Late 60's would have been 1960 pattern combat smocks and trousers with an odd dpm 60 patt here and there,Riot helmet or beret depending what they were doing....70's would have been 1968 pattern dpm smocks with 'trousers overall'(think lightweights) and 68 patt dpm trousers,woolly pully,boots DMS.Then pretty much the same thing into the 80's until the 84 pattern was issued.Do a google image search of British troops in Northern Ireland.
The padding was for knuckle protection on the gloves.