On This Day / October 17, 1970
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19701017
Reference Date
19701017
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 17th October 1970, Dungannon Council was found guilty of maladministration in a housing case, while John Hume condemned Unionist misrule at a 20,000-strong Enniskillen protest. Edited by historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.
Dungannon Council Guilty| On This Day – 17th October 1970
MR JOHN Benn, Stormont’s Commissioner for Complaints, has accused Dungannon Rural Council of mal-administration – for refusing to give a family of thirteen a bigger house.
Mr and Mrs Michael Mollen and their family have been living in a prefabricated bungalow owned by the council who refused to grant them a transfer to a four-bedroomed house. Eight years ago the local Public Health Inspector recorded that the family were living in grossly overcrowded conditions.
But an application then for a transfer to a larger house was ignored by the Council. The family’s case was taken up by Labour Councillor Jack Hassard.
(Editor’s note: In this case the Civil Rights campaign against injustice at local government level has turned full circle. For it was in protest against action by Dungannon Rural Council in 1968 that Mr Austin Currie, MP for East Tyrone, led the first Civil Rights march.)
Hume Lashes Unionist Misrule in Fermanagh
A GROUP of Paisleyites waving a Union Jack and shouting Orange slogans tried to interrupt the big Civil Rights protest meeting in Enniskillen which was attended by over 20,000 people. However, the police moved in and pushed the Paisleyites back. Mr Frank McManus, MP appealed to the crowd not to be provoked.
The meeting was held to protest against the jailing of twenty Fermanagh Civil Rights men for demonstrating against the unjust and undemocratic County Council.
Mr John Hume, MP said there were still too many people in Fermanagh willing to touch the forelock and bend the knee in front of the Unionist masters. Fermanagh was the worst-hit area when it came to Unionist misrule. For many years there had been a policy of extermination of the majority of the people.
Hardly a family but had a son or daughter in other lands in search of an ordinary job because of the planned campaign to deny them work at home.
The Unionist right wing was opposing local government reform because, as one of them conceded, it would mean that control of local government in Fermanagh, Derry and Tyrone would fall into anti-Unionist hands.
Mr Hume called on the people of Fermanagh to withdraw all recognition from Fermanagh County Council. ‘No citizen should pay rent or rates or anything else to this council. … Unless the people of Fermanagh were prepared to do that, then … all they were doing was issuing hot air.’
(Editor’s note: As Brian Faulkner struggled to get his housing reform Bill past hostile backbenchers, the past misdeeds of Unionist-controlled councils in the west continued to fuel controversy.
The appalling record of the gerrymandered Fermanagh County Council attracted John Hume’s particular ire.)
On This Day – 17th October 1970
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19701017
Reference Date
19701017
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 17th October 1970, Dungannon Council was found guilty of maladministration in a housing case, while John Hume condemned Unionist misrule at a 20,000-strong Enniskillen protest. Edited by historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.
Dungannon Council Guilty| On This Day – 17th October 1970
MR JOHN Benn, Stormont’s Commissioner for Complaints, has accused Dungannon Rural Council of mal-administration – for refusing to give a family of thirteen a bigger house.
Mr and Mrs Michael Mollen and their family have been living in a prefabricated bungalow owned by the council who refused to grant them a transfer to a four-bedroomed house. Eight years ago the local Public Health Inspector recorded that the family were living in grossly overcrowded conditions.
But an application then for a transfer to a larger house was ignored by the Council. The family’s case was taken up by Labour Councillor Jack Hassard.
(Editor’s note: In this case the Civil Rights campaign against injustice at local government level has turned full circle. For it was in protest against action by Dungannon Rural Council in 1968 that Mr Austin Currie, MP for East Tyrone, led the first Civil Rights march.)
Hume Lashes Unionist Misrule in Fermanagh
A GROUP of Paisleyites waving a Union Jack and shouting Orange slogans tried to interrupt the big Civil Rights protest meeting in Enniskillen which was attended by over 20,000 people. However, the police moved in and pushed the Paisleyites back. Mr Frank McManus, MP appealed to the crowd not to be provoked.
The meeting was held to protest against the jailing of twenty Fermanagh Civil Rights men for demonstrating against the unjust and undemocratic County Council.
Mr John Hume, MP said there were still too many people in Fermanagh willing to touch the forelock and bend the knee in front of the Unionist masters. Fermanagh was the worst-hit area when it came to Unionist misrule. For many years there had been a policy of extermination of the majority of the people.
Hardly a family but had a son or daughter in other lands in search of an ordinary job because of the planned campaign to deny them work at home.
The Unionist right wing was opposing local government reform because, as one of them conceded, it would mean that control of local government in Fermanagh, Derry and Tyrone would fall into anti-Unionist hands.
Mr Hume called on the people of Fermanagh to withdraw all recognition from Fermanagh County Council. ‘No citizen should pay rent or rates or anything else to this council. … Unless the people of Fermanagh were prepared to do that, then … all they were doing was issuing hot air.’
(Editor’s note: As Brian Faulkner struggled to get his housing reform Bill past hostile backbenchers, the past misdeeds of Unionist-controlled councils in the west continued to fuel controversy.
The appalling record of the gerrymandered Fermanagh County Council attracted John Hume’s particular ire.)
On This Day – 17th October 1970
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19701017
Reference Date
October 17, 2020
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 17th October 1970, Dungannon Council was found guilty of maladministration in a housing case, while John Hume condemned Unionist misrule at a 20,000-strong Enniskillen protest. Edited by historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.
Dungannon Council Guilty| On This Day – 17th October 1970
MR JOHN Benn, Stormont’s Commissioner for Complaints, has accused Dungannon Rural Council of mal-administration – for refusing to give a family of thirteen a bigger house.
Mr and Mrs Michael Mollen and their family have been living in a prefabricated bungalow owned by the council who refused to grant them a transfer to a four-bedroomed house. Eight years ago the local Public Health Inspector recorded that the family were living in grossly overcrowded conditions.
But an application then for a transfer to a larger house was ignored by the Council. The family’s case was taken up by Labour Councillor Jack Hassard.
(Editor’s note: In this case the Civil Rights campaign against injustice at local government level has turned full circle. For it was in protest against action by Dungannon Rural Council in 1968 that Mr Austin Currie, MP for East Tyrone, led the first Civil Rights march.)
Hume Lashes Unionist Misrule in Fermanagh
A GROUP of Paisleyites waving a Union Jack and shouting Orange slogans tried to interrupt the big Civil Rights protest meeting in Enniskillen which was attended by over 20,000 people. However, the police moved in and pushed the Paisleyites back. Mr Frank McManus, MP appealed to the crowd not to be provoked.
The meeting was held to protest against the jailing of twenty Fermanagh Civil Rights men for demonstrating against the unjust and undemocratic County Council.
Mr John Hume, MP said there were still too many people in Fermanagh willing to touch the forelock and bend the knee in front of the Unionist masters. Fermanagh was the worst-hit area when it came to Unionist misrule. For many years there had been a policy of extermination of the majority of the people.
Hardly a family but had a son or daughter in other lands in search of an ordinary job because of the planned campaign to deny them work at home.
The Unionist right wing was opposing local government reform because, as one of them conceded, it would mean that control of local government in Fermanagh, Derry and Tyrone would fall into anti-Unionist hands.
Mr Hume called on the people of Fermanagh to withdraw all recognition from Fermanagh County Council. ‘No citizen should pay rent or rates or anything else to this council. … Unless the people of Fermanagh were prepared to do that, then … all they were doing was issuing hot air.’
(Editor’s note: As Brian Faulkner struggled to get his housing reform Bill past hostile backbenchers, the past misdeeds of Unionist-controlled councils in the west continued to fuel controversy.
The appalling record of the gerrymandered Fermanagh County Council attracted John Hume’s particular ire.)
On This Day – 17th October 1970
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.