Northern Ireland In The 1960s and Its Relations With The Rebublic Of Ireland

Question 1

How did O’Neill improve the economy?

Describe the impacts

Answer 1

Economic Policies

• £900 million of investment and the creation of five economic zones to update existing industries and attract new ones
• modernisation of the road and railway network including closing seemingly unprofitable railway lines
• cooperation with the Dublin based Irish trades Union congress whose support was important to economic development
• the establishment of an economic council under Brian Faulkner to drive forward modernisation of the economy
• the creation of a ministry of development to drive economic revival
• the establishment of a new city called Craigavon
• the development of a new university in Coleraine to help develop a skilled workforce

2. Positive impacts
   - multinational firms such as Michelin, DuPont, Goodyear, ICI and Grundig took advantage of generous investment grants and tax allowances to open factories in NI
   - the construction of a motorway system was begun
   - an oil refinery was opened in Belfast
   - a new airport was under development
   - links with ROI resulted in the signing of an agreement on the supply of electricity from the south
   - in total 35,000 new jobs were created during the 1960s
3. Negative impacts
   - at the same time 20,000 jobs were lost in the ailing traditional industries such as linen manufacturing
   - between 1963-69 the govt had to give money to shipbuilders Harland and Wolff to keep it afloat.
   - unemployment averaged at 7-8%
   - several companies refused grants to open factories west of the river Bann seeing the area as too remote from their export markets.
   - the last point was significant for unemployment (12.5%) and for feeding allegations of govt bias because the majority of the populations in the West was nationalist.

Question 2

What were O’Neill’s political policies, what were the aims for them and reactions to them?

Answer 2

1. Aims
   O’Neill realised economic reform alone would not change NI. There would have to be social and political modernisation - to end discrimination and help nationalists to identify with the state. Also to improve relations with ROI to benefit the economic.
   As someone with both Gaelic and planter ancestry O’Neill felt he was the right man for the job.
2. Political policies
3. The hand of friendship: Dublin
   - on 14th January 1965 the first face-to-face meeting of Ireland’s leaders since 1925 took place in Stormont when O’Neill met with Taoiseach Seán Lemass. O’Neill defended the meeting by arguing that both systems share the ‘same rivers, the same mountains and some of the same problems’. In 1967 O’Neill met with Lemass successor Jack Lynch.
4. The hand of friendship : Northern nationalists
   - visiting Cardinal William Conway, archbishop of Armagh and spiritual leader of Ireland’s Catholics.
   - offering official condolences on the dearth of Pope John XXIII in June 1963
   - visiting catholic schools and hospitals
   - increasing financial support for catholic schools and hospitals e.g Belfast’s Mater infirmorum hospital
5. Unionist reactions
   Both support and opposition.
   O’Neill’s support among ordinary members of OUP had never been total.
   O’Neill did not even inform his own cabinet colleagues of seán Lemass’ Jan 1965 visit before it happened.
   Evidence of division within the OUP over the visit was clear when Brian Faulkner condemned O’Neill’s failure to consult the cabinet.
   That said when Lemass’ successor as Taoiseach jack lynch visited NI in December 1967 the visit was agreed in cabinet. Implying that by then such a visit had become more acceptable.

Reverend Ian Paisley
- there was no widespread hostile public reaction
- however strong objection from the moderator of the free Presbyterian church, reverend Ian Paisley.
- concerns about the influence of the Catholic Church in the republic, Paisley objected to any links with the South, especially as articles II and III of its constitution laid claim to the whole island of Ireland.
- when lynch visited in 1967 showed his opposition by snowballing the Taoiseach’s car and him and his supporters carried placards describing O’Neill as a ‘lundy’
- throughout the rest of the decade Paisley’s support grew as many unionists came to fear the implications of O’Neill’s new polices and to resent the failure of such policies to improve their own lives.
In the short term however O’Neill was delighted with the success the OUP enjoyed in the November 1965 general election when it one 38 out of 52 seats. This seemed to suggest satisfaction with his policies.

4. Violence and discrimination
   Tensions increased in 1966 with the commemorations for the 50th anniversary of the Easter rising and the battle of the Somme. Rooting broke out. Then two Catholics died in May and June 1966, the result of a series of gun attacks by the reemerging UVF. O’Neill responded by banning the organisation.
   As the situation worsened, O’Neill found that his limited support within his own party was weakening. In September 1966 he revealed a plot by the OUP backbenchers to remove him as leader. There were also growing rumours of opposition from deputy prime minister, Brian Faulkner and agriculture minister, Harry West.
5. Nationalist reactions: satisfaction and disappointment
   At first catholic leaders, political and religious leaders reacted warmly to O’Neill’s attempts to hold out the hand of friendship. The visit of Lemass to Stormont was followed by the decision of the nationalist party to take up the role of official opposition in Stormont for the first time in its history.
   However O’Neill’s policies also raised expectations some of which were unlikely to be met given growing tensions within unionism. This annoyance was particularly felt among a new generation of Catholics:
   - there was outrage at the decision to name the new city linking Portadown and Lurgan, Craigavon after northern Ireland’s first prime minister.
   - there was accusations that O’Neill’s economic policies favoured the Protestant east at the expense of the catholic west as:
6. With the exception of Derry/Londonderry all the places earmarked for economic development were in Protestant areas
7. Unemployment was higher west of the Bann
8. Despite significant cross-community protest, a new university was sited in the mainly Protestant town of Coleraine rather than in the mainly nationalist Derry/Londonderry, northern Ireland’s second city.
   - no significant attempts were made to increase Catholic membership of various health and education bodies

Question 3

Give an introduction to O’Neill.

Answer 3

Captain Terence O’Neill became prime minister of Northern Ireland in March 1963.
Right from the start O’Neill’s leadership was undermined as most of the unionists party’s OUP MPs wanted another minister, Brian Faulkner to get the job.
At the time the OUP leader was decided by a group of senior party members not by election.

Question 4

NICRA: background

Answer 4

1. Origins
   The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was established at the start of 1967. The group took much of its inspiration from the United States where Martin Luther King’s campaign had employed non-violent methods of civil disobedience to achieve equal opportunities for black people.
   At the same time there were other sources of encouragement in the period following NICRA’s establishment, notably the student demonstrations that took place in France during 1968.
2. Aims
   Set up as a non-sectarian movement, NICRA did not seek an end to partition; rather it sought to
   - achieve ‘one man one vote’. This would allow a vote to all people over the age of eighteen. It would also remove the multiple votes of business owners
   - ensure the fair allocation of council houses. The possession of a vote in council elections depended upon being a ratepayer. Basically a householder. The fewer the number of Catholics who possessed a property, the fewer could vote.
   - end gerrymandering. The practise of drawing electoral boundaries in a way that benefited one community over the other
   - prevent discrimination in the allocation of govt jobs of which there was widespread evidence.
   - remove the operation of the special powers act which allowed the govt to arrest and detain people without holding a trial
   - disband the B specials the sole remnant of the three-pronged Ulster special constabulary, which had been established in September 1920 to help fight the IRA during the war of independence
   - establish a formal complaints procedure against local authorities to report breaches in the above areas.
3. Support and reaction
   Support for NICRA came from across the community, in particular from:
   - Catholics who had benefited from the introduction of free education in the late 1940s. They had seen the growing self-confidence of Catholics elsewhere in the world. They were also less than happy with the performance of Eddie McAteer’s nationalist party. It’s only policy seemed to be the ending of partition.
   - liberal Protestants who sympathised with some of NICRA’s demands and who believed making Northern Ireland fairer for all of its inhabitants would undermine demand for a United ireland.
   - other groups including communists, academics and trade unionists

At the same time there was much suspicion from within the unionist population. Some felt that NICRA was simply intent on causing trouble and was nothing more than a front for the IRA, while others believed that it was only interested in Catholic rights - as opposed to the rights of all - and would undermine the position of Protestants and even the continued existence of Northern Ireland by pushing for a United Ireland.

Question 5

NICRA: events

Answer 5

1. Marching for houses
   NICRA’s first March was held on 24th August 1968 between Coalisland and Dungannon. This followed the decision of Dungannon council to give a council house to a 19 year old Protestant woman. The event passed off without incident.
2. Violence in Derry/Londonderry
   In order to highlight what were seen as inequalities in Londonderry corporation’s housing policy, a march was organised for 5 October 1968. In response the apprentice boys organisation threatened to hold a rival March. The govt responded by banning the holding of any march; however NICRA rejected the ban.
   Although the crowd that turned up on the 5 October was relatively small it was accompanied by the RTE camera crew. That night televised pictures beamed across the world showing heavy handed tactics used by the police to break up the rally.

Further NICRA marches - including the one in Newry in January 1969 - made the situation even worse. Quite often violence resulted. There were several reasons for this:

1. NICRA going ahead with banned marches
2. Marches were seen as provocative, especially when they went through Protestant areas
3. NICRA marches coming into contact with unionist counter-demonstrations
4. The five point reform programme
   As a result of the unrest a reform programme was announced on 22 November. It included five main proposals. All of which were to be in place by the end of 1971.
5. The allocation of council housing on a points system
6. The replacement of the Londonderry corporation by a development commission
7. The removal of parts of the 1922 special powers act
8. Local govt reforms including the ending of extra votes for business owners
9. The appointment of an ombudsman to investigate complaints
10. Calm before the storm
    In the short term, protests and counter protests continued and so on, on 9 December O’Neill appeared on tv to stress the starkness of the situation. In particular he asked NICRA’s leaders to help to restore calm. This became known as O’Neill’s ‘Ulster at the crossroads’ speech. At first his message seemed to have the desired effect and NICRA protests were called off. However there were additional problems to deal with:
    - the reforms had caused dismay among unionists who opposed concessions to the threat of violence and now felt their position was under threat
    - O’Neill faced further opposition from within his own party, with home affairs minister William Craig condemning his television speech and arguing he was acting under pressure from the British govt. Craig was sacked.

Question 6

A more radical movement emerges

Answer 6

1. People's democracy 
Although NICRA stopped marching, its decision was ignored by the recently formed people's democracy. This group made up mainly of university students, had emerged out of anger at the violence NICRA had faced in October 1968 and their desire to cause disruption to the Stormont administration. It had developed broadly similar demands:
- one man one vote 
- fair boundaries 
- houses on need 
- jobs on merit 
- free speech 
- repeal of the special powers act 
Unhappy with the limited nature of O'Neill's five point reform programme, people's democracy announced it was holding a March between Belfast and Derry/Londonderry from 1-4 January 1969

2. Ambush at Burntollet
   Much of the march was to go through Protestant areas, forcing the police to enforce different routes to avoid confrontation. However, on the third day the marchers were the target of a violent ambush at Burntollet Bridge, an attack that the police seemed to do little to deflect. Later on the same night, tensions further raised in Derry/Londonderry when police rampaged through nationalist areas of the city.
3. Reaction to Burntollet
   NICRA now started to march again. The first march was held in Newry and again violence resulted. In response O’Neill established the Cameron commission to investigate the increasing violence. This led two cabinet members including Brian Faulkner to resign. Faulkner argued that O’Neill was too weak to control the situation.
4. The crossroads election
   The election took place on 24th February 1969; however the result was not what O’Neill wanted:
   - there was a reduction in unionist support and divisions of loyalty along the OUP MPs elected
   - there was little or no evidence of the hoped for support from catholic voters
   - O’Neill who had never before had to face a challenger in his own constituency, polled only 1,400 votes more than his opponent, reverend Ian Paisley

O’Neill struggled on for another two months but with his party now hopelessly divided and with further deterioration in the political situation caused by increasing violence and confrontation he resigned on 28 April 1969.

5. A new leader
   O’Neill was succeeded by his cousin, major James Chichester Clark. He had resigned from the govt less than a week earlier in protest at O’Neill’s decision to introduce one man one vote in time for the next council elections. Then Chichester Clark had argued that the timing of the measure was wrong; now he declared he would continue with O’Neill’s reform programme.