Closer ties with Britain urged over threat of nuclear war

THE spectre of nuclear fallout and how Ireland could survive it, included Irish Intelligence plans in 1981 for closer alliance with Britain should war break out with the Soviets.

Met Éireann files released under the 30-year rule show the issue of radiation over Ireland was pre-occupying authorities from the mid 1950s.

A note from February 1981 marked ‘secret’ and drafted by the intelligence section of Irish Air Headquarters, urged closer cooperation with Britain in the event of potential nuclear catastrophe.

It outlines how, in addition to using the North as a launch pad against any possible Soviet attack, the Republic could offer the potential use of 38 airfields, major and minor ports, radar sites and “over 500,000 of its citizens fit for military service”.

The file also outlines how Ireland could provide sites for missiles “and so add to the significance of the nuclear deterrent”, adding: “the nuclear target would be reduced by allowing greater dispersal of forces”.

These assumptions were based on Ireland having a good working relationship with Britain at the time of any outbreak of hostilities.

However, the same file also stated British military authorities did not believe that Ireland would not be directly targeted.

“It has long been a subject of serious concern to the UK that there is in effect a very unreliable warning and monitoring system in operation in Ireland.”

Stressing the need for a fresh agreement between Britain and Ireland, the file stated: “The UKWNO take the view that there is a real immediate danger to them from nuclear bursts either in the Atlantic off our west coast, or on our territory where places like Shannon, Bantry and other useful installations would be taken out as interdiction targets.

“Another aspect of an agreement would remove the trivial, but still annoying situation whereby UKWNO can not admit to its NATO partners that we are in direct contact with two of their installations (Belfast Group Control in Lisburn and Southern Sector Control near Bath) and would exchange nuclear burst data as a matter of course in the event of a nuclear attack.

“It can be argued that the significance of Ireland’s geographical location has actually increased rather than diminished, as the time scale in a nuclear attack can be very short, and the extra time gained from early warning installations in Ireland as opposed to those operating from the UK could have meant the difference between success and failure of any reaction to or defence against such an attack.”

Older Met Éireann files show the scale of potential nuclear fallout over the country influenced by weather conditions.

The maps from 1956 show vast swathes of Ireland as prone to deadly radiation, regardless of whether the bomb blew up over Belfast, London, Liverpool, Swansea or Glasgow.

An attached file stated: “Strong winds aloft would spread the material over a larger area at a distance, and at a given distance, the fallout would arrive sooner and would have less time to decay. Therefore the area of dangerous contamination would be likely to extend farther from the source in stronger winds.”

Estimates put fallout spreading over Ireland within just 24 minutes in the event of an explosion over Belfast, while the longest respite would have been a summertime blast over Liverpool, with radiation making Ireland in four hours, 27 minutes.

Later secret files show concerns over radioactivity protection measures at Belmullet, Malin Head, Rosslare and Valentia.