ARTEFACT 21.2: The O’Neill Years, 1963–1969 In this
topic, you will learn about:
Terence O’Neill’s economic reforms His outreach to Catholics Unionist opposition to his reforms The Civil Rights Movement
In 1963, Terence O’Neill became Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He was a young man, part of a new generation of politicians. He set out, in his own words, to ‘build bridges between our two communities’. His leadership was an opportunity to create a fairer Northern Ireland.
O’Neill’s economic policies
The North’s economy had slowed in the 1950s as the ship building and linen industries declined. O’Neill used tax breaks and grants to attract new industries and foreign businesses to the province. He was successful, creating 65,000 new jobs by 1970. However, most of the investment was in the heavily Protestant east. The Catholic west remained underdeveloped and poor.
Relations with Catholics
O’Neill tried to improve relations with Catholics. He was the fi rst Northern Ireland Prime Minister to visit Catholic schools and hospitals. When the Pope died in 1963, he ordered fl ags to be fl own at half-mast. In 1965, he met with the Republic’s Taoiseach Seán Lemass, the fi rst time the heads of government on the island had met since 1920.
Catholics began to hope for widespread change in Northern Ireland and an end to discrimination. However, O’Neill was slow to follow these symbolic gestures with concrete changes in housing or employment policies.
