Northern Ireland

Question 1

Unionists

Answer 1

Unionists were mostly Protestant. They were pleased at the setting up of the new state in Northern Ireland as they wanted to stay united with Britain.
As Protestants were in a majority in the new state, this meant that they could control the government, extreme unionists are called loyalists.

Question 2

Nationalists

Answer 2

Nationalists were mostly catholic
They were not pleased at the setting up of the new state as they had wanted to be part of a United independent Ireland.
As Catholics were in minority they felt they had little power to influence the government decisions
Extreme nationalists were called republicans

Question 3

How did this affects the unionists thinking

Answer 3

Unionists felt that nationalists could not be trusted as they did not want to be apart of Northern Ireland

Because they did not trust nationalists they did not thinks that nationalists should have the power to influence the government

Question 4

How did this affect the nationalists thinking

Answer 4

Nationalists felt that they had no reason to be loyal to a state where they had very limited political power and that they never wanted to belong to.

Question 5

Special powers act

Answer 5

In 1922, the NI government brought in the special powers act which allowed for the arrest and detainment of a suspect without trial. The majority of those detained were nationalists

Changes were made to electoral boundaries to ensure unionist control of local councils, even when the majority of the people living in these areas were nationalists. This was called gerrymandering.

Only people who paid rates could vote in local elections. Also, the amount of votes a person has depended on the amount of rated paid (up to seven max) since Protestants on the whole, tended to be wealthier, this meant they had more votes

Question 6

Other ways Catholics were discriminated

Answer 6

Catholics were given fewer houses than Protestants by unionist-controlled councils as ownership of a house gave a vote in local elections

Catholics were less likely to have a job than Protestants

Question 7

Relations with Southern Ireland

Answer 7

Relations with Southern Ireland were never good:
The 1937 constitution for Southern Ireland declared that the north and south of Ireland should be one country

Between 1956 and 1962 the ira launched a campaign of attacks on border areas. Even though the campaign failed because northern nationalists did not support it, the unionist government still felt that northern Catholics could not be trusted

Question 8

The O’Neil years

Answer 8

The government of captain Terence O’Neil 1963 - 1969

In 1963 captain Terrence O’Neil became prime minister of Northern Ireland

He was a member of the official unionist party (OUP) which was the main political party of Northern Ireland
However from the start he had a tough time because many people in his own party (OUP) has not wanted him as leader

O’Neil believed NI had to change and modernize to become more fair to both communities in NI

Question 9

O’Neil economic aims

Answer 9

To make Northern Ireland into a modern industrialized country
To achieve greater social and economic equality

Question 10

What did O’Neil economic policies involve?

Answer 10

Investing 900 million to improve the economy
Creating five economic zones to modernize existing industries and help create new ones
Announcing plans for the modernization of the road and rail network
Encouraging greater economic cooperation with the Republic of Ireland
Building a new city called craigavon between lurgan and portadown
Creating a new university in colraine

Question 11

O’Neil successes

Answer 11

A number of international companies set up factories in Northern Ireland eg michelin, DuPont, IcI and grundig.
The construction of a new motorway system was started
An oil refinery was opened in Belfast
A new airport was built at what we now know as Belfast international airport
Links with the republic resulted in the signing of an agreement on the supply of electricity from the south.
Over 35000 new jobs were created

Question 12

Failures

Answer 12

The famous shipbuilding company, Harland and Wolff, still found it difficult to compete in the world market - the government had to give it money to keep going.
Unemployment stayed high. At 7-8%. 20 000 jobs were lost in tradition such as the linen industry.
Investment tended to be focused on unionist areas e.g. only one of five economic zone was in a nationalist area

Question 13

O’Neil aims

Answer 13

O’Neil economic and political policies were linked
He believed that Northern Ireland could not become more economically developed without improving relations between the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
He wanted to build bridges between the unionist and nationalist communities.
He recognized that many Catholics in Northern Ireland felt they were treated less well than Protestants and wanted to address these concerns

Question 14

What did O’Neil do to improve relations between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland

Answer 14

O’Neil recognized that many Catholics / nationalists felt that their culture / religion was not respected and that they were being discriminated against economically because their schools and hospitals were less funded than state funded schools and hospitals. Catholics also felt that the ulster volunteer force (UVF) was being allowed to get away with attacks on the ulster community.

Question 15

O’Neil tried to improve relations with catholics / nationalists in a number of ways

Answer 15

He visited cardinal William Conway, the archbishop of Armagh and spiritual leader of Irelands Catholics. This was significant because he was showing respect for the catholic religion

He offered official sympathy to the Catholic Church on the death of pope John XXIII (23rd) in 1963). This was significant because he was showing respect for the catholic religion

He visited schools and hospitals run by the Catholic Church. This was important because he was showing that catholic-run institutions were important.

He increased government funding to catholic hospitals and schools. This was significant because he recognized that catholic run schools and hospitals had been underfunded and that had to change.

He had made the UVF illegal after it killed 2 Catholics in 1966. This was significant because he recognized that the UVF was seen by the catholic community as a sectarian organization that targeted Catholics.

He also hoped his economic policies would create employment in national areas. This would increase support for the state among nationalists.

Question 16

How did the nationalists respond to O’Neil policies?

Answer 16

At first, the nationalists were optimistic, however this was soon to be followed by frustration when the better future O’Neil had promised did not seem to be coming along quick enough

Nationalists were angered by the decision of the minister of develop to name the new town linking portadown and lurgan, craigavon after Northern Irelands first prime minister.

There were also concerns that O’Neil economic policies favored the Protestant east at the expense of the catholic west. The new town of craigavon was sited 30 miles from Belfast rather than the economically depressed area west of the bann

There were also criticisms of the fact that Northern Irelands second university was set up int the mainly Protestant town of coleriane rather than the mainly nationalist Derry London derry, Northern Irelands second city.

The various health and education bodies still had few catholic members in senior position.

Question 17

The unionist responded to O’Neil policies

Answer 17

Moderate unionists supported O’Neil police’s while others feared that he was making too many concessions to nationalists and that this might undermine the position of unionism in Northern Ireland.

Question 18

What did O’Neil do to improve relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Answer 18

In January 1965, O’Neil met with Irish Taoiseach Sean Lemass, at stormont. This was very symbolic as it was the first time that the leaders of the north and the south had met in over 40 years. It’s significance for the Republic of Ireland can be seen by the fact that a stamp was made to commemorate it.

Four weeks later they had a second meeting in Dublin. The two leaders discussed the ways in which the two countries could develop economic cooperation

As a result of these discussions, it was agreed that Northern Ireland would receive electricity supplies from the Republic of Ireland.

By 1967, he met the new Taoiseach, jack lynch.

Question 19

Nationalist responses to oniels attempts at improving relations between the south

Answer 19

It was viewed as favorable by the nationalists, the visit of Lemass at stormont led to the decision of the nationalists party to take up the role of the official position in stormont for the first time in history

Question 20

Nationalists onist response to O’Neils attempts to improve relations with the republic

Answer 20

Oneils attempts to improve relations with the Irish republic were viewed favorably by nationalists. For example, the visit of Lemass to stormont led to the decision of the nationalist party to take up the role of official opposition in stormont for the first time in history.

Question 21

Unionists party response to oniells attempts to improve relations with the republic.l

Answer 21

Oniells official unionist colleagues were angry that he had not told them in advance about the meeting with Lemass at stormont. Brian Faulkner, a member of O’Neills party, criticized oniells failure to tell his colleagues about the meeting in advance. Some OUP mps began to talk about replacing oniell as the OUP leader with Faulkner.
There was less opposition to oniells meeting with jack lynch because he had agreed that in advance with us colleagues.

Question 22

What was NICRA?

Answer 22

In 1967, a new organization was set up in Northern Ireland. It was called the Northern Ireland civil rights association. It did not seek to end the partition in Northern Ireland. It wanted to reform the political situation in Northern Ireland by creating a fairer society.

Question 23

Why was NICRA set up?

Answer 23

Catholics in Northern Ireland felt that they were being discriminated against in a number of ways. They had less chance of a job or to rise to the top position in the profession. They had less chance of getting a council house, they felt the election system was deliberately designed to limit their political influence. The political party in Northern Ireland that represented the interests of the catholic community was the nationalist party. However, many Catholics felt that the nationalists party was not doing enough to fight for their rights.

Question 24

What were the demands of NICRA?

Answer 24

Voting - NICRA wanted everyone over the age of 18 to be able to vote. Only people who paid rates could vote in local elections, this meant that the elections were generally rigged in the favor of the rich which was generally the Protestants.

Housing - NICRA wanted the council houses to allocated more fairly - based on needs. Council houses were allocated by the local councils. As most councils were dominated by unionists that meant that houses were mostly given to Protestants. Dungannon was 50% catholic but only 11% of Catholics owned houses.

Gerrymandering - NICRA wanted to end gerrymandering. The system of gerrymandering was used to draw up electoral boundaries so that one community gained over the other.

Government jobs - NICRA wanted to end discrimination against the allocation of government jobs. It was not illegal for companies to give someone a job based on their religion. A commission was set up to investigate and found that Protestants had more chance of getting government jobs.

Special powers act - NICRA wanted to end the special powers act, the special powers act was passed in 1922 which allowed the government to arrest and detain suspects without the need for a trial.

B specials - NICRA wanted the b specials to be disbanded. The b specials were a Protestant only part time branch of the RUC and were viewed by nationalists as being one sided.

Complaints procedure - NICRA wanted a formal complaint procedure against local authorities. NICRA believed there had to be a way that someone who felt discriminated against by local authorities could complain and have their complaint looked at fairly.

Question 25

What did NICRA do to achieve their goals?

Answer 25

They organized sit ins in august 1968 the nationalist MP, Austin Currie, organized a sit in with the local council in caledon in protest at the fact that a council house had been given to a 19 year old single Protestant woman rather than a homeless catholic family.

NICRA organized peaceful marches to publicize their aims using the example of the USA civil rights marches. The first was in august of 1968 between the county Tyrone towns of coalisland and dungannon. The second took place in October of 1968 in Londonderry. Both were in protest of the house allocation system.

NICRA used media such as tv to publicise their views, at the Londonderry march, the RTE television crew was present and filmed the violence between the NICRA marchers and the police.

NICRA used songs, they borrowed one from the USA civil rights march called we will overcome.

NICRA used placecards to highlight their views, for example one man one vote.

Question 26

Attitudes towards NICRA

Answer 26

Support.
Most Catholics supported NICRA. They felt that NICRA was working to achieve greater social equality in Northern Ireland. Some Protestants also supported NICRA as they recognized that something needed to change in Northern Ireland.

Opposition.
Some Protestant opposed NICRA. Some saw it as a front for the IRA and that its real aim was to achieve a United ireland. Some Protestants were also concerned because they felt that NICRA focused too much on catholic rights when in fact Protestants were also suffering from poor housing, employment and poverty.

Question 27

Responses to NICRA

Answer 27

The unionists response to NICRAs marches.
Some Protestants saw NICRA as a front for the IRA. They feared that if the government made concessions then it would lead to a United ireland.

Working class Protestants living in poor housing conditions resented the attention given to the civil rights demands and felt civil rights meant catholic rights smd ignored the fact that they too were living in poor conditions.

Loyalists (extreme unionists) attacked the marches. It appeared to many observers that the police were one sided, using violence against the marchers and ignoring the actions if the loyalist attackers.

Question 28

The crossroads election.

Answer 28

The election supposed to solidify O’Neill’s support base took place on February 24th, 1969. he hoped this election would show the support he had from moderates in Northern Ireland.
It backfired on O’Neill massively.
• Unionist support was divided and elected Unionist MPs elected were not loyal
to O’Neill.
• There was very little Catholic support for O’Neill as he had hoped.
• Ian Paisley challenged O’Neill in his own constituency. O’Neill had never had to stand against someone in an election before.
• He only received 1400 more votes than his challenger.
It was starting to become very clear that O’Neill’s reforms were at the same
time, too much for Unionists and nowhere near enough for Nationalists

Question 29

Reasons for ONiels downfall

Answer 29

O’Neill resigned for a few main reasons.
• He was criticised for increasing violence surrounding the civil rights marches.
• He had lost the confidence of the OUP.
• He had lost confidence from moderate voters in NI.