Armed troops at Leinster House ‘had orders to kill if necessary’

HUNDREDS of armed troops were in position in Leinster House acting under orders to shoot and kill if necessary during violent protests by republicans in 1972, it emerged yesterday.

Then Justice Minister Des O'Malley described to an Oireachtas committee yesterday the prevailing public atmosphere at the time that Dublin city centre and Belturbet, Co Cavan, were bombed by loyalist paramilitaries in late 1972 and early 1973.

Referring to protests against emergency legislation the Government had introduced, he said: "At one stage during the passage of the Offences against the State Act, there were an estimated seven to eight thousand people outside the gates who were in a fairly violent frame of mind.