The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Dublin

Ireland feared a doomsday scenario could develop in British-ruled Northern Ireland in the 1970s if sectarian violence descended into all-out civil war, newly-released archives showed Tuesday.

Dublin drew up a contingency plan amid concerns that over 250,000 Roman Catholics could be trapped and unable to escape, according to the previously secret files released by the national archives office.

There were also fears that if the British army withdrew Dublin might be forced to deploy the Irish army, to prevent the Irish Republican Army (IRA) from taking up the role of "protectors" of the minority community.

Up to 200,000 Catholic refugees could flee south across the border into the Irish Republic, according to one file which suggested boosting Irish army and police numbers "without provoking an answering escalation" in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland, a province of the United Kingdom, was dogged by three decades of civil unrest known as the Troubles, which killed about 3,000 people before Britain and Ireland brokered the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.