British army soldiers’ morale was “at a low ebb” in Crossmaglen in South Armagh just months before paramilitary organisations’ August 1994 ceasefire because of the threat posed by more powerful IRA mortars, documents show.
Scores of building workers who carried out work to shield British forces had to be protected for months by hundreds of soldiers and police from April 1994 onwards, Department of Foreign Affairs papers released to the National Archives reveal.
In a briefing for foreign affairs officials, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) stressed the need for the improvements, which caused considerable disruption in the town, to guard “against increasingly sophisticated and threatening IRA mortar attacks”.
“Security forces morale at Crossmaglen was at a low ebb – under threat from Mark XV mortar developed by the South Armagh Provisional IRA in the base and sniper attack outside,” an Irish note of the April 8th, 1994, meeting records.
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Scores of workers had to be protected by 150 Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) personnel and 1,000 soldiers during three months of construction, which was deeply unpopular in the town because of traffic delays and the temporary requisitioning of some of Crossmaglen GAA’s lands.
Large volumes of material would have to be brought by truck to Crossmaglen and “casualties were anticipated”, the NIO told Foreign Affairs, though there are no records showing that attacks did take place.
The last time major work had been done at the Crossmaglen barracks was in 1991, “but this was no longer regarded as providing sufficient security and it was due to luck that heavy casualties had not yet been inflicted over the years”, the Irish note records.
The NIO apologised to Foreign Affairs about the late briefing, though it said the RUC had already been in contact with An Garda Síochána, and it had thought that direct government-to-government contact was not necessary.
Northern Ireland secretary Patrick Mayhew had considered the message that would be sent out by such large-scale construction months ahead of an anticipated IRA ceasefire, “but had decided the work should go ahead”.
Local MP Seamus Mallon of the SDLP had been told about the work by Mayhew: “Mallon is thought to be privately understanding of the need for greater protection at the base. but is expected to be publicly critical,” the Irish note goes on.
A protest was held in Crossmaglen that month, with 500 people marching to highlight “the military stranglehold” on the town, following the Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Cup match between Armagh and Tyrone.
Publicly, Mallon said he feared the work would increase local support for the IRA, though Mayhew replied: “If it does, it does. I am not going to put at risk soldiers and police officers ... because it may increase support for the IRA.”
In a letter to Mayhew after work had begun, the minister for foreign affairs, Dick Spring, said the situation for locals “continues to be difficult, with widespread resentment of the degree of disruption which the works entail”.
“As I feared, there have also been efforts by the paramilitaries to exploit the situation so as to bolster their position in the area, thereby adding further to the anxiety of local people,” he told the NI secretary.
The IRA had “sought to play on fears” that the extra checkpoints and other security measures taken to protect the workers, military and police would “not be fully dismantled” when the construction finished.
Seeking assurances from Mayhew that this would not happen, the minister for foreign affairs asked “that a sustained effort be made to get this message across to the local community”.
Later, the NIO offered “deep gratitude” to the Irish side for “the back-up provided by the gardaí and the Army on our side”, with a top NIO official, John Steele, saying: “Without it, unquestionably, lives would have been lost.”
