Reactions
- On 13 August, Taoiseach Jack Lynch made a television address in which he stated that the Irish Defence Forces would set-up "field hospitals" along the border. He went on to say:
It is evident that the Stormont Government is no longer in control of the situation. Indeed the present situation is the inevitable outcome of the policies pursued for decades by successive Stormont Governments. It is clear, also, that the Irish Government can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse.
- On 14 August, Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark stated in the House of Commons:
This is not the agitation of a minority seeking by lawful means the assertion of political rights. It is the conspiracy of forces seeking to overthrow a Government democratically elected by a large majority. What the teenage hooligans seek beyond cheap kicks I do not know. But of this I am quite certain - they are being manipulated and encouraged by those who seek to discredit and overthrow this Government".
- On 23 August Cardinal William Conway, together with the Bishops of Derry, Clogher, Dromore, Kilmore, and Down & Connor, issued a statement which included the following:
The fact is that on Thursday and Friday of last week the Catholic districts of Falls and Ardoyne were invaded by mobs equipped with machine-guns and other firearms. A community which was virtually defenceless was swept by gunfire and streets of Catholic homes were systematically set on fire. We entirely reject the hypothesis that the origin of last week's tragedy was an armed insurrection.
Read more about this topic: 1969 Northern Ireland Riots
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