A History of “Northern Ireland” Part 2
What could Nationalists do about the situation?
Well, they had Eddie McAteer’s Nationalist Party. It played by the rules and made “humble representations to the ruling elite.” McKearney (2011) says it “would occasionally gain token reward for their humility” although Cochrane (2013) reflects that in 50 years the only legislation that Nationalists were able to get through Stormont was the 1932 Wild Birds Act.
Some may have entertained the idea of more radical alternatives. Yet the unionists had anticipated this. There was the Special Powers Act of 1922. An emergency measure, it remained in place long term and gave the RUC and their back up militia, the “B specials”, extraordinarily draconian powers to deal with the merest threat of unrest.
Terence O’Neill, who became Prime Minister in 1963, talked tentatively of reform. He invited the Irish Taoiseach Sean Lemas to Stormont and he visited Roman Catholic schools. Yet little of substance was done to tackle underlying greviances.
Tired of waiting for change activists formed the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. One of their number, Nationalist politician Austin Currie, protested against housing discrimination by starting to squat in a house in Caledon, Co. Tyrone on Thursday 20 June 1968. He suggested to the new NICRA that a march be organised from Coalisland to Dungannon. Some 3000 joined it.
No comments:
Post a Comment