Paisley engineered fall of NI prime ministers in violent campaigns

I concur with your editorial (September 13) of the late Ian Paisley whose political career was punctuated with nakedly sectarian acts and deeds and the destruction of many political initiatives and moderate leaders of unionism who were engaged in genuine attempts to bring peace and stability to Northern Ireland.

From the 1960s Dr Paisley was engaged in subversion and even engineered the fall of two NI prime ministers, Capt Terence O’Neill and Major Chichester-Clark, with the assistance of his own newspaper the Protestant Telegraph.

Following the formation of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, which was set up to influence public opinion on the lack of civil rights for Catholics, prime minister Terence O’Neill, despite fierce opposition from 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 Ian Paisley 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 under the control of Dr Paisley 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 Ian Paisley’s 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. Captain Terence O’ Neill resigned just day’s later. O’Neill later said the explosions “literally blew me out of office”. Dr Paisley and his propaganda ‘newspaper’ had successfully removed the leader of Northern Ireland and set out to destabilise Captain O’Neill’s successor Major James Chichester-Clark.

Tom Cooper

Templeville Road

Templeogue

Dublin