u The following source is an extract from a speech made by Terence O’Neill on television just before Christmas 1968. Ulster stands at the cross roads.
I believe you know me well enough by now to
appreciate that I am not a man given to extravagant language . . . For more than five years now I have tried to heal some of the deep divisions in our community. I did so because I could not see how an Ulster divided against itself could hope to stand. I made it clear that a Northern Ireland based upon the interests of any one section rather than upon the interests of all could have no long-term future . . . In Londonderry and other places recently a minority of agitators determined to subvert lawful authority played a part in setting light to highly inflammable material. But the tinder for that fire in the form of grievances real or imaginary had been piling up for years. Read the full text at http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/proni/1968/proni_CAB-9-B-205-8_1968-12-09.pdf
Looking at the evidence
In pairs, discuss and answer the following questions: 1. Is this a primary or secondary source? 2. What do you think O’Neill means by standing ‘at a crossroads’? 3. On whose interests do you think he considered Northern Ireland to be based? 4. Who were the people O’Neill considered to be ‘agitators’? 5. To what events is he referring that were organised in ‘Londonderry and other places’?
Weblink The Troubles
During 1969 violence erupted throughout Northern Ireland. Bomb explosions damaged electricity and water supplies. Although officially the bombs were blamed on the IRA, they were in fact thought to be the work of the loyalist paramilitary (a non-government military organisation) Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). In August, a riot broke out in the nationalist area of the Bogside in Derry City.
The Battle of the Bogside
The Catholic population of the Bogside area in Derry felt particularly discriminated against by the police and UVF. They created barricades around the Bogside to protect themselves from Protestant attackers and the RUC. Following a Protestant Apprentice Boys march through Derry, rioting broke out in the area on 12 August. The RUC clashed with local Catholics
Read and watch more about Terence O’Neill by searching online for: RTÉ – archives – Terence O’Neill
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Fig 16.8 Young people in the Bogside, Derry throw stones at the RUC in August 1969.