CNB George Cobuc.

Grade 12 The Making of Modern Britain, 1970-2018

Northern Ireland in the 1970s

The history of English (and later British) involvement in Ireland is both complex and controversial.
The Normans initially invaded Ireland in the twelfth century. But by the fifteenth century the
Norman rulers had intermarried with the Gaelic Irish elite to create a distinctive Irish culture and
English authority had largely disappeared outside Dublin. During the sixteenth century, though,
Henry VIII sought to reinforce and expand English influence in Ireland above all in terms of the law,
language, culture and religion. With the destruction of Gaelic Ireland, the way was clear for King
James VI and I (VI of Scotland, I of England) to colonise Ulster the most northerly of Irelands four
provinces with Protestant settlers from England (mainly Anglicans) and Scotland (mainly
Presbyterians). This so-called Plantation of Ulster was intended to control, anglicise and civilise
rural, Gaelic and Catholic Ireland. The consequence of the Plantation was the creation of an Ulster
Protestant community with close ties to Great Britain, while the native Irish population remained
largely rural and Catholic.

To reduce the subsequent history of Ireland to a struggle between Catholics and Protestants is a
gross oversimplication; nevertheless, religion has clearly shaped both Irish history and Anglo-Irish
relations. In particular, from the seventeenth century until the early twentieth century, Ireland was
dominated, socially, economically and politically, by the so-called Protestant Ascendancy in short,
by a minority of Anglican landowners, members of the professions and clergy to the exclusion of
Catholics, Presbyterians and Jews. Resentment against the privileges of the Ascendancy was
particularly acute among Irish Catholics who constituted a majority of the population. By the end of
the eighteenth century some Presbyterians were willing to make common cause with Catholics to
throw off the yoke of British rule. The British response was to integrate the Kingdom of Ireland into
the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1801 as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

During the course of the nineteenth century those opposed to British rule, the majority of whom
were Catholics, turned to Irish nationalism. Nevertheless, Irish nationalism was never monolithic, so
that different proposals were advanced for Irelands future relationship with Great Britain:
autonomy (Home Rule) within the UK, semi-independence (dominion status like Canada) within the
Empire, a dual monarchy (as with Austria-Hungary) and complete independence (as a sovereign
state). Morever, moderate Irish Nationalists were able to use their position in the British Parliament
to advance Irish interests, such as Catholic emancipation. But the cause of Irish nationalism was
opposed by the majority of Irelands Protestants, above all those in Ulster these are usually
referred to as Unionists because they favoured the Union with Great Britain. They dismissed Home
Rule as Rome rule. The cause of Irish Home Rule was eventually taken up by the British Liberal
Party. However, the first attempt at Home Rule was defeated in 1886 and the second attempt was
defeated in 1893. The third attempt at Home Rule the Government of Ireland Act was finally
passed in 1914. Such was the scale of Protestant opposition to Home Rule, though, that Ireland was
taken to the brink of civil war, with both Nationalists and Unionists establishing paramilitary
organisations. The Home Rule Crisis was only averted by the outbreak of the First World War and
the suspension of the Government of Ireland Act. By the time that the war ended in 1918, Anglo-
Irish relations had deteriorated and Home Rule was no longer an option.

During the First World War Irishmen from both backgrounds served in the British Army: Catholics
and Protestants, Nationalists and Unionists. But at Easter 1916 Irish Republicans those who
CNB George Cobuc. Grade 12 The Making of Modern Britain, 1970-2018

wanted an independent, sovereign Irish republic staged an uprising in Dublin. The Easter Uprising
was a seismic event. Not because it succeeded British forces defeated the Republicans within a
week. Nor because it had popular support intially (Catholic) Irish public opinion was hostile to the
rebels. But because of the British reaction the imposition of martial law, the arrest and internment
of several thousand suspects and the execution of sixteen of the rebels. Irish public opinion was now
radicalised. By the time of the British general election in December 1918, Irish Republicanism in
the form of Sinn Fin had displaced the moderate parliamentary Nationalists: Sinn Fin won 73 of
Irelands 105 parliamentary seats compared to only 6 for the moderate Nationalists. The remaining
26 seats were won by Unionists, concentrated in Ulster and in Dublin.

Sinn Fin refused to take its seats in the British Parliament instead it summoned its own Irish
Parliament, the Dil ireann. At its first sitting, on 21 January 1919, the Dil proclaimed the
independence of the Irish Republic. Later that day two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary
were killed by the paramilitary Irish Republican Army. Although the two events were unconnected,
together they marked the beginning of the Irish War of Independence (sometimes referred to as the
Anglo-Irish War). This was essentially a guerrilla war, involving ambushes and assassinations,
reprisals and counter-reprisals. A truce was agreed in 1921, followed by the signing of the Anglo-Irish
Treaty this created the predominantly Catholic Irish Free State as a dominion within the British
Empire (for example, the Irish Free State was a constitutional monarchy), but allowed for six,
predominantly Protestant, counties in Ulster to remain in the UK as Northern Ireland with its own
devolved parliament in Belfast. The Irish Free State gradually loosened its constitutional ties to the
UK, finally becoming the Republic of Ireland in 1949. The Republics constitution, however, claimed
Northern Ireland as part of its territory. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, functioned as an
autonomous province of the UK, in which the Protestant majority used its power and influence to
discriminate against Catholics in elections, in policing, in housing and in jobs.

In the mid 1960s a civil rights movement emerged in Northern Ireland to protest against this anti-
Catholic discrimination. The Unionist majority viewed the civil rights campaign as a front
organisation for Irish Republicanism and the creation of a united Ireland. Sectarian violence between
Protestants and Catholics followed, including by so-called Loyalist (i.e. as in loyal to the British
Protestant monarchy) paramilitaries. This was the beginning of The Troubles an ethno-nationalist
and sectarian conflict that would claim over 3,500 lives and injure more than 47,000 people between
1968 and 1998. In the late 1960s the Northern Ireland authorities were not only unable to maintain
law and order, they were also implicated in the violence against Catholics. Such was the level of
violence in 1969 homes and businesses were burnt down, civilians were beaten up and a number
of people were killed that Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister, ordered the British Army to
intervene to restore order.

The Heath government, which came to power in 1970, initially sided with the Northern Ireland
government, not least because it was controlled by the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and at this
point the UUP was an integral part of the Conservative parliamentary party at Westminster. Security
was therefore tightened, with night-time curfews and internment without trial for terrorist suspects.
These measures were not only unsuccessful, but internment actually acted as a recruiting sergeant
for the paramilitaries, especially the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The security forces the Army and
the Royal Ulster Constabulary struggled, however, unable to contain the escalating political
CNB George Cobuc. Grade 12 The Making of Modern Britain, 1970-2018

violence between Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries. Moreover, the Armys own heavy-handed
tactics actually contributed to the violence, for example when the Parachure Regiment shot and
killed thirteen unarmed Catholic civilians in Derry/Londonderry1 in January 1972 an event known
as Bloody Sunday. In the wake of Bloody Sunday violence escalated by the end of the year there
had been 1,132 explosions, 10,628 shooting incidents and 490 deaths. By this point Heath had
concluded that the Northern Ireland authorities were incapable of containing the security situation
the Northern Ireland parliament and government were therefore suspended and direct rule imposed
from London. Heath now sought to find a political solution that would involve power sharing
between the predominantly Protestant Unionist community and the predominantly Catholic
Nationalist community. This led to the Sunningdale Agreement in 1973.

The Sunningdale Agreement created a power-sharing executive, a new assembly elected by

proportional representation and a Council of Ireland that allowed for cross-border consultation and
cooperation with the Republic of Ireland. The Agreement had the support of moderate Unionists
(UUP), moderate Nationalists (Social Democratic and Labour Party SDLP) and the cross-party
Alliance Party. And pro-Agreement parties won the majority of seats 52 out of 78 in elections to
the new Northern Ireland Assembly in June 1973. This led to the establishment of a power-sharing
Executive, with Brian Faulkner (1921-77) (UUP) as Chief Executive and Gerry Fitt (1926-2005) (SDLP)
as Deputy Chief Executive. Sunningdale, though, was bitterly opposed by extremist elements on both
sides of the divide and Unionist opponents eventually succeeded in bringing about its collapse. A
number of Loyalist paramilitary organisations had already signalled their opposition to the
Agreement by forming the Ulster Army Council. The UUP then voted to withdraw from the
Assembly, forcing Faulkner to resign as party leader, though he remained as Chief Executive.
Following Heaths decision to call a British general election in February 1974, various anti-Agreement
Unionists formed the United Ulster Unionist Council (UUUC) to run single anti-Agreement candidates
in each of Northern Irelands 12 parliamentary constituencies. The UUUC won 11 of these contests,
thus allowing it to claim a democratic mandate for their rejection of Sunningdale. Shortly thereafter
pro-Agreement Unionists withdrew their support, arguing that a way forward was impossible until
the Republic of Ireland dropped its constitutional claim to the territory of Northern Ireland.
Sunningdale finally collapsed when the Ulster Workers Council (UWC) a working-class Loyalist
organisation called a general strike in May 1974. After a fortnight of violence, in which 39 people
died (including 33 killed by Loyalist bombs in the Republic) and over 300 were injured, Faulkner
resigned as Chief Executive. The British prime minister, Harold Wilson, had little choice but to
reimpose direct rule from London.

The British government then sought to break the impasse by establishing the Northern Ireland
Constitutional Convention an elected body that would, it was hoped, reach a political settlement
for the province. Unionists opposed to the Convention again fielded candidates under the umbrella
of the UUUC and UUUC candidates were able to win 53.8 per cent of the popular vote. The
Convention was therefore hamstrung from the beginning. The majority of Unionists were opposed
to power-sharing with Nationalists, while the British government was unwilling to return to majority
rule which essentially meant Unionist rule as had existed until 1972. The Convention was finally

1
Derry/Londonderry is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland. Nationalists tend to refer to it as Derry; Unionists prefer
the name Londonderry.
CNB George Cobuc. Grade 12 The Making of Modern Britain, 1970-2018

dissolved in 1976 and Northern Ireland remained under the direct rule of London. Sectarian violence
continued there were 610 deaths between 1976-79 and the British Army continued to patrol the
streets of the province and the border with the Republic.

Questions
1. What were the causes of The Troubles in Northern Ireland?
2. What was the Sunningdale Agreement and why did it fail?
3. What was the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention and why did it also fail?