Ni history

• O'Neill's economic policies


  1. Set up a Ministry of Development

  2. Invested 900 million in economic improvement grants, created 35,000 new jobs

  3. Set up five economic zones to attract foreign investment and encourage multinational companies

  4. Built Craigavon new town to create an attractive new location for industrial investment

  5. Built motorways to improve transport network for economic growth

  6. Built the New University of Ulster at Coleraine to provide more skilled workers for economic growth
• O'Neill's attempts to improve community relations in Northern Ireland

  1. Symbolic gestures such as meeting Catholic dignitaries, visiting Catholic schools and institutions

  2. Talked in an inclusive way

  3. Tried to persuade Unionists of the need to improve community relations

  4. Provided extra money for Catholic schools and hospitals

  5. Outlawed the UVF

  6. Promised reforms in housing, education and voting
• O'Neill's attempts to improve relations with the Republic of Ireland


  1. Met Taoiseach Sean Lemass at Stormont, Belfast

  2. Met Jack Lynch in 1967
• Differing responses in Northern Ireland to O'Neill's efforts to improve relations with the Republic
• Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA)


  Influenced by America and student protesters in France. The numbers of young, university educated Catholics began to increase. Emerged due to the failure of the Nationalist Party.
• NICRA's demands


  • One man one vote
  • An end to gerrymandering
  • An end to discrimination in employment, including government jobs
  • Fair allocation of council houses
  • End the Special Powers Act
  • Disband the B Specials
  • Establish a complaints procedure (ombudsman) against (always Unionist) local authorities
• NICRA's methods

  1. Peaceful and non-violent means of protest to highlight injustice

  2. Civil rights marches

  3. Blocking roads, e.g. students in Belfast

  4. Squatting in unfairly allocated council houses, as at Caledon, near Dungannon

  5. Aimed to catch media attention
• First NICRA march was in August 1968, from Coalisland to Dungannon
• Derry march on 5 October 1968 saw police violence against the marchers
• NICRA marches were often banned, e.g. the October 1968 Derry march
• Nationalist reactions to NICRA


  • Supportive
  • Opposed
• Unionist reactions to NICRA


  • Positive - Most, but a minority opposed NICRA
  • Negative - Staged provocative counter demonstrations which occasionally degenerated into violence
• Civil Rights were seen as a Catholic right by working class Protestants. Loyalists felt the IRA were behind the NICRA campaign and would only be satisfied with a united Ireland.
• The violence that emerged - October 1968, civil rights marchers in Derry were baton-charged by RUC officers in front of TV cameras, which were broadcast around the world. NICRA was making Northern Ireland, and the Unionist community look bad.
• O'Neill's five-point reform programme

  1. Abolished extra votes for businessmen

  2. Londonderry Borough Corporation was replaced with a Development Commission

  3. Points system for council houses

  4. Review of the Special Powers Act

  5. Appointment of an ombudsman for complaints
• Unionist reactions to O'Neill's reforms - they created anxiety, as he seemed to be "caving in" to NICRA. The Minister of Home Affairs was sacked for criticising O'Neill's reforms.
• Nationalist reactions to O'Neill's reforms - they did not satisfy many Nationalists.
• The effectiveness of NICRA - some reforms were implemented, like the abolition of extra votes for businessmen and the appointment of an ombudsman, but these did not fully address NICRA's demands.
• Reasons for the emergence of the People's Democracy actions and impact


  1. The People's Democracy decided to keep up the pressure on the Unionist government

  2. Organised a march to Derry from Belfast

  3. Attacked at Burnt Bridge

  4. The RUC failed to protect the marchers

  5. TV pictures of the attack

  6. The marchers received an incredible welcome

  7. RUC officers rioted in the Bogside that night
• The Cameron Report led to the Deputy PM resigning, and O'Neill calling a general election.
• Reasons for the downfall of O'Neill


  1. February 1969 general election - O'Neill called it to get support, his party won the most seats but 1 in 3 Unionists voted against him, he nearly lost his own seat to Paisley

  2. The election left O'Neill weaker

  3. More Unionists came to share Paisley's point of view

  4. The UVF bombed water and electricity supplies and blamed the IRA

  5. One man one vote at the next local elections, another cabinet member, James Chichester-Clark, resigned

  6. O'Neill himself resigned and Chichester-Clark became Prime Minister
• O'Neill's response to NICRA had failed.
• Increasing tensions and violence, summer 1969


  1. Dublin sent an intelligence officer

  2. Loyalist paramilitaries like the UVF responded by attacking the homes of Catholics, 3,500 families were burned out of their homes

  3. There was shooting

  4. Nationalist residents, as in Bombay Street, Belfast, complained that the RUC did not protect them

  5. The rioting by Nationalists around Derry stretched the RUC
• Reasons for and consequences of the intervention of the Irish and British governments


  1. Taoiseach expressed his concerns and moved Irish troops to the border

  2. Chichester-Clark met Harold Wilson, leading to the Downing Street Declaration (1969) - all citizens would have equality, NI would not cease to be part of UK, one man one vote, end to gerrymandering, a committee on policing led by Lord Hunt, a tribunal to investigate recent trouble led by Lord Scarman, a single housing authority, measures to prevent discrimination in employment, a Ministry of Community Relations, investment (£2 million job-creating scheme)
• Unionist reaction to reforms - concerned at continuing concessions to Nationalists. The Hunt Report recommended disarming the RUC and disbanding the B Specials.
• Nationalists reacted positively to the reforms, seeing them as better than nothing.
• The re-emergence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the split into Official IRA and Provisional IRA, and their objectives

  1. The IRA had become more interested in armed struggle

  2. In December 1969 the IRA split into the Official IRA and Provisional IRA

  3. The Official IRA focused on a Marxist Ireland

  4. PIRA were determined to protect the nationalist community, to use violence to destroy the Northern Ireland state and remove the British Army from Ireland

  5. PIRA won a lot of support in Belfast from Catholics

  6. Their aims were civil rights, defence of the Catholic population, destruction of Stormont, end of British imperialism in Ireland
• The Falls Road curfew.
• Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)

  A violent and illegal paramilitary organization which was ready to use violence against the Republican threat to Northern Ireland
• Ulster Defence Association (UDA)

  Loyalists became worried and formed the UDA to defend Northern Ireland from republicans. Some of its members committed sectarian murders under the cover of the name the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).
• Reasons for and effects of internment, escalation of violence, civil rights protests against internment, and Bloody Sunday and responses to it


  1. There had been a marked increase in terrorist violence, there was increased pressure from units, the security forces recommended internment, Faulkner wished to appear more tough

  2. Most internees were released as arrests were based on outdated information, the vast majority were innocent, there was mistreatment of internees including torture, support for the IRA increased, violence increased, Nationalists SDLP staged a "rents and rates" strike in protest, the abolition of internment became a new cause of the civil rights movement

  3. A civil rights march against internment on 30 January 1972 in Derry, British soldiers of the 1st Parachute Regiment opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing 13 people and wounding 13 others (one of whom later died from his wounds)

  4. The British government set up the Widgery Inquiry, which exonerated the troops and implicated some of the dead, blaming NICRA for organising the march

  5. Unionists blamed Republicans, some Loyalists in Derry celebrated the actions of the British soldiers, in February 1972 different Loyalist groups were coordinated by the Vanguard movement

  6. Nationalists felt extremely angry, their alienation and hatred of the security forces reached new heights, there was rioting across the North, recruitment to PIRA reached an all-time high, support for PIRA outside the North increased also, a crowd in Dublin burnt down the British embassy
• 1972 was the bloodiest year.
• Reasons for the fall of Stormont and the introduction of direct rule

  Northern Ireland was spiraling out of control, Westminster revealed plans to transfer security control to Westminster, there were plans for a referendum on the border, internment was to be removed, there would be a Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and a plan to establish a 'community government'
• John Tayler, a member
• They believed the Paratroopers
• Some Lysts in Derry celebrated the actors of the British solders on Bloody Sunday
• In February 1972 the different Loyal groups were coordinated by Wam Crag
• They showed their determination to keep Utter Brsh and to defeat
• Nationalists reactions to Bloody Sunday
• Nationals felt extremely angry