Extract from the minutes of a meeting of the Cabinet
'Unlawful Military Activities: Government statement.'
(G.C. 7/168) (Item 9) (S11564D)

Following consideration of the position in regard to unlawful military activities, it was decided to issue, for publication, a statement in the terms of the annexed Schedule.

Schedule

The following Statement has been issued by the Government:

In the course of the statement on the unlawful use of force which he made in Dáil Éireann on the 30th November, 1955,¹ the Taoiseach pointed out that the right to raise and maintain military or armed forces is vested, by the Constitution, exclusively in the Oireachtas and that the Constitution expressly forbids the raising or maintaining, for any purpose whatsoever, of any military or armed force other than the forces raised and maintained by the Oireachtas. He stated that unlawful military activities are a challenge of the gravest kind to the democratic rights of the Irish people and to the rightful authority of the Oireachtas and of the Government and that the duty of ending such activities devolved upon the whole nation.

In concluding his statement, the Taoiseach said that, if his appeal to the members of the organisations concerned met with no response, it would be the clear duty of the Government to assert and vindicate the people’s right to determine national policy and the right of the Oireachtas and the Government to maintain and uphold the authority that reposes in them.

For some time, it appeared that the Taoiseach’s appeal and warning had been heeded by the organisations concerned. Since, however, that is evidently no longer the position, and since those organisations have again arrogated to themselves powers and functions that belong to the duly elected representatives of the people and to those representatives alone, the Government have now determined to take, in conjunction with the Gárda Síochána and the Defence Forces, such steps as the Government deem necessary and appropriate to prevent activities which, if they were allowed to continue, would inevitably cause loss of life and would involve the danger that civil war might ensue.