Acceptable level of violence

British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling's reference to an "acceptable level" of violence in the Northern Ireland conflict was a political gaffe that helped shape public discussion about the conflict.

Maudling said in a December 1971 press conference that the British government could not eliminate the Provisional Irish Republican Army's terrorist attacks but only reduce them to an "acceptable level". Critics maintained that any violence was unacceptable. Nevertheless, the concept influenced the British government's strategy in dealing with Northern Irish terrorism, and continues to be used in discussions of ongoing political violence in Northern Ireland.