Terence O'Neill: reform and reaction

Terence O'Neill became Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1963, promising economic modernisation and better community relations.

• Economy: he attracted new industry and planned development — but decisions such as siting the new city (Craigavon) and the new university at Coleraine rather than Derry/Londonderry convinced many nationalists that investment favoured the east and unionist areas.
• Community relations: gestures — visiting Catholic schools, meeting Catholic clergy — were symbolically important but changed little in practice.
• Relations with the South: in January 1965 O'Neill met Taoiseach Seán Lemass at Stormont — the first such meeting in decades.

The trap O'Neill was in: nationalists judged his reforms too slow and too small; hardline unionists, including Ian Paisley, thought any concession a betrayal. He satisfied neither side.

Why did O'Neill's reforms fail to satisfy?

NICRA and the civil rights movement

Inspired partly by the American civil rights movement, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was founded in 1967. Its demands were about equality within Northern Ireland, not the border:

• One man, one vote in local elections (the local franchise favoured property owners).
• An end to gerrymandered electoral boundaries.
• Fair allocation of housing and jobs.
• Repeal of the Special Powers Act and disbandment of the B Specials.

The Caledon housing protest (1968) and the Derry march of 5 October 1968 — where police batoned marchers in front of television cameras — put Northern Ireland on the world's screens. O'Neill announced a five-point reform programme, but it was too little for the marchers and too much for his critics. The radical People's Democracy march was ambushed at Burntollet in January 1969. O'Neill resigned in April 1969.

What did NICRA want?

Troops, the IRA split and internment

• August 1969: after the Battle of the Bogside in Derry and violence in Belfast, the British government sent in troops. Nationalist communities initially welcomed them — a welcome that did not last.
• Paramilitaries: the IRA split, and the Provisional IRA emerged, committed to armed struggle and to defending nationalist areas. On the loyalist side the UVF (which had already killed in 1966) was joined by the UDA, formed in 1971.
• Internment (9 August 1971): detention without trial, aimed almost entirely at nationalists and based on poor intelligence. It boosted IRA recruitment and provoked mass protest.
• Bloody Sunday (30 January 1972): British soldiers shot dead civil rights marchers in Derry. The Saville Inquiry (2010) concluded that none of the casualties posed a threat and that the killings were unjustified.
• March 1972: Stormont was suspended and direct rule from Westminster imposed.

Sort the turning points

Tap an event, then tap the phase it belongs to.

Sunningdale and the UWC strike

The British government's answer to direct rule was power-sharing. The Sunningdale Agreement (December 1973) created:

• A power-sharing Executive — unionists (led by Brian Faulkner), the SDLP and the Alliance Party — which took office in January 1974.
• A Council of Ireland giving the Republic a role in cross-border matters.

Many unionists saw the Council of Ireland as a step towards Irish unity. In May 1974 the Ulster Workers' Council strike — backed by loyalist paramilitaries and by workers in the power stations — paralysed Northern Ireland. The Executive collapsed after five months, and direct rule returned.

Why it matters: Sunningdale contained the same essential ingredients as the 1998 settlement — power-sharing plus an Irish dimension. In 1974 there was not enough consent; in 1998, after ceasefires and negotiation, there was.

When was Stormont suspended?

The hunger strikes and the rise of Sinn Féin

Republican prisoners demanded to be treated as political prisoners rather than criminals — the "special category status" removed in 1976. After the blanket and dirty protests came the hunger strikes of 1980–81.

• Bobby Sands began refusing food in March 1981 and was elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in April. He died on 5 May 1981; nine other hunger strikers died before the protest ended in October.
• The strikes brought huge international attention, deep anger in nationalist areas, and a surge in support for Sinn Féin.
• Republicans adopted a twin strategy of electoral politics alongside the armed campaign — a shift that would, in time, make negotiation possible.
• Sinn Féin's rise put the SDLP under pressure, and pushed both London and Dublin to look for a political initiative that would strengthen constitutional nationalism.

Match the agreement to what it did

Tap an agreement on the left, then its main effect on the right.

The Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985

Signed at Hillsborough on 15 November 1985 by Margaret Thatcher and Garret FitzGerald, the Anglo-Irish Agreement:

• Gave the Irish government a consultative role in Northern Ireland affairs, through an Intergovernmental Conference.
• Confirmed that any change in Northern Ireland's status required the consent of a majority there.
• Aimed to improve security co-operation and to strengthen constitutional nationalism against Sinn Féin.

Unionists were furious — they had not been consulted. The "Ulster Says No" campaign brought mass rallies, resignations of unionist MPs and boycotts of councils. But the Agreement survived, and it showed that London and Dublin could work together — the foundation of everything that followed.

Why did unionists oppose the 1985 Agreement?

Hume–Adams, the Declaration and the ceasefires

Talks between John Hume (SDLP) and Gerry Adams (Sinn Féin) explored whether republicans could be brought into politics. That fed into the Downing Street Declaration of 15 December 1993, issued by John Major and Albert Reynolds:

• Britain declared it had no selfish strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland.
• The Irish government accepted that unity could come only with the consent of a majority in Northern Ireland.
• Parties committed to exclusively peaceful methods could take part in talks.

The IRA declared a ceasefire in August 1994; loyalist paramilitaries followed in October 1994. Despite a breakdown in 1996, multi-party talks resumed and led to the final settlement.

When was the Good Friday Agreement?

1998: the settlement

The Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement was reached on 10 April 1998. Its key terms:

• A Northern Ireland Assembly with a power-sharing Executive, requiring cross-community support.
• A North–South Ministerial Council (the Irish dimension) and a British–Irish Council (the east–west dimension).
• The principle of consent: Northern Ireland remains in the UK while a majority there wishes it. The Republic agreed to amend Articles 2 and 3 of its constitution.
• Provision for decommissioning of paramilitary weapons, early release of prisoners, reform of policing and human rights safeguards.

It was endorsed by referendums on 22 May 1998 — a large majority in Northern Ireland and an overwhelming one in the Republic. Not everyone accepted it: the DUP opposed it, and dissident republicans bombed Omagh in August 1998.

The principle of consent

Why did the 1974 Executive collapse?

The big ideas to know

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