1. Brookeborough & O’Neill
• Leaving Cert History
• Northern Ireland 1949-1973

2. Brookeborough in Power
• Basil Brooke Prime Minister N. Ireland 1949-1963
• ‘A Unionist State for a Unionist People’
• 1949 Election – Attlee guarantees
‘In no event will Northern Ireland or any part thereof
cease to be a part of his Majesty’s dominions and of
the United Kingdom without the consent of the
parliament of Northern Ireland.’
• Brookeborough’s government seemed the most
secure in western Europe.
• He felt no need to put forward legislation which
would help to reconcile the Catholic minority to the
continuation of partition

3. IRA Border Campaign 1956-1962
• IRA split in 1951
• Fearing defections – IRA planned
attacks
• ‘Operation Harvest’ – Dec. 1956
• Attacks on police barracks along
the border
• Governments North and South
introduced internment
• Campaign had little support among
Catholics in the North

4. • Any concessions to Catholics would bring
oppostion from hardline Unionists
• In 1959 Brookeborough declared:
• ‘There is no change in the fundamental character
of the Unionist Party or in the loyalties it observes
and preserves … If it is called inflexible then it
shows our principles are not elastic.’
• Unionists more worried about opposition
from Protestant workers losing their jobs
than Catholics demanding their rights
Political Stagnation

5. • By 1962 NILP wins four Unionist seats
• Unemployment rising and support for
Unionist Party declining
• Brookborough forced to resign – replaced by
Terence O’Neill
• O’Neill – Home Affairs and Education
• O’Neill declared:
‘Our task will be literally to transform Ulster’
‘make Northern Ireland economically stronger
and prosperous … and to build bridges
between the two traditions within our
community’
O’Neill becomes Prime Minister

6. O’Neill meets Lemass
• 1965 O’Neill invites Lemass to Belfast
• Lemass tells O’Neill:
‘I shall get into terrible trouble for this’
• O’Neill the one in trouble – didn’t tell his cabinet
until the morning of the meeting
• Protest organised by Ian Paisley
• O’Neill made reconciliation official policy
• However, only introduced minor reforms
• Tensions around anniversary of 1916 Rising
• UVF reformed - ‘Known IRA men will be
executed mercilessly and without hesitation’ -
killed two innocent Catholics and elderly
Protestant woman

7. • Jan. 1964 - The Campaign for Social
Justice in Northern Ireland was formed
• 1965 Gerry Fitt forms ‘Campaign for
Democracy in Ulster’ - sponsored by sixty
MPs
• Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
(1967)
• Derry Unemployed Action Committee
(1965)
• Derry Housing Association (1967)
Civil Rights Movement

8. Civil Rights Marches
• June 1968 – Housing controversy
in Caledon, Co. Tyrone.
• Austin Currie MP occupies house
• Protest march from Coalisland to
Dungannon
• 5 Oct. - William Craig bans march
in Derry. RUC baton the crowd
• N. Ireland becoming destabilised

9. O’Neill introduces reforms
• Widespread protests now taking place
• British government pressure O’Neill for
reforms
• Londonderry Corporation was to be replaced
by an appointed development commission
• Councils were to allocate houses on a fair
points system
• Sections of the Special Powers Act would be
repealed
• An ombudsman would be appointed
• Universal suffrage in local government
elections would be considered
• O’Neill appeals for calm

10. Burntollet Bridge
• Against the advice of Nationalist
leaders – Peoples Democracy and
Young Socialists organise march from
Belfast to Derry
• New Years Day 1969
• March attacked by loyalists at
Burntollet Bridge
• When march reaches Derry RUC
attack homes in Bogside
• O’Neill resigns

11. • Presentation prepared by:
• Dominic Haugh
• St. Particks Comprehensive School
• Shannon
• Co. Clare
• Presentation can be used for educational purposes only – all rights remain with author