State papers released under the 30-year-rule have thrown more light on the arms crisis. According to military records, the Minister for Defence, Jim Gibbons told the army in February 1970, that it was Government policy to arm Catholics in the North. Military intelligence quotes John Hume as saying it would be suicide to give arms to untrained people.
Meanwhile, British cabinet papers released for the first time today reveal the growing concern of the British Government at the potential for increased violence in the North as the marching season got underway in 1970.
