O'Neill and the civil rights movement: discrimination, Terence O'Neill's premiership and reforms, the founding of NICRA in 1967 and the campaign for civil rights.

What this dot point is asking

You need to explain why a civil rights movement emerged in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s, the part played by Terence O'Neill and his reforms, and why those reforms satisfied neither community. CCEA examiners reward precise knowledge of the forms of discrimination, an understanding that the movement asked for equal rights rather than a united Ireland, and a judgement that distinguishes the long-term grievance from the trigger that turned it into a campaign.

Discrimination in Northern Ireland

These grievances had built up since the partition of Ireland and the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921, where unionists held continuous power at Stormont. By the 1960s a better-educated younger generation of Catholics, influenced by the civil rights movement in the United States, wanted these wrongs put right within Northern Ireland. The slogan was "British rights for British citizens", a demand for equality rather than for an immediate united Ireland.

Terence O'Neill's premiership

Terence O'Neill became Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1963 and tried to modernise. He sought economic growth and, unusually, attempted to improve relations with the nationalist community and with the Republic.

• Cross-border meeting. In 1965 he met the Taoiseach, Sean Lemass, the first such meeting since partition, signalling a thaw.
• Cautious reform. O'Neill spoke of fairer treatment for Catholics and reform, raising expectations.
• Unionist suspicion. Hardline unionists, including the Reverend Ian Paisley, distrusted O'Neill's overtures and saw any concession as a threat.

O'Neill's problem was that he raised hopes among nationalists faster than he could deliver, while alarming unionists who feared he was conceding too much.

The founding of NICRA

NICRA and related groups organised marches and protests. The first major civil rights march, from Coalisland to Dungannon, took place in August 1968. A march in Derry/Londonderry in October 1968 was banned and broken up by the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and television footage of police batoning marchers spread the cause far beyond Northern Ireland.

Why O'Neill's reforms failed to satisfy

In November 1968 O'Neill announced a reform package including a fairer points system for housing and the abolition of the Londonderry Corporation, and in 1969 he made his "Ulster at the crossroads" appeal for moderation. But the reforms came too slowly for nationalists, who wanted "one man, one vote" at once, and went too far for hardline unionists, who saw surrender. Caught between the two, O'Neill lost support and resigned in April 1969, replaced by James Chichester-Clark. His fall showed how little room there was for a moderate course.

Examples in context

Model causation paragraph. "The civil rights movement emerged because long-standing discrimination met a new willingness to protest. Unfair housing, jobs and the property-based local franchise, sharpened by gerrymandering in places like Londonderry, gave nationalists real grievances. A better-educated younger generation, inspired by the American civil rights movement, demanded equality within Northern Ireland rather than a united Ireland. O'Neill's cautious reforms raised expectations he could not quickly meet, so grievance hardened into an organised campaign under NICRA from 1967. The underlying cause was therefore discrimination, but rising expectations under O'Neill were the trigger." This scores highly because it ranks a long-term cause against a trigger and anchors each to precise detail.

Try this

Q1. When was NICRA founded and what did it campaign for? [2 marks]

• Cue. In 1967; it campaigned peacefully for equal rights, including one man, one vote in local elections, not a united Ireland.

Q2. Name two forms of discrimination nationalists faced. [2 marks]

• Cue. Any two: unfair housing allocation, employment discrimination, and an unequal local government franchise made worse by gerrymandering.

Q3. Why did O'Neill resign in 1969? [3 marks]

• Cue. His reforms came too slowly for nationalists and went too far for hardline unionists, so he lost support and resigned.