When Charles Haughey controlled the Republic's purse-strings as minister for finance in 1969, the British government considered him to be "shrewd, tough, ruthless and ambitious". As 1969 drew to a close reports of "an organisation in Monaghan" linked to Haughey were being investigated by the British ambassador to Ireland, Sir Andrew Gilchrist.
London believed he was able, but it also thought he had a tendency to be cautious and unimaginative in his brief and was subject to criticism "for aping the ways of the English ascendancy".
In a confidential telegram to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on November 10th, the ambassador described his efforts to investigate the reports about the Monaghan organisation, which was "quite a small one" but was "set up by Haughey with party funds".
The organisation contained an intelligence unit where Irish Army intelligence officers would "brief and debrief visitors to the North".
Sir Andrew Gilchrist noted that a propaganda unit liased with civil rights workers in the North, principally in journalism, and that "funds are readily made available to suitable contacts".
Lists were prepared of civil rights defence units in the North and of their requirements "for self-defence" if further disorders should break out.
The ambassador told London that it was intended that the Monaghan organisation would provide swift support to the civil rights defence units "by way of weapons, radio sets and personnel".
Furthermore, he said, "numerous weapons have already been supplied, not on the responsibility of the [Monaghan] organisation itself but by people who have been given access to its lists."
This last point, the ambassador said, was unconfirmed, "being only my own attempt to reconcile conflicting rumours and reports".
The ambassador saw the Monaghan organisation as an expression of Haughey's passion for Irish unity.
However, he informed London that, according to Conor Cruise O'Brien (elected a Labour TD in June 1969), the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, was "quite unaware" of the range of Haughey's activities until a few days earlier "and is much perturbed, particularly as security is beginning to break down so that more about the organisation is likely to come out".
Towards the end of the memo, the ambassador added that Conor Cruise O'Brien had said he did not believe in the seriousness of Haughey's organisation as an effective military or subversive plan.
"In his view, the activities in Monaghan are intended to come to public knowledge, as more internal Irish politics to bolster the image of Fianna Fail as the patriotic party, still fighting for Irish unity."
When the ambassador had called at Haughey's house in Dublin a month earlier, on October 4th, he noted the minister had said there was nothing he would not sacrifice, including the position of the Catholic Church in Ireland, to achieve a united Ireland.
Haughey told Sir Andrew that Ireland could not turn away from this objective. Haughey would accept Ireland returning to the Commonwealth if London wanted it and he would also accept British access to Irish bases or NATO access to Irish bases to achieve his objective.
Haughey was told that Ireland would be foolish to drive Britain into saying the Border was not an issue and that there would be a Protestant backlash in the North by London's "open dickering" with Dublin if Wilson's government agreed to talks about the Border.
"Haughey more or less accepted this," the ambassador said, but asked for a secret long-term commitment to discuss the issue. "The conception seemed to me a very questionable one since, in modern political conditions, I simply did not see how secrecy could be maintained. Haughey was puzzled by this, but felt there ought to be a way round."