (well, technically at least, and possibly actively with Canada if they decide to fully back UK) with NATO

Any such invasion would probably last as long as it took the Irish military to explain to Jack Lynch that he was resigning with immediate effect
 
There was no real prospect of an Irish invasion of NI to support the nationalists. Setting aside the fact that UK would have won that fight easily, Ireland could have found itself at war (well, technically at least, and possibly actively with Canada if they decide to fully back UK) with NATO

Any such invasion would probably last as long as it took the Irish military to explain to Jack Lynch that he was resigning with immediate effect

All true, we would have been annihilated, I think the only hope (lame as it is) would have been that the Brits would have stood by. but Jack Lynch wasnt as stupid as Saakashvilli.

but the Irish Amry almost certaintly sent arms to the Republicans (see Charlie Haughey, arms rial).
 
All true, we would have been annihilated, I think the only hope (lame as it is) would have been that the Brits would have stood by. but Jack Lynch wasnt as stupid as Saakashvilli.

but the Irish Amry almost certaintly sent arms to the Republicans (see Charlie Haughey, arms rial).

Wasn't it the Irish Army stopped Haughey in the end though? Although that was because he just sent FAR too many arms, rather than at all.
 
Wasn't it the Irish Army stopped Haughey in the end though? Although that was because he just sent FAR too many arms, rather than at all.

I think thats generally accepted as what really happened, even if Haughey was cleared.

it was only ever a bluff to appeal to people in Louth, Kerry (and probably most of the country actually). There is no way we would have gone to war with the Brits, we wouldnt have lasted 5 minutes.
 
UN Intervention was never going to happen as long as the UK retained its permanent seat on the security council with its veto power.
 
Blue berets amidst the Orange and Green

As others have said a non starter the UK has the veto. Nixon didn't rely on the Irish American vote and it would have suited The Soviet Union for the British Army to get bogged down in Northern Ireland so they would have abstained.

The Goa solution was a non-strater. The UK would not have stood by and the armies were unevenly matched. There is a vast difference between a clash between regular armies and a regular army fighting a protacted war against guerillas who had some support.

Suppose it happended however and the UN intervened. Who would they have sent? The Irish Army would be out as the loyalists wouldn't accept them. The Austrians are a catholic country. Sweden and Finland are protestant countries in fact some loyalist envisaged an independent Northern Ireland as another Sweden although the Swedes weren't into bigotry. Maybe Indian troops would have been seen as impartial.

As it has turned out, it looks like the troubles are comintg to an end. Most of the geuine fears of the loyalists are no longer relvant and Eire is the more prosperuos country or have I spoken too soon?
 
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