A History of the Six Counties, 1920-1969

national | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis

Thursday December 16, 2004 22:13

by Peter Quinn - http://www.irishgaels.com

peter.n.quinn at gmail dot com

The Partition of Ireland did not create a peaceful state as what was hoped by the British. There was serious tension in the North in the 20’s and 30’s and the Unionists consolidated their state. There were several stringent measures taken in to end IRA action. Many Nationalists believed that the border would be re-fixed so that they could live in the Irish Republic however this never materialized and the Unionists dissolved Nationalist majority councils and took over their power.

In 1921 and 1922 Proportional Representation (PR) was ended in General and Local Elections and although this broke the Government of Ireland Act, the British took no action. Nationalists walked out of Stormont in 1922 after the Unionists got rid of PR and the Unionists then re-drew the council ward boundaries.

Discrimination was a common feature of this Northern State. Catholics were discriminated against and Unionists and Orangemen dominated the Civil Service. The RUC and the B-Specials were exclusively protestant and the leaders of the State openly preached discrimination against the catholic community. The state was a Protestant state for a Protestant people. The Catholic and Protestant Communities were also largely segregated. There were separate schools and Workplaces etc.

In 1945 a Labour Government was voted into power in England. The Northern state benefited from the rising prosperity however there was still huge inequality and discrimination. Most new Industry that came to the North went to the East of the Bann. Of 111 new factories built from 1945 to 1965 only 16 were built in Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh.

In the late 1960’s the Civil Rights Association (CRA) was set-up to combat the discrimination in the Northern State. They were a peaceful Organization and they tried to raise awareness of Civil Rights abuses within the state. The Unionist Government however banned their marches and protests and the CRA faced repressive acts from Unionism. In October 1968 William Craig banned a CRA march to Derry however the marchers ignored this and were refused entry to Derry City. RTÉ Cameras showed the marches being brutally beaten as they retreated as well as innocent by-standers being flattened. West Belfast, Nationalist MP Gerry Fitt was shown on live television with blood streaming from his head. These images shocked the world and showed that the Northern State was a sectarian state.

On January 1st 1969 the Peoples Democracy (Part of the CRA) set off on a march from Belfast to Derry and it lasted 3 days. On the 3rd day of marching the marchers were at Burntollet, near Derry City and were suddenly ambushed by a loyalist mob under the watchful eye of the RUC. The mob was mainly made up of off-duty RUC and B-Specials. The RUC on that night then invaded part of Derry City called ‘The Bogside’ and wrecked homes and houses.

At this time in the North, Loyalists also let of bombs in protestant areas and blamed the, what was a defunct, IRA. In July 1969 after a march in Dungiven, which turned into a riot, a catholic called Samuel Deveney bas brutally beaten in his own home along with his family. Some months later Sammy Deveny died from the injuries he received at the hands of the sectarian R.U.C.

On August 12th 1969 as the Apprentice Boys parade passed close to the Bogside area serious rioting erupted. The RUC, backed up by a Loyalist mob entered the Bogside in an attempt to beat the nationalist community into submission. For two days the nationalist people fought off attempts from the RUC to take the Bogside. The incident became known as ‘the battle of the bogside’. In the course of the two days rioting spread across the Northern State and huge amounts of mainly catholic families were forced out of their homes. Jack Lynch, then Taoiseach of the Dublin Government appeared on television and announced he would set up field hospitals on the border but nothing else was done and Dublin had yet again alienated the people of the Six Counties.

The events of 1969 had a profound effect on the nationalist people. It was clear that their most basic demands were not going to be met with peaceful means and it was clear Unionists had no intentions whatsoever to treat the nationalist people of the north with any respect.