Fears of serious public unrest and IRA activity prompted the British government to draw up detailed plans for troops reinforcements in Northern Ireland in 1949, according to Cabinet papers released under the 50-year rule at the Public Record Office in London yesterday.
The files record rumours in IRA circles that Dublin was being pressed to send troops to the North to "protect the nationally-minded people".
There was a small contingent of British army representatives in Northern Ireland in 1949, but in a letter dated March 16th to the home secretary, Mr John Chuter Ede, the Northern Ireland prime minister, Mr Basil Brooke, urged London to review security in the North and guarantee full protection in the event of a breakdown in law and order.
Mr Brooke described the "sense of uneasiness" in the North and called on London to be prepared to act immediately.
In response to Mr Brooke's letter, which was passed to the War Office, the war secretary, Mr Emanuel Shinwell, indicated that London was prepared to send extra troops at short notice.
Officials at the War Office were invited to prepare a report setting out the perceived threat to order in Northern Ireland and possible troops reinforcement. The report concluded that society in Northern Ireland had "deteriorated" during the previous six months and "tempers are frayed. One shot might well precipitate trouble . . . and if trouble does break out it will not be easy to control."