Recently-released official papers show that within a short time of unexplained murders, and two years after the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings of 1974, eight heavily-armed SAS men were arrested on the Irish side of the Border. They were in civilian clothes and heavily armed. They were travelling in three cars and there was a 2-hour gap between the first and second capture. The two groups had different cover stories. They had machine-guns, a sawn-off, pump-action shotgun, and a dagger. Police questioned them about the murder of Seamus Ludlow, an elderly bachelor with no political affiliations whose body was found near Dundalk just 4 days earlier. They were also quizzed about the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings. They were charged with possessing firearms with intent to endanger life and brought before the Special Criminal Court, where they bailed. The Irish News, relying on archive research, revealed the lengths to which the British Government was willing to go to obtain the exoneration of these men. A number of different forms of pressure, which could be brought to bear on the Irish, were suggested by civil servants. Of particular interest, in view of persistent allegations of security force/loyalist paramilitary collusion, is the threat that, if the SAS men were imprisoned, "There could be a strong and violent reaction by loyalist paramilitaries" (IN 13.7.06). Another threat was that British forces would be withdrawn 10 miles inside the NI Border, creating "a non-man's land in which the terrorists could do what they would". Other possible sanctions considered by the Cabinet Office were:
"an embargo on trade, a ban on remittances, withdrawal of social security benefits from Irish citizens, prohibition or limitation of Irish immigration and the ending of the voting rights of Irish citizens in this country" (Letter of G.W. Harding of FCO to T.F. Benchley in Cabinet Office, 18.5.1976).
Milder measures could be a sustained propaganda campaign, "a suspension of… contacts with the Irish on Northern Ireland matters and a refusal of training and other facilities to the Irish security services". Behind the scenes contacts on Northern Ireland was the only form of involvement granted to the Irish Government in those days.
An official predicted that, if imprisoned, the SAS men could receive the same sort of violence as "prison officers" had meted out to those accused of the Birmingham pub bombings the previous year.
Merlyn Rees was the NI Secretary of State at the time, Garret FitzGerald was the Irish External Affairs Minister, while Paddy Cooney was Minister for Justice. In the event, the Coalition Government bowed to British pressure. The men were cleared of the more serious charge and fined £100 each on a lesser charge. Whether this denouement resulted from fear of British official displeasure or of unofficial retaliation via a Loyalist onslaught it is not possible to say. (Needless to say the Irish Times ignored these revelations.)

"must prove that it has no military applications in mind for its enrichment" of nuclear fuel, says the Irish Times. How do you prove what you have not got in your mind? But the Irish public can rest secure: "the regime in Tehran knows well that most western nations are determined to do whatever is necessary to prevent it building a nuclear arsenal… Israel cannot be expected to entertain the fact of a nuclear-armed Iran…" (Iran's Diplomatic Two-Step. 23.8.06).

is said to have hired consultants to advise on reversing its electoral decline, and to have been told to stress crime issues. Its spokesmen also seem to believe they can gain by making an equivalence between the DUP and Sinn Fein. Thus Deputy Leader Dr. Alasdair McDonnell demands: "The DUP has got to stop messing around on power-sharing and Sinn Féin has got to stop messing around on its commitment to a lawful society…" (22.7.06 IT).

"Official IRA Said To Be Behind Beating". The Irish News states that the "Official IRA was last night blamed for a so-called 'punishment beating in west Belfast which left a teenager with serious head injuries… in Albert Street in the lower Falls area…" (14.8.06).