The insistence of the British home secretary that speeches dealing with the Republic should be "cleared" with him was causing concern to the unionist cabinet in September 1969.
The prime minister, Maj James Chichester-Clark, stated that, despite long-standing practice, the British home secretary, Mr James Callaghan, had expressed strong views about the failure to consult him before the issue of a statement in reply to a speech by Jack Lynch.
"It is clear, also, that the Irish government can longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse," Mr Lynch had said following the Battle of the Bogside in August.
Mr Callaghan had argued that at the August meeting with unionist ministers in Downing Street, consultation on such matters had been agreed. Ministers expressed concern at the need for consultation.
In the past, British ministers had been keen to avoid involvement in cross-Border exchanges. British ministers had accepted at the Downing Street meeting that the Northern Ireland situation, being a domestic one, should not be raised at the UN.
Consultations would impose a further restriction on Northern Ireland's already limited independence.
Under the Irish Constitution, it was pointed out, jurisdiction was claimed over the North and until there was de jure recognition of the Northern Ireland government, its ministers should be free to rebut improper claims by Dublin politicians.
The proposal for prior consultation, ministers stressed, suggested a mistrust at Westminster of the Northern Ireland government which experience at official level suggested might have occurred. Since sufficient reforms had been promised to make the Stormont government's position completely defensible, further pressures or inroads into its constitutional powers should be resisted.
However, the attorney general, Mr Basil Kelly, stated that it would be unwise to debar the British government from delivering a needed rebuff to Dublin as this would carry more weight internationally than a Stormont statement.
The prime minister stated that the British government had mounted a massive lobby operation worldwide to balk the Republic's attempt to raise the Northern Ireland issue at the UN. British ministers might thus reasonably feel entitled to ask for consultation.
At a cabinet meeting on September 29th, 1969, the Stormont minister of home affairs, Mr Robert Porter, reported that at a meeting of the Joint Security Committee, ministers had expressed concern about the rising public resentment against the continuance of the Bogside and Falls Road situations.
The GOC, Gen Sir Ian Freeland, had announced the adoption of a much tougher line but asked not to be pressed to use force just yet. The GOC proposed to take a stronger attitude following the publication of the Hunt committee's report on policing.