On This Day / December 8, 1970
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19701208
Reference Date
19701208
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 8th December 1970, a dossier exposed anti-Catholic discrimination in Dungannon, while Derry nationalists sought to abolish the Honourable the Irish Society and reclaim its historic assets. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Discrimination in Dungannon | On This Day – 8th December 1970
A DAMNING dossier of discrimination against Catholics by two County Tyrone councils has been prepared for submission to Stormont.
Compiled by Councillor Jack Hassard of South Tyrone Labour Party, it reveals in detail how a 48 per cent Unionist minority in the Dungannon Urban District Council area controls the local government body through gerrymandering and, as a result, can carry out an anti-Catholic policy in the provision of jobs and houses.
Mr Tom Gormley [Independent, Mid-Tyrone] said last night: ‘Blatant discrimination of the worst type is being practised… The Government will have to take action to see that the Catholic population of these areas gets justice and the fair allocation of jobs and houses.’
Dungannon Urban District has a 52 per cent Catholic majority but through ward gerrymandering, there are 14 Unionist councillors and 7 Opposition members.
Councillor Hassard points out that in the urban area, not a single Catholic holds an administrative, clerical or technical position under the Council. Lord Cameron states in his Report (1969): ‘I am satisfied that these Unionist-controlled councils used their power to make appointments in a way which benefits Protestants.’
Historic ‘Society’ Under Fire
DERRY Nationalist Party is to ask the Derry Development Commission for its support in an effort to wind up the Honourable the Irish Society – the London-based body which built the city’s Walls and St Columb’s Cathedral during the Plantation and re-named the city Londonderry.
In a letter sent to the General Manager of the Commission, Mr Gerald Bryan, yesterday, Mr Eddie McAteer, President of the Nationalist Party, asked a meeting, adding: ‘As Derry people, we feel strongly that the assets and income of the Society must be repatriated for the benefit of the people from whom they have been wrung.
‘The Society was born of hatred of the native Catholic people and its still existing Charter is in deeply offensive terms. It will be a happy gesture to better days to wipe out that slur.’
The Society was the company set up in 1609 as ‘The Society of the Governor and Assistants, London, of the New Plantation of Ulster within the Realm of Ireland.’ James I ordered the London companies to undertake the plantation of the new county of Londonderry and the towns of Derry and Coleraine. The society stills owns property there.
On This Day – 8th December 1970
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19701208
Reference Date
19701208
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 8th December 1970, a dossier exposed anti-Catholic discrimination in Dungannon, while Derry nationalists sought to abolish the Honourable the Irish Society and reclaim its historic assets. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Discrimination in Dungannon | On This Day – 8th December 1970
A DAMNING dossier of discrimination against Catholics by two County Tyrone councils has been prepared for submission to Stormont.
Compiled by Councillor Jack Hassard of South Tyrone Labour Party, it reveals in detail how a 48 per cent Unionist minority in the Dungannon Urban District Council area controls the local government body through gerrymandering and, as a result, can carry out an anti-Catholic policy in the provision of jobs and houses.
Mr Tom Gormley [Independent, Mid-Tyrone] said last night: ‘Blatant discrimination of the worst type is being practised… The Government will have to take action to see that the Catholic population of these areas gets justice and the fair allocation of jobs and houses.’
Dungannon Urban District has a 52 per cent Catholic majority but through ward gerrymandering, there are 14 Unionist councillors and 7 Opposition members.
Councillor Hassard points out that in the urban area, not a single Catholic holds an administrative, clerical or technical position under the Council. Lord Cameron states in his Report (1969): ‘I am satisfied that these Unionist-controlled councils used their power to make appointments in a way which benefits Protestants.’
Historic ‘Society’ Under Fire
DERRY Nationalist Party is to ask the Derry Development Commission for its support in an effort to wind up the Honourable the Irish Society – the London-based body which built the city’s Walls and St Columb’s Cathedral during the Plantation and re-named the city Londonderry.
In a letter sent to the General Manager of the Commission, Mr Gerald Bryan, yesterday, Mr Eddie McAteer, President of the Nationalist Party, asked a meeting, adding: ‘As Derry people, we feel strongly that the assets and income of the Society must be repatriated for the benefit of the people from whom they have been wrung.
‘The Society was born of hatred of the native Catholic people and its still existing Charter is in deeply offensive terms. It will be a happy gesture to better days to wipe out that slur.’
The Society was the company set up in 1609 as ‘The Society of the Governor and Assistants, London, of the New Plantation of Ulster within the Realm of Ireland.’ James I ordered the London companies to undertake the plantation of the new county of Londonderry and the towns of Derry and Coleraine. The society stills owns property there.
On This Day – 8th December 1970
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19701208
Reference Date
December 8, 2020
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 8th December 1970, a dossier exposed anti-Catholic discrimination in Dungannon, while Derry nationalists sought to abolish the Honourable the Irish Society and reclaim its historic assets. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Discrimination in Dungannon | On This Day – 8th December 1970
A DAMNING dossier of discrimination against Catholics by two County Tyrone councils has been prepared for submission to Stormont.
Compiled by Councillor Jack Hassard of South Tyrone Labour Party, it reveals in detail how a 48 per cent Unionist minority in the Dungannon Urban District Council area controls the local government body through gerrymandering and, as a result, can carry out an anti-Catholic policy in the provision of jobs and houses.
Mr Tom Gormley [Independent, Mid-Tyrone] said last night: ‘Blatant discrimination of the worst type is being practised… The Government will have to take action to see that the Catholic population of these areas gets justice and the fair allocation of jobs and houses.’
Dungannon Urban District has a 52 per cent Catholic majority but through ward gerrymandering, there are 14 Unionist councillors and 7 Opposition members.
Councillor Hassard points out that in the urban area, not a single Catholic holds an administrative, clerical or technical position under the Council. Lord Cameron states in his Report (1969): ‘I am satisfied that these Unionist-controlled councils used their power to make appointments in a way which benefits Protestants.’
Historic ‘Society’ Under Fire
DERRY Nationalist Party is to ask the Derry Development Commission for its support in an effort to wind up the Honourable the Irish Society – the London-based body which built the city’s Walls and St Columb’s Cathedral during the Plantation and re-named the city Londonderry.
In a letter sent to the General Manager of the Commission, Mr Gerald Bryan, yesterday, Mr Eddie McAteer, President of the Nationalist Party, asked a meeting, adding: ‘As Derry people, we feel strongly that the assets and income of the Society must be repatriated for the benefit of the people from whom they have been wrung.
‘The Society was born of hatred of the native Catholic people and its still existing Charter is in deeply offensive terms. It will be a happy gesture to better days to wipe out that slur.’
The Society was the company set up in 1609 as ‘The Society of the Governor and Assistants, London, of the New Plantation of Ulster within the Realm of Ireland.’ James I ordered the London companies to undertake the plantation of the new county of Londonderry and the towns of Derry and Coleraine. The society stills owns property there.
On This Day – 8th December 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.