Addressing the nation

Jack Lynch — August 13, 1969:

It is with deep sadness that you and I, Irishmen and women of goodwill, have learned of the tragic events which have been taking place in Derry and elsewhere in the North in recent days… The Government have been very patient and have acted with great restraint over several months past. While we made known our views to the British government on a number of occasions… we were careful to do nothing that would exacerbate the situation. But it is clear now that the present situation cannot be allowed to continue.

It is evident also 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.

It is obvious that the RUC is no longer accepted as an impartial police force. Neither would the deployment of British troops be acceptable... The Irish Government have therefore requested the British government to apply immediately to the United Nations for the urgent dispatch of a peacekeeping force to the six counties of Northern Ireland…

Very many people have been injured, and some of them seriously. We know that many of these do not wish to be treated in six county hospitals. We have therefore directed the Irish Army authorities to have field hospitals established in Co Donegal, adjacent to Derry, and at other points along the border where they may be necessary.

Recognising, however, that the reunification of the national territory can provide the only permanent solution for the problem, it is our intention to request the British government to enter into early negotiations with the Irish Government to review the present constitutional position of the six counties of Northern Ireland. Charles Haughey prepares for his 1980 austerity address at the RTÉ studios with his press secretary Frank Dunlop. He said: ‘The figures which are just now becoming available to us show one thing very clearly; as a community, we are living a way beyond our means.’

Charles Haughey — January 9, 1980:

I wish to talk to you this evening about the state of the nation’s affairs. And the picture I have to paint is not, unfortunately, a very cheerful one. The figures which are just now becoming available to us show one thing very clearly; as a community, we are living a way beyond our means.

I don’t mean that everyone in the community is living too well — clearly many are not, and have barely enough to get by. But taking us all together, we have been living at a rate which is simply not justified by the amount of goods and services we are producing. To make up the difference, we have been borrowing enormous amounts of money, borrowing at a rate which just cannot continue.

A few simple figures will make this very clear: at home, the Government’s current income from taxes and all other sources in 1979 fell short of what was needed to pay the running costs of the State by about £520m. To meet this, and our capital programme, we had to borrow in 1979 over £1,000m. That amount is equal to one-seventh of our entire national output for the year. This is just far too high a rate, and cannot possibly continue.