The government consistently rejected US efforts, made in private, to persuade Ireland to endorse publicly the US position on the war in Vietnam, according to a 1967 official document drafted before a visit by the Taoiseach, Mr Jack Lynch, to Paris.
Ireland's position was that the only hope for a lasting and stable peace in Vietnam and in south-east Asia generally was for the countries in the region to organise themselves into a neutral area of law and limited armaments, and that the area should be guaranteed against aggression by all the Great Powers, including China.
