WI Irish Sectarian Intervention

What if during the Irish Government was responsible for suppling and arming Republican Forces during the Troubles. Say this was discovered soon after the August 1969 Riots. How would this effect the conflict and above all how would this shape the present day?

For this I assuming this would lead to war and so make sure this factor is taken in.

EN
 
What if during the Irish Government was responsible for suppling and arming Republican Forces during the Troubles. Say this was discovered soon after the August 1969 Riots. How would this effect the conflict and above all how would this shape the present day?

For this I assuming this would lead to war and so make sure this factor is taken in.

EN

The Irish government (or parts of it) were doing so (see the Arms Trial for example) during the opening stages of the Troubles. Remember there were actually Catholics that fled across the border for example, and the Taoiseach of the day did ask the Army to draw up plans for some sort of intervention (thankfully it never got passed the paper stage).

Most likely the English PM of the Day politely reminds the Irish Government of the scale of the difference between the nations and to get the feck out of it.
 
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Most likely the English PM of the Day politely reminds the Irish Government of the scale of the difference between the nations and to get the feck out of it.

English PM? We really are into the realms of AH, or is it a case of a British PM who is English? :p
It was Wilson, who was English, although he would probably see himself as being as much a Yorkshireman as English.

To answer the OP I doubt it would lead to an actual shooting war. UKSF might feel more inclined to cross the border and the UK might well cancel all the trade agreements it has with the Republic and impose sanctions.

Cutting off trade from what IIRC is Ireland's largest trading partner is likely to hurt as much as going to war. Also lessens the chance of the UK looking like a nasty bully.
 
English PM? We really are into the realms of AH, or is it a case of a British PM who is English? :p
It was Wilson, who was English, although he would probably see himself as being as much a Yorkshireman as English.

To answer the OP I doubt it would lead to an actual shooting war. UKSF might feel more inclined to cross the border and the UK might well cancel all the trade agreements it has with the Republic and impose sanctions.

Cutting off trade from what IIRC is Ireland's largest trading partner is likely to hurt as much as going to war. Also lessens the chance of the UK looking like a nasty bully.

Sorry was in a hurry this morning.:eek:

And again UKSF DID cross the border (including getting arrested once I think). I don't see the UK reacting that strongly against the Republic, again I think it would be more a strongly worded "Do you REALLY want to piss of the UK" discussion between the diplomats, the scale of the imbalance of power would be hard for any Irish Government to challenge at anything short of national suicide. As you've said just economic actions would be a massive impact (or suspending the travel agreements) to the Irish economy and given the Cold War I'm betting nobody would really be in the mood to listen to Ireland complaining.

It would further poison relations between Unionists and Dublin and between London and Dublin making reaching anything like the OTL GFA much harder I'd bet, depending on the reactions it might make the Irish Government spend more on defence say something like the planned 80's investment gets brought forward and actually funded, still not going to be able to do anything to the UK, but might be a result of a more aggressive nationalistic position from Dublin if the UK slapped things down hard.

If there was trade actions I wonder what might happen in terms of the application to the EEC? Ireland stayed out until the UK went in, if the relationship worsened might that position change?
 
If there was trade actions I wonder what might happen in terms of the application to the EEC? Ireland stayed out until the UK went in, if the relationship worsened might that position change?

Despite de Valera's best efforts the Republics pre-Celtic Tiger was an economic adjunct of the UK it's sole export being agricultural products to the UK market and it's main method of covering all it's other import's being remittances from Irish workers abroad. Which is why the Republic and the UK went in to the EEC together and why the current Brexit debate is causing worry in the Republic despite the enormous growth and diversification of the Republics economy over the last 30 years.

So if the Republic's government was insane enough to try and support the IRA and didn't stop immediately when court the UK will be able to collapse it's economy in about a month.
 
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