Originally posted by paul g
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Thank You...I'll have to look for Kelly's book... though with respect are you suggesting that a conversation between two reasonably junior Army Officers led to a major uplift in Defence Force procurement? Surely this would be in the public domain...discussed in The Dail etc?
I can understand perhaps more modern equipment being purchased because of the situation in Northern Ireland...and that situations threat to the stability of the rest of the Island...but bought in case the RUC decided to fight the Irish Army??? I can think of no sound reason why the RUC or UDR would want to fight the Irish Army...or why anyone would think that they might.
The RUC didn't break any informal agreement on deploying armour...because such an agreement can't have existed.
The reason I say that is that due to the terrorist threat the RUC were equipped with armoured vehicles from their inception...my Father was crewing a Daimler Dingo in 1958...eleven years before things went into meltdown...and many years before the AML's were purchased. The Daimler Dingo was a much more militarily capable vehicle than the Shorland... which was a lightly armoured / armed urban internal security patrol vehicle.
Victor Laing...again I'll try and source it but does it say that the Centurion was favoured but not an option at the time...or that the British refused to sell it to the Irish?
I have never been aware of any form of British military embargo involving Ireland...and I don't think it would have been in British interests to do so either...for selfish British reasons of course...Perfidious Albion and all that.
But as always...happy to be corrected / educated.
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