UN General Assembly
1974

66. We in Ireland have also suffered in our turn from a failure on the part of those who had the authority to do so to tackle in good time the problem of injustice to the important nationalist minority in Northern Ireland. The explosive situation which inevitably developed from this failure burst into open conflict in 1969. This conflict increased fears on all sides, and even though many of the long-standing injustices were gradually rectified, self-righteous and ruthless men the members of the illegal Irish Republican Army were able to exploit the situation by claiming to act as defenders of a threatened minority. Their ruthlessness in the years that followed provoked from paramilitary groups amongst the majority indiscriminate retaliation against innocent members of the minority and the consequent cycle of violence has been compounded by cases of lack of judgment or lack of discipline on the part of security forces trying to cope with the situation. In an atmosphere where all live in fear of violence from any one of several sources, reason cannot easily prevail nor moderate policies gain the widespread support they need to bring a term to the crisis racking the Northern Ireland community.