After the burning of the British embassy in the wake of Bloody Sunday, the ambassador, Sir John Peck, informed the Department of Foreign Affairs his government had put "a large aircraft" at his disposal for the evacuation of "women and children and non-essential personnel" from the mission.
A file released to the National Archives under the 30-year rule contains a note of the conversation by the secretary of the Department, Mr Hugh McCann, dated February 4th, 1972, two days after the embassy building in Dublin's Merrion Square had been burnt by an angry crowd.
"He said that he was not taking a final decision until later today as to whether he would order the evacuation. The Ambassador went on to say that he had come to the conclusion that there is a breakdown in law and order here, particularly in the light of the activities of 'hooligans' following the burning down of the embassy chancery. They had even gone so far as to hurl a petrol-bomb at a maternity hospital."
In addition, the landlord of one of the embassy's senior staff had been threatened that, unless he evicted his tenant, "there would be dire consequences". But if the evacuation went ahead, he did not intend to publicise it.
The level of nationalist anger after the Bloody Sunday shootings in Derry on January 30th, 1972, in which 13 people died, is reflected in a note by another Department official, Mr Eamonn Gallagher, who reports the SDLP leader at the time, Mr John Hume, telling him the Government could "easily recruit 50,000 men from the North for the Army".
Mr Gallagher asked him "not to discuss the matter further on the telephone". During the conversation, which took place in the early hours of January 31st, Mr Hume said he and his colleagues were "at the end of their political resources".
Another file from March 24th, 1972, contains an account by the ambassador to the United Nations, Mr Con Cremin, of a meeting between Mr Hume and the secretary-general at the time, Mr Kurt Waldheim.
At the 25-minute meeting, the SDLP leader gave the UN chief "a succinct account of the history of partition beginning with 1912 and the then 'rebellion' of the unionists".
He spoke of "the gravity of Britain's mistake in trying to solve the problem by military means".
The note continues: "The secretary-general said he was extremely interested in what Mr Hume had told him and that he, personally, is quite concerned about the matter.
"Mr Hume would, he went on, be aware of what he [the secretary-general\] tried to do, and in particular of his offer of good offices, but, he could not act without the agreement of both parties, and Britain, invoking Article 2.7 of the charter, have not so far shown any inclination to have recourse to him.
"The offer," he added, "remains open and if he is approached, he will be very glad to act."
Mr Waldheim added that he, personally, agreed that only a political solution could be effective. "It is to him quite strange to find in the 20th century religious distinctions exploited in the way they are in the North."