On This Day / March 30, 1971
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19710330
Reference Date
19710330
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 30th March 1971, fears grew that Direct Rule from Westminster could replace Stormont as Brian Faulkner faced mounting pressure and political divisions deepened across Northern Ireland. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
‘Direct Rule’ likely | On This Day 30th March 1971
WITH Mr Brian Faulkner, the new PM, facing a crucial meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council, opinion was hardening in political circles in London that if, like his predecessors, Mr Terence O’Neill and Mr James Chichester-Clark, he is unseated by right wing pressure, he will be NI’s last PM.
Mr Faulkner is facing a motion of no confidence in the government. It is likely that the SDLP will propose an amendment to the motion.
Earlier speculation that Westminster may already have prepared a plan to take over if Mr Faulkner goes was being accepted as fact in London over the weekend.
Bluntly, The Sunday Times stated that he was “firmly recognised as the Stormont government’s last chance”.
Staff writer, John Whale, said Westminster had decided to “step in at once and impose direct rule” if Mr Faulkner lost his political grip.
Nationalist Chairman Under Fire
RODERICK O’Connor MP chairman of the Nationalist Parliamentary Party, came under fire from a Civil Rights Committee and the SDLP following a TV appearance.
Carrickmore-Beragh Civil Rights Committee said: “Mr O’Connor wasted valuable TV time and speculated on the personality cults, political playacting and skullduggery with which Mr Brian Faulkner is attempting to select a cast that can put a new face on the old body of Unionism.
‘Instead of indulging in raptures of joy about the appointment of Mr Harry West [as Agriculture Minister], Mr O’Connor could have highlighted the malpractices which still continue in the Omagh area.”
Paddy Devlin MP the SDLP whip at Stormont, said Mr O’Connor’s “fulsome praise for Mr Faulkner’s recent Cabinet changes does not reflect the views of the SDLP”.
Alliance ‘Real Threat to Unionism’
ALLIANCE is the real threat to Unionism. This is the view which members and officials of the year- old party feel has been confirmed following their recent conference.
Mr Richard Ferguson, former Unionist MP for South Antrim has now joined Alliance.
Alliance has 10 vice-presidents including Professor David Bates of QUB; Dr Joe Cosgrove of Derry; Mr Jack Fawcett, Portrush hotelier and Mr Hugh Wilson, retired surgeon, Larne.
Among the observers at Saturday’s conference was Mr Robert McConnell, the Unionist MP for Bangor and two Fine Gael TDs, Mr Paddy Harte and Mr Billy Fox [later assassinated].
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Significantly, the accession of Brian Faulkner, viewed in London as a hardliner, saw heavy Whitehall briefing on the possibility of Direct Rule.
As liberal Unionism began to gravitate to Alliance, Roddy O’Connor’s praise for Faulkner showed how remote the old Nationalist Party was from minority opinion.)
On This Day – 30th March 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710330
Reference Date
19710330
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 30th March 1971, fears grew that Direct Rule from Westminster could replace Stormont as Brian Faulkner faced mounting pressure and political divisions deepened across Northern Ireland. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
‘Direct Rule’ likely | On This Day 30th March 1971
WITH Mr Brian Faulkner, the new PM, facing a crucial meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council, opinion was hardening in political circles in London that if, like his predecessors, Mr Terence O’Neill and Mr James Chichester-Clark, he is unseated by right wing pressure, he will be NI’s last PM.
Mr Faulkner is facing a motion of no confidence in the government. It is likely that the SDLP will propose an amendment to the motion.
Earlier speculation that Westminster may already have prepared a plan to take over if Mr Faulkner goes was being accepted as fact in London over the weekend.
Bluntly, The Sunday Times stated that he was “firmly recognised as the Stormont government’s last chance”.
Staff writer, John Whale, said Westminster had decided to “step in at once and impose direct rule” if Mr Faulkner lost his political grip.
Nationalist Chairman Under Fire
RODERICK O’Connor MP chairman of the Nationalist Parliamentary Party, came under fire from a Civil Rights Committee and the SDLP following a TV appearance.
Carrickmore-Beragh Civil Rights Committee said: “Mr O’Connor wasted valuable TV time and speculated on the personality cults, political playacting and skullduggery with which Mr Brian Faulkner is attempting to select a cast that can put a new face on the old body of Unionism.
‘Instead of indulging in raptures of joy about the appointment of Mr Harry West [as Agriculture Minister], Mr O’Connor could have highlighted the malpractices which still continue in the Omagh area.”
Paddy Devlin MP the SDLP whip at Stormont, said Mr O’Connor’s “fulsome praise for Mr Faulkner’s recent Cabinet changes does not reflect the views of the SDLP”.
Alliance ‘Real Threat to Unionism’
ALLIANCE is the real threat to Unionism. This is the view which members and officials of the year- old party feel has been confirmed following their recent conference.
Mr Richard Ferguson, former Unionist MP for South Antrim has now joined Alliance.
Alliance has 10 vice-presidents including Professor David Bates of QUB; Dr Joe Cosgrove of Derry; Mr Jack Fawcett, Portrush hotelier and Mr Hugh Wilson, retired surgeon, Larne.
Among the observers at Saturday’s conference was Mr Robert McConnell, the Unionist MP for Bangor and two Fine Gael TDs, Mr Paddy Harte and Mr Billy Fox [later assassinated].
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Significantly, the accession of Brian Faulkner, viewed in London as a hardliner, saw heavy Whitehall briefing on the possibility of Direct Rule.
As liberal Unionism began to gravitate to Alliance, Roddy O’Connor’s praise for Faulkner showed how remote the old Nationalist Party was from minority opinion.)
On This Day – 30th March 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710330
Reference Date
March 30, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 30th March 1971, fears grew that Direct Rule from Westminster could replace Stormont as Brian Faulkner faced mounting pressure and political divisions deepened across Northern Ireland. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
‘Direct Rule’ likely | On This Day 30th March 1971
WITH Mr Brian Faulkner, the new PM, facing a crucial meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council, opinion was hardening in political circles in London that if, like his predecessors, Mr Terence O’Neill and Mr James Chichester-Clark, he is unseated by right wing pressure, he will be NI’s last PM.
Mr Faulkner is facing a motion of no confidence in the government. It is likely that the SDLP will propose an amendment to the motion.
Earlier speculation that Westminster may already have prepared a plan to take over if Mr Faulkner goes was being accepted as fact in London over the weekend.
Bluntly, The Sunday Times stated that he was “firmly recognised as the Stormont government’s last chance”.
Staff writer, John Whale, said Westminster had decided to “step in at once and impose direct rule” if Mr Faulkner lost his political grip.
Nationalist Chairman Under Fire
RODERICK O’Connor MP chairman of the Nationalist Parliamentary Party, came under fire from a Civil Rights Committee and the SDLP following a TV appearance.
Carrickmore-Beragh Civil Rights Committee said: “Mr O’Connor wasted valuable TV time and speculated on the personality cults, political playacting and skullduggery with which Mr Brian Faulkner is attempting to select a cast that can put a new face on the old body of Unionism.
‘Instead of indulging in raptures of joy about the appointment of Mr Harry West [as Agriculture Minister], Mr O’Connor could have highlighted the malpractices which still continue in the Omagh area.”
Paddy Devlin MP the SDLP whip at Stormont, said Mr O’Connor’s “fulsome praise for Mr Faulkner’s recent Cabinet changes does not reflect the views of the SDLP”.
Alliance ‘Real Threat to Unionism’
ALLIANCE is the real threat to Unionism. This is the view which members and officials of the year- old party feel has been confirmed following their recent conference.
Mr Richard Ferguson, former Unionist MP for South Antrim has now joined Alliance.
Alliance has 10 vice-presidents including Professor David Bates of QUB; Dr Joe Cosgrove of Derry; Mr Jack Fawcett, Portrush hotelier and Mr Hugh Wilson, retired surgeon, Larne.
Among the observers at Saturday’s conference was Mr Robert McConnell, the Unionist MP for Bangor and two Fine Gael TDs, Mr Paddy Harte and Mr Billy Fox [later assassinated].
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: Significantly, the accession of Brian Faulkner, viewed in London as a hardliner, saw heavy Whitehall briefing on the possibility of Direct Rule.
As liberal Unionism began to gravitate to Alliance, Roddy O’Connor’s praise for Faulkner showed how remote the old Nationalist Party was from minority opinion.)
On This Day – 30th March 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.