Why Were Troops Sent into Ireland in 1969? - page 4
Keywords: Modern History Northern Island British Troops Religion
By Jenny on 02/07/2009
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 4 of 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
united Ireland. Northern Ireland got a National Health Service, Child Benefits and the Butler Education Act. Southern Ireland did not. The British Welfare State helped to shield Catholics from the worst effects of unemployment and poverty and since such benefits would not be available if Northern Ireland left Britain, the idea of a united Ireland as the only way to make things better began to weaken. Instead people began to focus on equality in Northern Ireland. Also, the Butler Education Act of 1944 gave Catholic working-class children the chance to go to grammar school and university.
In 1968 many of the children who benefited from this were in university and educated enough to organise marches. Also, in 1968, black people were successfully demanding their Civil Rights by peaceful protest and in France the students’ revolt brought the country to a standstill.
O’Neil, prime minister of Northern Ireland at the time, had promised changes but they were slow in coming and in February 1967 members of the Campaign for Social Justice and of Republican Clubs, along with students and workers, formed the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). Anyone could join and they aimed to use peaceful, non-violent means to get changes. Their main aims were: ‘One man – one vote’; ‘end gerrymandering’, laws against discrimination in employment, a points system for council houses, the repeal of the Special Powers Act (the laws legalising internment etc) and getting rid of the ‘B-Specials’.
In August 1968 the first Civil Rights March took place. About 2,500 people marched from Coalisland to Dungannon to protest against discrimination in housing.
The march was greeted with violence by Unionist Protestants. In some cases the police supposedly protecting the protesters ignored it or joined in. In the January of 1969, following attacks and with lack of confident in the police, Catholics in the Bogside area of Londonderry built barricades to defend themselves. O’Neil lost support for his programme of reforms and on 28th April he resigned.
The Orange Marches celebrating Protestant victories were planned for 12th July. The most important was the Apprentices Boys’ Parade on 2nd August in Derry. Every year it reminded Catholics of the power of the Protestants. Many people wanted the parade to be stopped. Failure to ban the Marches resulted in serious riots from 12th-13th July in several parts of Northern Ireland. Thousands of “Orangemen” came to Derry for the Apprentices Boys’ March. The route
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