When I was with Sir Gilbert Laithwaite for a few minutes this morning about another point (the principal English guest at the forthcoming NUI St. Patrick’s Day dinner) he remarked that the Taoiseach and the Government have obviously done their very best to meet the situation created by the recent incidents in the Six Counties. He went on to say that he keeps warning the people here that there are limits to what we can do in this matter as, whether one likes it or not, many people in Ireland are bound to feel some sympathy with the young men concerned in the incidents; there is no use in blinding oneself to this fact and indeed if the authorities at home were to be too severe, they might only create for themselves a difficult and complicated situation. We can assume, I think, that Laithwaite’s weight is thrown against impulsive action by London or Belfast, but equally that his advice is not always taken even though his Secretary of State, the Earl of Home, takes apparently, as I have mentioned in an earlier report, a calm and level-headed view.

[matter omitted]