Newly released Department of Justice files from 1972 show British diplomats appealed to the Government to deploy the Army to help prevent their embassy being burned down.
The embassy building in Dublin's Merrion Square was burnt and bady damaged on February 2nd during protests following the Bloody Sunday shootings in Derry.
Files released to the National Archive under the 30-year rule show that British diplomats appealed to the Government of the day to deploy troops to protect the embassy.
However, the files reveal the authorities here felt bringing armed troops onto the streets would only make the situation worse.
The official Garda report into the incident suggests the declaration of a national day of mourning in the Republic contributed to the incident.
Yesterday files revealed that after the burning of the embassy, the ambassador at the time, 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 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."