This year marks the 50th anniversary of the introduction of British troops into Northern Ireland. Operation ‘Banner’ and the social and political situation in Northern Ireland led to a widening of ‘The Great Divide’. Click below to see an article I wrote on the history around this subject in magazine format. Keep scrolling to see a text only version.
The Great Divide – Text only version:
The Great Divide.
In 1969, British troops were deployed in Northern Ireland to restore order. Few expected that Operation ‘Banner’ would last for more than 30 years.
Many adult Catholics were denied the right to vote, either because they lived with parents or being lodgers, could not afford to rent or own their own property. The process was consolidated whenever new houses were built and allocated, as described by the then chairman of Enniskillen council when he said, “The council will decide what wards the houses are to be built in … We are going to see that the right people are put into these houses, and we are not going to apologise for it.”
Throughout the 1960’s the world was changing. The Civil Rights movement in America inspired the Catholic population of Northern Ireland. They were disenfranchised with the lack of any ability to engineer any real change. There had been ’token’ Catholic representatives in some government positions, but many now chose to withdraw from political and civil roles. For over 40 years Northern Ireland had acted in autonomy, self-governing and electing its own Prime Minister. But with increasing tensions between Catholics and Protestants the powers at Westminster began to worry.
After the partition of Ireland in 1921, the protestant unionists of Northern Ireland held power. Their ancestors had been granted land in Ireland during the 17th & 18th centuries. They had ancestral wealth, owned industry and made up around two thirds of the 1.5 million people that lived in Northern Ireland. It only stood to reason that they would control government. Other institutions including the courts, police and local councils were similarly under unionist control. A 1943 survey of the civil service established that there were no Catholics in the top 55 jobs and only 37 in the 600 middle-management positions. These disparities also applied to the labour market. As a result, the nationalist population became increasingly frustrated at their second class status.
For over 40 years the unionist governments had taken measures to maintain their hold on power. Constituency boundary lines had been redrawn to favour unionist candidates but the most contentious policy in relation to voting, was the law whereby only ratepayers and their spouses were permitted to vote.
The then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, Terence O’Neill, was trapped between a rock, a hard place and another rock. Westminster wanted reform, Catholics wanted equality while Unionists wanted nothing to change. O’Neill’s efforts to bring about reconciliation coincided with the appearance of a young firebrand, Reverend Ian Paisley who poured scorn on O’Neill’s bridge-building efforts, claiming that “A traitor and a bridge are very much alike, they both go over to the other side.”
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) began a series of marches and protests to campaign for change and their first major victory came with the arrest of a young nationalist MP, Austin Currie. The council of County Tyrone had long been accused of unfair housing allocation, but events came to a head when a single 19 year-old Protestant girl was chosen for a council house on a list that contained many Catholic families. Austin Currie squatted in the property in protest,
remaining there for a few hours until he was forcibly evicted by the RUC. This house became an unlikely focal point and the media coverage drew many new members to the NICRA. A few days later a protest march was confronted by Ian Paisley and around 1,000 of his followers. While violence was avoided, the tensions between the sides would only ever escalate.
Paisley was an isolationist, determined that Northern Ireland would determine its own fate by ignoring the will of Westminster. He was an expert at using the TV and media to stir up the passions and fears of the protestant population. The hardliner attitude of Paisley and others was to attract many followers who were willing to do whatever it took to preserve and protect their way of life.
In 1966 a unionist group calling themselves the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) carried out three murders although none of the victims was even remotely connected to the IRA. The nationalist community felt very threatened. In the face of escalating UVF attacks, they had little faith in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and their armed wing, the B-Specials. The police treatment of nationalists was often as brutal as the UVF’s, there were numerous cases were the two organisations worked hand in hand to coordinate vigilante attacks on Catholics.
The nationalist community was split into those who wanted to pursue reform through passive resistance and those wanting to take up arms. The latter would go on to form the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).
The continuing protests and violence were enough to spell the end for Prime Minister O’Neill who said, “It is frightfully hard to explain to Protestants that if you give Roman Catholics a good job and a good house they will live like Protestants, because they will see neighbours with cars and television sets. They will refuse to have eighteen children, but if a Roman Catholic is jobless and lives in the most ghastly hovel, he will rear 18 children on National Assistance.”
(One shouldn’t be surprised by this statement, for when O’Neill had come to power he had suggested draining Lough Neagh in order to create another county in Northern Ireland – true story!)
The NICRA, still no closer to the reforms they desired, continued their marches, despite most being banned by government. Their key aim was to provoke a reaction from their opponents and in January 1969 another protest set out from Belfast to Derry / Londonderry. They were then intercepted at the remote Burntollet Bridge. The protesters were attacked by a mob of loyalists that threw barrages of stones and attacked them with sticks and cudgels. Once again the images of battered and bloodied men and women were broadcast around the world.
The next major flash-point occurred during an NICRA march in Derry / Londonderry on 5th October 1968. The RUC chose to use water cannon and baton charges on an entirely peaceful protest. Crucially, TV cameras had recorded one particular RUC officer laying about demonstrators with a blackthorn stick. When he turned, wild-eyed to the camera his face became the iconic image of the time, an image that was to be replayed all over the world for years to come.
Events truly came to a head in the infamous Battle of the Bogside in August 1969. The Orange Order was determined to run their annual Apprentice Boys parade through the mainly Catholic Bogside area of Derry / Londonderry. The parade predictably erupted into violence and pitched battles were fought on the streets. When the RUC intervened, they acted more in support of the unionists rather than trying to restore order. The RUC, aided by loyalist mobs, ran amok in the residential Catholic areas, smashing windows and looting homes and businesses. The Catholic nationalists formed makeshift barricades at the entrances to the Bogside and the rioting continued for 3 days. As word spread, similar confrontations broke out in the Catholic Falls, Crumlin and Ardoyne areas of Belfast – the Catholic population was determined to ‘draw the heat off the Bogside’ and to stretch the police resources.
One writer said: “The violence started and within a week set the ghosts of 50 years on the march.”
On 14th August 1969, when the soldiers first appeared on the streets of Northern Ireland they were met with jubilation from the Catholic population who felt that they were sent there to protect them. It brought about a reprieve in hostilities. The British Government pushed through some rapid reforms which included the disbandment of the B-Specials and the disarmament of the RUC. But these reforms were the catalyst for Protestant Loyalists to riot on the streets of the Shankhill. Ironically, an RUC constable became the first member of the security forces to die in the troubles – he was shot by Loyalist rioters, the very people he was trying to protect.
As Loyalists vigilante groups began attacking Catholic targets, the Nationalist PIRA too began to arm itself – each side were blaming the other for initiating hostilities. The temporary barricades that had sprung up around Catholic areas during the riots were swapped for more permanent structures of brick and stone. The PIRA guarded these barricades and created strategic no-go areas for Loyalists, the Army and the RUC.
During the riots the 3,000 strong police force had been stretched and was close to breaking point. In total 8 people had been killed (including 5 by the security forces) and 750 were injured (150 suffered gunshot wounds). In Belfast one of the fatalities had occurred when machine gun fire from an RUC armoured car ripped through a wall and hit an 8-year-old boy in his bedroom. There were 43 injured from one unit of 59 RUC men.
As the dust settled some 1,800 people had fled their properties (1,500 were Catholic), their possessions were looted, smashed and strewn across the streets. Some 180 homes and other buildings were demolished and 90 more needed major repair. The total estimated bill for compensation was in excess of £2 Million.
While they were not the first soldiers to die, the manner in which they were killed and the fact that they were off-duty was particularly cold-blooded. The soldiers had been drinking in a Belfast bar when they were lured to the outskirts of the city and shot by the IRA. Two of the soldiers were young brothers, aged just 17 and 18. As their funerals were taking place, more than 30,000 mourners attended rallies in Belfast.
There followed a shift in tactics as both the IRA and UVF began to switch from defensive roles to carrying out attacks on each other. This escalation in violence coincided with a stalling in the reforms process. Previously moderate Unionists began to flock to Ian Paisley’s side to fight any type of reform.
Another major milestone occurred in June of 1970 with the infamous Falls Road curfew, after a confrontation between the residents and the Army. Around 20,000 Catholics were forced to remain in their houses as the Army conducted door-to-door searches of hundreds of homes. They ransacked properties, often ripping up floorboards and destroying possessions. Four men were killed during the searches, 3 shot by the Army and one crushed when he was run over by an Army truck. When the Army brought two Unionist ministers to tour the area in an armoured car, any goodwill between the nationalist population and the Army was gone.
There were a further series of violent attacks and protest throughout the remainder of 1970 and early 1971. But the brutal murder of three off-duty Scottish Highlanders in March 1971 was to lead to a hardening of British attitude to the nationalist cause.
Soon afterwards Brian Faulkner became the Northern Ireland Prime Minister. He was a popular choice among unionists and seen as the best hope of preserving their way of life. Faulkner, a staunch Unionist, convinced the British Government that he had identified the solution to the escalating violence – he advocated the re-introduction of internment. Sweeping powers were given to the Army and police force who could target, arrest and hold individuals without charge and further, to deny them the right to legal counsel. On 9th August 1971, some 340 arrests were made in the first sweep named Operation Demetrius. Those they arrested were ‘screened’, a process that included sleep deprivation, stress positions, beatings and white noise.
Of the 340 arrested, more than 100 of them were released within two days. Over the next 6 months more than 2,400 people were arrested, screened and the majority released. Whatever Faulkner’s intention, the very negative effect of internment can be quantified. Between January and the 9th August 1971, 31 people had died in Northern Ireland. Between 9th August and the end of the year, 150 people had died. Sir John Peck, British ambassador to Dublin remarked, “Internment attacked the Catholic Community as a whole. What was worse, it was directed solely against the Catholics, although there were many Protestants who provided just as good grounds for internment.”
The Irish Taoiseach, Jack Lynch had warned “…for every man put behind the wire a hundred would volunteer…” His words rang true as more moderate Catholics began to flock to the banner of the PIRA. There was a profound split between the Catholics that wanted reform and a place in the governance of Northern Ireland versus the nationalists who would settle for nothing short of a complete British withdrawal from the island of Ireland. But in 1972, one event caused such anger, shock and outrage that the majority of Catholics lost faith in a peaceful road to reform. Sunday 30th January – ‘Bloody Sunday’.
An illegal civil rights march had been taking place in Derry / Londonderry when members of the Parachute Regiment (among others) opened fire on the crowd. Thirteen protesters were killed with thirteen others injured, one fatally so.
Perhaps the most iconic image features Father Edward Daly waving a white handkerchief as he leads a group while they carry a fatally wounded youth to safety. Father Edward Daly recounted seeing the youth laughing at the sight of a priest running when “… he suddenly gasped and threw his hands up in the air and fell on his face. He asked me: ‘Am I going to die?’ and I said no, but I administered the last rites. We got him to the top of the street and I said: ‘Look son, we’ve got you out.’, but he was dead.”
Later Father Daly (who would become Bishop Daly of Derry) would recall how, “A lot of the younger people in Derry who may have been more pacifist became quite militant as a result of it … In later years many young people I visited in prison told me quite explicitly that they would never have become involved in the IRA but for what they witnessed, and heard of happening, on Bloody Sunday.”
Bloody Sunday effectively broke Anglo-Irish relations. The Irish ambassador to Britain was recalled and large crowds in Dublin cheered as the British Embassy went up in flames. The British Ambassador, Sir Stuart Peck wrote, “Bloody Sunday had unleashed a wave of fury and exasperation the like of which I had never encountered in my life, in Egypt or Cyprus or anywhere else. Hatred of the British was intense. Someone had summed it up: ‘We are all IRA now.’”
The Stormont Government was dissolved in March 1972 and Northern Ireland came under direct rule from Westminster. Violence and chaos ruled the streets of Northern Ireland through the remainder of 1972 – which was the most violent year of the troubles. There were 500 killings, 2,000 explosions and 10,000 shooting incidents – on average 30 shootings per day. Over the year, the number of British troops deployed to Northern Ireland increased from 17,000 to 29,000.
The Troubles continued until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist leader reflected “Ulster Unionists, fearing being isolated on the island, built a solid house, but it was a cold house for Catholics. And northern nationalists, although they had a roof over their heads, seemed to us as if they meant to burn the house down.”
Today as we prepare for Brexit the single greatest obstacle to a smooth British exit from the EU is the risk of a hard border in Ireland. There are two critical questions here:
a) Why would there be a Hard Border?
b) Why is the prospect of a hard border such a big deal?
The first question is relatively simple. The EU has strict guidelines on the goods that can be imported into and traded in their member states’ markets. There are restrictions on the power of Vacuum Cleaners and the wattage of light bulbs. When it comes to food there are even stricter guidelines such as
restrictions on Genetically Modified (GM) crops, chlorinated chicken and also steroid injected beef. At the moment the UK adheres to these guidelines, therefore there is no need to check any of the goods that move between the UK, Ireland and the EU.
The problems may arise when the UK leaves the EU and starts to negotiate individual trade deals. The US is one of the world’s largest producers of soya, (much of which is GM), chlorinated chicken and (you guessed it) steroid injected beef. Other nations have less stringent standards on the permitted levels of foreign bodies in processed meats than the EU. If Britain chooses to diverge from EU standards when it negotiates trade deals the EU will want to stop these products entering their marketplace. Thus the need for a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in order to protect the integrity of the EU common market. While nobody wants a border, it may simply become necessary.
There is genuine fear in Northern Ireland. Many Unionists fear being cut adrift by Westminster and finding themselves under the government of Dublin. Nationalists that can currently carry an Irish passport and move freely across the whole island of Ireland fear a return of border and being separated from their countrymen again.
While we no longer see daily news reports of bombings, shootings and punishment beatings it does not mean that the long held tensions and suspicions that have permeated the very fabric of Northern Ireland life have gone away. Those bitter resentments are still held in the hearts of a hard core element in Northern Ireland. History has shown us that it only takes one spark to rally thousands to a cause – the installation of a hard border and checkpoints could be that spark.
On 13th February 2019, as I was finishing this article I had managed to book some time with a member of staff to find the images that were needed. As we scrolled through so many brutal scenes I saw this man’s smiling face. I had not thought to include him until the staff member I was with went pale. He then told me that he had served with this man in Northern Ireland. What that moment served to demonstrate was there were no winners. Every side suffered loss – and the scars are still raw today.
Surely we can’t go back?
