O’Neill blown out of office by loyalist conspirators

Thursday, December 10, 2009

STEVEN King’s version of recent political history in Northern Ireland, on the circumstances surrounding the resignation from office of former prime minister Terence O’Neill is at variance with fact (‘North needs an election to purge system on the brink of breakdown’, November 25)

Mr King’s statement that although the North was "supposed to be pointing in the right direction under Terence O’Neill and then the Provos rose up from the ashes of Bombay Street" clearly implies it was the Provisional IRA which was responsible for forcing Capt O’Neill from office.

The facts suggest otherwise. Following the formation of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, which was set up to influence British and American public opinion on the lack of civil rights for Catholics in the North, Prime Minister Terence O’Neill, despite fierce opposition from within his own party, looked favourably on the introduction of more moderate policies which included "one man, one vote" for all in the gerrymandered local elections. This political accommodation of Catholics was regarded as appeasement to IRA violence and enraged the virulently anti-Catholic shadowy figures in loyalism who conspired to "rid Ulster of this Lundy". Calls were made for O’Neill to resign. Although not yet prepared to fall on his own sword, sinister forces within loyalism were about to apply the final push. If political pressure alone would not force O’Neill to stand aside, then a few strategically placed bombs might, especially if the IRA was believed to be responsible.

A decision was taken by a coalition of loyalist organisations to attack Belfast’s electricity and water supplies in an attempt to cause maximum political damage to O’Neill, who would be unlikely to survive the consequences if these bombings were shown to be the work of republicans. The first target was Castlereagh electricity substation which was bombed by members of the UVF and the Ulster Protestant Volunteers. This resulted in much of Belfast being plunged into darkness.

The following day Rev Ian Paisley’s newspaper, the Protestant Telegraph, reported: "This is the first act of sabotage perpetrated by the IRA since the murderous campaign of 1956 ... the sheer professionalism of the act indicates the work of the well-equipped IRA. This latest act of terrorism is an ominous indication of what lies ahead for Ulster ... Loyalists must now appreciate the struggle that lies ahead and the supreme sacrifice that will have to be made in order that Ulster will remain Protestant". Four days later the loyalist co-conspirators changed targets and, confident that the IRA was the primary suspect, bombed Belfast’s main water supply at Dunadry and two weeks later another explosion destroyed the pipeline between the Silent Valley reservoir in the Mourne mountains and Belfast.

A further four explosions on pipelines carrying water supplies from Lough Neagh to Belfast quickly followed, all reportedly carried out by the IRA.

Capt O’ Neill knew he could no longer survive and resigned just day’s later. He later said the explosions "literally blew me out of office".

As the senior political adviser to David Trimble and one of the UUP’s smartest apparatchiks, it is unthinkable that Steven King was not aware of the political intrigue engaged in by O’Neill’s fellow-unionist political enemies. It is even more unthinkable that Mr King would be unaware that the night Bombay Street was literally burned to the ground, the Stormont prime minister was not Terence O’Neill but Major James Chichester-Clark.

Tom Cooper
Delaford Lawn
Knocklyon
Dublin 16

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, December 10, 2009