On This Day / February 16, 1971
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19710216
Reference Date
19710216
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 16th February 1971, Cardinal Conway rejected claims the Catholic Church had failed to condemn violence, while a Westminster debate on Northern Ireland exposed deep divisions but offered little practical direction. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Cardinal Answers Critics | On This Day – 16th February 1971
ALLEGATIONS that the Catholic Church had failed to take a firm stand in condemning the latest outbreaks of violence in the North were refuted by Cardinal Conway on the BBC Panorama programme.
He said that over 18 months he had issued 23 statements condemning violence.
The Church, he added, had made it perfectly clear that people who resorted to violence had no mandate from the people to do so and their actions were completely unjustified.
Anyone who deliberately provoked violence was committing a crime which cried out to High Heaven, he said.
The interviewer asked if Protestants took the view that Catholic extremists were going unchecked because the Cardinal’s leadership was not strong enough or that his authority had been eroded.
Cardinal Conway replied: ‘Our authority has not been eroded. Some people have got a strange notion about the authority of the Catholic Church or the attitude of the Catholic people.
‘They have the idea that a bishop has just to raise his little finger and the people will fall in with his point of view. This is unfair to the Catholic people.’
The Cardinal added that he was certain that the overwhelming majority of Catholics were at one with the bishops on the question of violence.
‘It has to be remembered that the violence is not only on one side.’
Westminster NI debate proves a damp squib
IF the speeches in yesterday’s debate on NI in the British House of Commons were singularly free from personal abuse or party rancour, they were also singularly void of constructive or positive suggestion.
While stating that violence did not come from one side only and that there were extremists on both sides, the Home Secretary, Mr Reginald Maudling said that the trouble in recent weeks had been the work of the Provisional wing of the IRA and in a tough speech he warned the ‘men of violence’ that they would not win.
Mr Gerry Fitt, who said that any attempts at repression could only exacerbate conditions.
Mr James Molyneaux (Unionist) said the IRA imposed their will on the people living in ‘free areas’.
‘We are now seeing for the first time in Western Europe a demonstration of urban guerrilla warfare,’ he said.
‘The suggestion of Direct Rule from Westminster would not make a scrap of difference to the gunmen.’
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: By early 1971 the Heath government clearly saw the IRA as the greatest challenge to stability in NI.
While Gerry Fitt warned of the dangers of repression in Nationalist areas, Jim Molyneaux, a printer, Orangeman and future UUP leader, was the first of speak openly of the Provisional IRA’s tactic of ‘urban guerrilla warfare’.)
On This Day – 16th February 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710216
Reference Date
19710216
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 16th February 1971, Cardinal Conway rejected claims the Catholic Church had failed to condemn violence, while a Westminster debate on Northern Ireland exposed deep divisions but offered little practical direction. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Cardinal Answers Critics | On This Day – 16th February 1971
ALLEGATIONS that the Catholic Church had failed to take a firm stand in condemning the latest outbreaks of violence in the North were refuted by Cardinal Conway on the BBC Panorama programme.
He said that over 18 months he had issued 23 statements condemning violence.
The Church, he added, had made it perfectly clear that people who resorted to violence had no mandate from the people to do so and their actions were completely unjustified.
Anyone who deliberately provoked violence was committing a crime which cried out to High Heaven, he said.
The interviewer asked if Protestants took the view that Catholic extremists were going unchecked because the Cardinal’s leadership was not strong enough or that his authority had been eroded.
Cardinal Conway replied: ‘Our authority has not been eroded. Some people have got a strange notion about the authority of the Catholic Church or the attitude of the Catholic people.
‘They have the idea that a bishop has just to raise his little finger and the people will fall in with his point of view. This is unfair to the Catholic people.’
The Cardinal added that he was certain that the overwhelming majority of Catholics were at one with the bishops on the question of violence.
‘It has to be remembered that the violence is not only on one side.’
Westminster NI debate proves a damp squib
IF the speeches in yesterday’s debate on NI in the British House of Commons were singularly free from personal abuse or party rancour, they were also singularly void of constructive or positive suggestion.
While stating that violence did not come from one side only and that there were extremists on both sides, the Home Secretary, Mr Reginald Maudling said that the trouble in recent weeks had been the work of the Provisional wing of the IRA and in a tough speech he warned the ‘men of violence’ that they would not win.
Mr Gerry Fitt, who said that any attempts at repression could only exacerbate conditions.
Mr James Molyneaux (Unionist) said the IRA imposed their will on the people living in ‘free areas’.
‘We are now seeing for the first time in Western Europe a demonstration of urban guerrilla warfare,’ he said.
‘The suggestion of Direct Rule from Westminster would not make a scrap of difference to the gunmen.’
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: By early 1971 the Heath government clearly saw the IRA as the greatest challenge to stability in NI.
While Gerry Fitt warned of the dangers of repression in Nationalist areas, Jim Molyneaux, a printer, Orangeman and future UUP leader, was the first of speak openly of the Provisional IRA’s tactic of ‘urban guerrilla warfare’.)
On This Day – 16th February 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710216
Reference Date
February 16, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 16th February 1971, Cardinal Conway rejected claims the Catholic Church had failed to condemn violence, while a Westminster debate on Northern Ireland exposed deep divisions but offered little practical direction. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Cardinal Answers Critics | On This Day – 16th February 1971
ALLEGATIONS that the Catholic Church had failed to take a firm stand in condemning the latest outbreaks of violence in the North were refuted by Cardinal Conway on the BBC Panorama programme.
He said that over 18 months he had issued 23 statements condemning violence.
The Church, he added, had made it perfectly clear that people who resorted to violence had no mandate from the people to do so and their actions were completely unjustified.
Anyone who deliberately provoked violence was committing a crime which cried out to High Heaven, he said.
The interviewer asked if Protestants took the view that Catholic extremists were going unchecked because the Cardinal’s leadership was not strong enough or that his authority had been eroded.
Cardinal Conway replied: ‘Our authority has not been eroded. Some people have got a strange notion about the authority of the Catholic Church or the attitude of the Catholic people.
‘They have the idea that a bishop has just to raise his little finger and the people will fall in with his point of view. This is unfair to the Catholic people.’
The Cardinal added that he was certain that the overwhelming majority of Catholics were at one with the bishops on the question of violence.
‘It has to be remembered that the violence is not only on one side.’
Westminster NI debate proves a damp squib
IF the speeches in yesterday’s debate on NI in the British House of Commons were singularly free from personal abuse or party rancour, they were also singularly void of constructive or positive suggestion.
While stating that violence did not come from one side only and that there were extremists on both sides, the Home Secretary, Mr Reginald Maudling said that the trouble in recent weeks had been the work of the Provisional wing of the IRA and in a tough speech he warned the ‘men of violence’ that they would not win.
Mr Gerry Fitt, who said that any attempts at repression could only exacerbate conditions.
Mr James Molyneaux (Unionist) said the IRA imposed their will on the people living in ‘free areas’.
‘We are now seeing for the first time in Western Europe a demonstration of urban guerrilla warfare,’ he said.
‘The suggestion of Direct Rule from Westminster would not make a scrap of difference to the gunmen.’
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: By early 1971 the Heath government clearly saw the IRA as the greatest challenge to stability in NI.
While Gerry Fitt warned of the dangers of repression in Nationalist areas, Jim Molyneaux, a printer, Orangeman and future UUP leader, was the first of speak openly of the Provisional IRA’s tactic of ‘urban guerrilla warfare’.)
On This Day – 16th February 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
On This Day is a daily column in the Irish News looking back either 50 or 100 years. The column was compiled by Dr Éamon Phoenix from the mid 1980s until autumn, 2022. The Foundation is very grateful to the Irish News for giving permission to reproduce Eamon’s columns. Funding gratefully received from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Magill Trust.
* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.