On This Day / October 15, 1971

Summary: On This Day – 15th October 1971, Brian Faulkner rejected William Craig’s vision of an independent Ulster amid fierce criticism of his security policy, while a new peace line divided Lenadoon Avenue in Belfast. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.

Faulkner on Northern UDI | On This Day – 15th October 1971

THE Prime Minister, Mr Brian Faulkner told former Minister of Home Affairs, Mr William Craig at Stormont yesterday that the ‘vision of an independent Ulster, self- supporting and self-sufficient, is a myth.’

Mr Faulkner was rejecting a motion of censure by Mr Craig criticising the Government for its security failure.

Rev Ian Paisley condemned the Government for surrendering control of NI’s security.

There was a sharp clash between the Prime Minister and Mr Paisley over internment. Mr Paisley shouted at the PM:

‘You are destroying this country!’ Mr Faulkner refused to give way to Mr Paisley and dismissed him with a wave of his hand. Mr Craig’s motion was defeated by 24 votes to 2.

The PM called for a realistic debate which takes account of the facts of life, rather than ‘the imaginings of people who talk about NI being “master of its own house” as if we were a sovereign country and not part of the UK’.

He said their aim was not just to defeat the IRA: beyond that, they must look to a Northern Ireland united on the basis of common purpose rather than existing in a state of armed truce.

Mr Faulkner said there was already evidence that internment was beginning to bite.

Rev Ian Paisley said that their Parliament was now practically powerless. The PM could tender advice but it could be either accepted or rejected.

He had been told that 58 people were killed since internment and yet it was suggested that things were better than before. The present measures would not defeat the IRA.

New ‘Peace Wall’

STORMONT Minister, Mr Roy Bradford has turned down a plea for a public inquiry into the birth of the latest peace line. It divides the half- mile long Lenadoon Avenue.

After stone-throwing incidents Lenadoon Avenue came under the attention of the Suffolk Defence Committee.

Their first move was the evacuation of Protestant families. Soon Catholic families, hearing of vacant houses in Lenadoon, began moving there from troubled areas. Now an Army post separates the two sections.

(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Despite a resounding vote of confidence, Brian Faulkner’s position had been seriously weakened by the failure of internment, the near total alienation of the minority, remorseless attacks by his internal enemies and ‘the Demon Doctor’, as the PM later described Dr Paisley.

As the abstentionist Opposition regrouped in Dungiven in a rival ‘Assembly of the Northern Irish People’ – with the backing of Dublin – Faulkner came under increasing pressure from Ted Heath to ‘broaden his cabinet’.

Meanwhile, a new peace line was reported in Lenadoon as people continued to flee their homes in the city.)

On This Day – 15th October 1971

Further Reading on Irish History:

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