History and Hope E-Book

Brian Eggins

• Herausgeber: THP Ireland
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 490

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

In 1970, a group of people had what many commentators felt was a ludicrous dream, that politics in Northern Ireland 'should not be dominated by division, but should be about co-operation, partnership and reconciliation. This dream was to become the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. In the years since, this ambition to overcome tribal politics for a greater good has been preserved, through good times and bad. This book, the first full record of the development of the Alliance Party, charts that journey of hope and of history.

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First published 2015, second edition 2016

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Contents

Glossary

Chronology of the Alliance Party

Preface and acknowledgements

Introduction: A sea of troubles

1. Perchance to dream: The founding of the Alliance Party 1969–1972

2. ‘To take up arms’: The first elections 1973–1975

3. ‘Towards government?’ Consolidation and successes 1976–1986

4. ‘There’s trouble ahead’: New political initiatives 1983–1993

5. ‘Hope springs eternal’: Towards the Good Friday Agreement 1993–1998

6. ‘Problems and setbacks’: Implementing the Good Friday Agreement 1998–2005

7. ‘Back in government’: Revival, two ministries and an MP 2006–2011

8. Flags, Haass and elections 2012–2014

9. Alliance Party principles and organisation

10. The party leadership

11. ‘A party of reconciliation’? Religion and identity

12. The way forward for the Alliance Party

Notes

Bibliography

Glossary

AIA

Anglo-Irish Agreement

APPG

All Party Parliamentary Group

AV

Alternate Vote

CEDAW

Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women

CSI

Cohesion, Sharing and Integration

DDPs

District Policing Partnerships

DUP

Democratic Unionist Party

ELDR

European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party

FAIT

Families Against Intimidation and Terror

ICIR

Independent Commission for Information Retrieval

IICD

Independent International Commission on Decommissioning

IIMC

Independent International Monitoring Commission

IMB

International Monitoring Body

IRA

Irish Republican Army

ISE

Irish School of Ecumenics

LGBT

Lesbian, gay, bisexual people and transgender people

LGBTQ

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning

LVF

Loyalist Volunteer Force

MLA

Member of the Legislative Assembly

NICIE

Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education

NICRA

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

NILP

Northern Ireland Labour Party

NIO

Northern Ireland Office

NIWC

Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition

OFMDFM

Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister

OTRs

‘On the Runs’

PD

People’s Democracy

PR

Proportional Representation

PSNI

Police Service of Northern Ireland

PUP

Progressive Unionist Party

RIC

Royal Irish Constabulary

RUC

Royal Ulster Constabulary

SDLP

Social Democratic and Labour Party

SOPG

Strategic Operational Planning Group

STEM

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

STV

Single Transferable Vote

TUC

Trades Union Council

TUV

Traditional Unionist Voice

UCUNF

Ulster Conservatives and Unionists New Force

UDP

Ulster Democratic Party

UKUP

UK Unionist Party

ULP

Ulster Liberal Party

UPNI

Unionist Party of Northern Ireland

UUP

Ulster Unionist Party

UUUC

Ulster Unionist United Coalition

UUUM

United Ulster Unionist Movement

UVF

Ulster Volunteer Force

UWC

Ulster Workers’ Council

VUP

Vanguard Unionist Party

Chronology of the Alliance Party

1969

‘Ulster at the crossroads’ speech by Terence O’Neill New Ulster Movement established

1970

Formation of Alliance Party

1972

Phelim O’Neill becomes party leader Involvement in talks at Darlington

1973

Oliver Napier becomes party leader First elections: local government 13.3%, sixty-three seats Assembly elections: 9.3%, eight seats out of seventy-eight Sunningdale talks about the Council of Ireland Power-sharing Executive set up with Oliver Napier and Bob Cooper as Alliance ministers

1974

February Westminster elections: Alliance 3.2% from three seats contested Ivor Canavan First Alliance Mayor of Derry UWC strike and fall of executive October Westminster elections: Alliance 6.4% from five seats contested

1975

Convention elections: 9.8%, eight seats out of seventy-eight

1976

The Peace People Bob Cooper Fair Employment Agency Bertie McConnell is elected Mayor of North Down

1977

Local government elections: best result – 14.4%, seventy seats

1978

Lord Henry Dunleath’s Bill passed to set up integrated education David Cook is elected Lord Mayor of Belfast City

1979

Westminster elections: Alliance 11.9% (more than DUP) First European elections: Oliver Napier gets 6.8%

1980

Atkins talks

1981

Hunger strikes in Maze prison. Hunger striker Bobby Sands wins by-election for Fermanagh/South Tyrone Local government elections: Alliance 8.9%, thirty-eight seats

1982

Prior ‘Rolling devolution’ Assembly elections: Alliance 9.3%, best Assembly result, ten seats out of seventy-eight. SDLP and Sinn Féin refuse to take their seats, as there is no ‘Irish dimension’ John Cushnahan is chair of Education Committee

1983

General election

1984

New Ireland Forum – Alliance decline to attend European elections: David Cook 5.0% John Cushnahan becomes party leader

1985

Anglo-Irish Agreement – supported by Alliance Local government elections: Alliance 7.1%, thirty-four seats

1986

Alliance withdraws from Assembly, which then folds

1987

Successful High Court actions by Alliance members against Castlereagh, Belfast and Lisburn Councils, to resume normal business Westminster general election: Alliance 10% John Alderdice becomes party leader

1988

Alliance document ‘Governing with Consent’ ‘Secret’ Talks at Duisburg – UUP, DUP, SDLP, and APNI Forum for Peace and Reconciliation Alliance attends

1989

Local government elections: Alliance 6.9%, thirty-eight seats European elections: John Alderdice 5.2%

1990

Brooke/Mayhew talks

1992

Westminster General election: Alliance 8.7%

1993

Local government elections: Alliance 8%, forty-four seats Downing Street Declaration

1994

Framework Document and peace negotiations European elections: Mary Clarke-Glass 4.1% First IRA ceasefire

1996

Election for Negotiating Forum: Alliance 6.5%, seven seats

1997

Westminster general election, Labour wins. Alliance 8.0% Local government elections 6.6%, forty-one seats

1998

Good Friday Agreement signed Referendum on Good Friday Agreement: 71% yes votes in north, 94% yes in south Assembly elections: Alliance 6.5%, six seats Lord Alderdice resigns from party leadership Seán Neeson becomes party leader Lord Alderdice becomes Speaker of new Assembly

1999

David Alderdice is Lord Mayor of Belfast European elections: Seán Neeson 2.1%

2001

Local government elections: Alliance 5.3%, twenty-eight seats Westminster general election, Alliance does not stand in North Down, South Antrim and Upper Bann. Alliance vote is 3.6% from ten contested Three Alliance MLAs temporarily redesignate to ‘Unionist’ to ensure re-election of Trimble and Mallon as First and Deputy First Ministers David Ford becomes party leader

2002

Betty Campbell is elected Mayor of Lisburn, newly designated a city

2003

Alliance launches policy paper on Community Relations, ‘Building a United Community’ Assembly elections: Alliance 3.7%, six seats out of one-hundred-and-eight Anne Wilson is Mayor of North Down and Jim Briar is Mayor of Ards

2004

European elections: John Gilliland independent with Alliance support 6.6% Tom Ekin is elected Lord Mayor of Belfast

2005

Local government elections: Alliance 5.0%, thirty seats Westminster elections: Alliance 3.9% from twelve contested John Matthews is Mayor of Larne

2006

Lynne Frazer is elected Mayor of Newtownabbey Eileen Bell is Speaker of Assembly

2007

St Andrews Agreement Assembly elections: Alliance 5.2%, seven seats out of one-hundred-and-eight

2009

European Elections: Ian Parsley 5.5% Naomi Long is elected Lord Mayor of Belfast

2010

Naomi Long wins first Westminster seat in East Belfast: overall Alliance vote 6.3% Fortieth Anniversary celebration of founding of Alliance Party David Ford becomes Minister of Policing and Justice

2011

Local government elections: 7.7%, forty-four seats Assembly elections 7.7%, eight seats out of one-hundred-and-eight Dr Stephen Farry becomes Minister for Employment and Learning Death of Sir Oliver Napier

2012

Flags protests

2013

Haass talks

2014

European elections: Anna Lo 7.1% – best Alliance performance Elections to new local government councils: 6.7%, thirty-two seats

Preface and acknowledgements

From the history of the troubles in Ireland in 1970 came a new political party expressing the hope of a less sectarian, reconciled and shared society. The aim of this book is to describe the origins, development and history of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland up to 2014. Its successes and failures are charted; analyses and criticisms are made. The book describes and discusses the principles, some of the policies and the organisation of the party. Broad-brush portraits are given of the six party leaders and eight deputy leaders. The attitudes and involvement of party members towards religion and identity are presented. There is an analysis of the contribution of the party towards reconciliation. The opinions and analyses are entirely my own, unless otherwise stated. Included are some anecdotes of members’ experiences particularly during election campaigns.

The idea for this book originated with my MPhil dissertation, ‘The Contribution of the Alliance Party to Reconciliation’, submitted as a part of the Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE) Course in Reconciliation Studies. The MPhil award was made through Trinity College Dublin in 2003. I took this course on retirement as Emeritus Reader in chemistry at the University of Ulster at Jordanstown, having previously taken an ISE course in Ecumenics in 1990–1992.

I came to Northern Ireland in 1972 to take up a post as chemistry lecturer at the new Ulster Polytechnic in Jordanstown. I had heard about the Alliance Party and quickly became a member, having had previous history of involvement with the Liberal Party in England. I was soon a member of the local Jordanstown branch of the Alliance Party and committee and attended annual conferences, initially in the Ulster Hall in 1973. I was an observer at the count for the new STV elections for local government in Newtownabbey and for the new power sharing Assembly in South Antrim in 1973. I subsequently served as chair of the Newtownabbey Alliance Party Association, later of the South Belfast Association and then of the South Down Association. During this time I was frequently involved as an election agent for Alliance Party candidates, was a regular member of the Party Council and from time to time a member of the Party Executive Committee. At one time I was convenor of the Policy Committee and sometime member of education, environmental and law reform groups.

The book was effectively co-authored with Alliance Party member Dr Mary Gethins, whose insights, sociological analysis and detailed editing was an invaluable complement to my own scientific, rather factual approach. She also made major contributions to sections on policing and education, derived from her extensive study of policing in Northern Ireland as she had written Catholic Police Officers in Northern Ireland – Voices out of Silence (published by Manchester University Press) and based on her PhD thesis for Aberdeen University. Her experience as senior lecturer at St Mary’s College, Queen’s University of Belfast, a Staff Tutor in the Open University at Cambridge and Manchester, a visiting lecturer at the University of East Anglia as well as her experience as Director of Open Learning at the University of Limerick and as Assistant Director of Education, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames also contributed to her sociological and educational insights.

Alliance Party founder member Denis Loretto also gave great help, firstly by supplying a copy of his article ‘Alliance, Liberals and the SDP 1971–1985’, a personal memoir, presented to the Liberal Democrat Party in England. Denis has subsequently assisted generously by meticulously checking and editing all the chapters. He has contributed to and corrected many factual events and political opinions, especially regarding the formation of the party in which he was actively involved and discussion of the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA).

Retired solicitor Jim Hendron, another founder member, has also provided valuable insights into the party’s beginnings and development as well as some legal advice about the content.

During research for the thesis, I carried out interviews with a number of key Alliance Party people, particularly Sir Oliver Napier, Jim Hendron, Addie Morrow, Eileen Bell, Seamus Close, Philip McGarry and Patricia Mallon. I also interviewed Revd Timothy Kinahan, son of former Convention member and party president, Charles Kinahan. Great use was made of Alan Leonard’s MA thesis, The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and Power Sharing in a Divided Society (Dublin: University College Dublin, 1999). In 2003 I carried out a fairly limited survey of members’ opinions about attitudes and backgrounds, particularly religious backgrounds. This was addressed to candidates for election, council members and other people participating in the Reconciliation Studies Course. Access was also obtained to surveys by Richard Rose (1968), Moxon-Browne (1978), David J. Smith (1986), Evans and Duffy (1992), Erwan Bodilis (1993), Alliance Party (1998), Gillian Robinson (1998), Evans and Tonge (2001).

Later I met and interviewed Sir Oliver Napier, who then sent some correspondence, about the foundation of the party. There were further discussions and information from Jim Hendron about the early days of the party. Great use was made of the Cain website and especially of Nicholas Whyte’s web pages ARK, containing details and comments about all the Northern Ireland elections, local government, Assembly, Westminster and European, since 1973. Nicholas Whyte also read drafts of the manuscript and provided helpful comments and suggestions. Access was available to a large range of Alliance Party documents and reports as well as documents from the New Ulster Movement.

A major relevant survey was carried out by Jocelyn Evans and Jonathan Tonge of Liverpool University (2001), which included extensive comments. The authors sent me a full copy.

Further background material was obtained from archived copies of Alliance News and many party documents. Although reference to the party in political books was somewhat meagre, considerable information and comments were obtained from Paul Bew and Gordon Gillespie, Northern Ireland 1968 – 1999 – A Chronology of the Troubles (1999), John Whyte, Interpreting Northern Ireland (1990), Sydney Elliot and William D. Flackes, Northern Ireland: Political Directory (2001) and other books listed in the bibliography.

I also want to thank former party leader Lord John Alderdice; historian Lord Paul Bew; former chief executive of the party Gerry Lynch; party archivist Hugh Thompson; former general secretary Alan Leonard; former party leader Councillor Seán Neeson; Stewart Dickson, MLA; party leader David Ford, MLA; Dr Stephen Farry, MLA; Gordon Kennedy; Patricia Mallon; Dr Michael Healy; Mary Smyth-Farr, as well as staff at Alliance Party Headquarters, especially Debbie Spence, for their help and encouragement.

I thank Joe Leichty and Sr Cecelia Clegg for their guidance in writing my MPhil Dissertation.

I particularly appreciate the work done by Ronan Colgan and Beth Amphlett of The History Press Ireland for their care and attention and co-operation in bringing this book to completion and publication.

Finally many thanks to my wife, Chrissie, for her love and support during the preparation of this book.

Brian Eggins, 2016

Introduction: A sea of troubles

NORTHERN IRELAND

Northern Ireland has been called ‘A Place Apart’.1 It is a place of approximately 1.7 million people, whose very existence was and still is continually disputed.

Geographically it is part of the island of Ireland. But politically it is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which currently includes England, Scotland and Wales as well as Northern Ireland. It is variously also known as ‘Ulster’, ‘The North’, ‘The North of Ireland’, or ‘The Six Counties’.

Historically Ulster was one of the four provinces of Ireland (the others being Leinster, Connacht and Munster), consisting of the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Derry/Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone (the six counties), together with Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan, but since the partition of 1921 the latter three counties were excluded as being ‘too Catholic’. Even now for sporting events including rugby football and Gaelic sports, ‘Ulster’ consists of the original nine counties.

It is an extremely attractive part of the world with the Mourne Mountains in the south east, the Fermanagh Lakes in the south west and the beautiful Antrim coast leading to the Giant’s Causeway in the north, which is geologically linked to Fingal’s Cave on the island of Staffa in Scotland. The main city is Belfast, with its beautiful City Hall building and the Titanic Centre, ‘celebrating’ the tragic sinking of the Titanic passenger liner on its maiden voyage to America in 1912. In the north west is the maiden city of Derry/ Londonderry, with its historic city walls. It was the European City of Culture in 2013. Like Belfast, Armagh city has both Catholic and Anglican cathedrals.

THE TROUBLES

So what were the euphemistically named ‘Troubles’? Are the differences due to religion, or politics or ethnicity? Was it a war or just criminal terrorist activity? Is the Irish Republican Army (IRA) a group of ‘freedom fighters’ or are they terrorists? What of the ‘loyalist’ paramilitary groups, allegedly defending their bit of territory – but against whom? Was the Ulster Volunteer Force was set up in 1913 to fight the British for the right to remain British?

When did the Troubles begin? There are many myths about the Irish situation, particularly about some of the details of the differences.

Some British people say that there has always been ‘trouble’ with Ireland since it was colonised by the English 800 years ago, bringing enduring State oppression of the Irish. Their island was invaded, their land was confiscated and the colonists tried to stamp out their religion. The first English colonisation was by Norman King Henry II in 1169, but it was the religious reformation of the sixteenth century that played a significant part in creating a lasting socio-political cleavage in Irish society that has led to the formation of two communities. Christianity is said to have come to Ireland through St Patrick in 431, and developed its own Celtic traditions. After the Synod of Whitby in about 664, the Roman tradition was imposed on the whole Church, though remnants of the Celtic tradition lingered in practice.

Following the Reformation led by Luther, Calvin and Zwingli in the sixteenth century, new Protestant churches developed. From England, first Henry VIII, then Elizabeth I tried to impose the new Protestant faith on Ireland. Later, James I, who was also James VI of Scotland, encouraged mainly Scottish Presbyterians to settle in Ulster. This settlement is termed the ‘Plantation of Ulster’ and began in 1609. In 1649 Oliver Cromwell, now ‘Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England’, having replaced King Charles I who was executed, invaded Ireland. His soldiers’ massacres of Irish Catholics, especially at Drogheda and Wexford, allegedly in retaliation for the killing of Protestants by Catholics in 1641, earned for his memory lasting detestation.

By 1767 the Irish population was 2.5 million and rose to over 4 million by 1781. It reached 5 million by 1800 and 7.5 million in 1831. By 1834 it is estimated that 81% of the population was Catholic, 10% was Anglican, and 9% was Presbyterian. 99% of Presbyterians and 45% of Anglicans lived in Ulster. About 5,000 Protestant families owned 95% of Irish land. This elite group was known as the ‘Protestant Ascendancy’ and were in part the result of the Penal Laws imposed by the ruling British on Irish Roman Catholics during the 1600s and 1700s in a bid to force people to accept the reformed Christian faith. The laws were very restrictive and have had a long-lasting effect on the daily life of Irish Catholics. The laws included:

• Restrictions on how children of Catholics were educated

• Banning Catholics from holding public office or serving in the army

• Expelling Catholic clergy from the country, or executing them

• Taking land and distributing it among British Lords

• Dividing inherited land equally between children, to reduce land size held by individual Catholics.

• Excluding Catholics from voting

• Ban on Catholics inheriting Protestant land

Another restriction during Penal Times was a ban on the celebration of Catholic Mass. Catholic priests and worshippers had to find hidden areas in the Irish countryside to celebrate Mass. Many of these places were marked with ‘Mass Rocks’. The Mass Rock (Carraig an Aifrinn in Irish) was oftentimes a rock taken from a church ruin, and used as a place of worship for Roman Catholics.4

The Penal Laws also applied to anyone other than members of the Church of Ireland, which included Presbyterians and other non-conformists, to try and enforce uniformity to the established Church of Ireland’s rules and traditions. The Church of Ireland was made the established Church in Ireland, as the Church of England still is in England. Eventually the Penal Laws fell into neglect after the Relief Acts of 1778 and 1782, especially after the failed uprising of the United Irishmen in 1798.

There had been an Irish Parliament, which met in Dublin, since 1297. This became the Reformation Parliament in 1536–1537, again meeting in Dublin. In 1541 King Henry VII was declared King of Ireland by the Irish Parliament.5 The parliament was modelled on the English version and continued to meet from time to time without general restriction of membership, so some Catholics were included. Charles I convened Irish Parliaments in 1634 and 1640. Following the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658 and the restoration of the British monarchy in 1660, Charles II called an Irish Parliament from 1661 to 1666. After the Williamite victories over Catholic James II in 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne on 1 July and at Aughrim on 12 July (sic) however, Catholics were excluded from this Parliament and in 1703 the Test Act was imposed on Protestant dissenters to encourage conformity to Anglican regulations. In 1782 Henry Grattan succeeded in obtaining what turned out to be short-lived independence for the Irish Parliament.

In 1791 Wolfe Tone and others of like mind formed the Society of United Irishmen in Belfast. The majority of members, particularly the leaders, were Presbyterians. In 1798 the countrywide rising was planned but was unsuccessful, due in part to sectarian divisions, and the ringleaders were executed. Grattan had retired from parliament in 1797.

Frightened by the possibility of insurrection and after much debate, dissension and bribery of Irish members, an Act of Legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland was passed in 1800 and implemented in 1801. The Irish Parliament was abolished and Ireland was henceforth represented at Westminster. An Act of Union between England and Scotland had already been passed in 1707. The Union flag was then modified to add the Irish cross of St Patrick (a diagonal red cross on a white background) to the existing combination of the English vertical red cross of St George and the diagonal white cross of St Andrew on a blue background for Scotland, resulting in the current Union Jack of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Despite the relaxation in imposing the Penal Laws, there was still need for Catholic emancipation. Largely through the work of Daniel O’Connell and others, this was achieved in 1829. His major contribution to Irish history might be that his campaign highlighted the success of peaceful agitation in bringing about change rather than resorting to violence. In the United Kingdom Parliament there was much reform of the electoral system through the Reform Act of 1832. The franchise was extended to the merchant classes and ‘rotten boroughs’ were abolished.

Disaster struck in Ireland with the failure of the potato crop owing to blight, which resulted in a terrible famine that lasted from 1845 to 1849.6 About 1 million people died through starvation and disease and 1.5 million emigrated, mainly to America.7 Although the potato crop failed, the country was still producing more than enough grain crops to feed the population, but this was being exported. As a consequence of these exports and a number of other factors such as land acquisition, absentee landlords and the effect of the 1690 Penal Laws, the Great Famine today is viewed by a number of historical academics as a form of direct or indirect genocide. Others regard it as a mixture of cruel neglect and free market fundamentalism. What is not in dispute is that it decimated the population of Ireland, particularly the mainly Catholic peasantry. The famine soured the already strained relations between many of the Irish and the British Crown, making Irish republicanism an increasingly acceptable vehicle for achieving change.

With the first Vatican Council of 1870 and through the influence of conservative Cardinal Cullen, Roman Catholicism became very strong in Ireland. Many new churches were built. The resurgent Church’s dogma on the Sylabus of Errors (1864) and Papal Infallibility (1871) were understandably unattractive to Protestants. The encyclical ‘Apostolicae Curae’ in 1896 denied the validity of the Anglican priesthood. The Ne Temere papal decree of 1907 required non-Catholics married to Catholics to agree to educate their children in the Catholic faith, and often the non-Catholic partner was required to convert before the marriage.8

There were moves towards Irish Home Rule, with William Gladstone’s failed bills of 1866 and 1893, then Asquith’s bill in 1912 promising self-determination. Protestants however, concentrated very much in the north east, became very fearful of domination by a powerful Roman Catholic Church. They found support in Westminster; for example, the Quaker MP John Bright coined the phrase, ‘Home Rule is Rome Rule’.9

So in 1912 Ulster Protestants, encouraged by Sir Edward Carson, signed the Ulster Covenant against Home Rule and pledged to resort to violent means if necessary to resist its imposition. They imported arms from Germany and in 1913 set up the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) with the intention of fighting Britain in order to stay British.

Debate on Home Rule was put on hold with the outbreak of the First World War. Many Irishmen, including the UVF, whose 80,000 members formed the 36th Ulster Division, joined the British Army to fight against Germany. 32,000 died, many at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.10 Only in recent decades have northern Unionists acknowledged that many thousands of Irishmen from the south, notably in the 16th Irish Division, also fought and died, including 45% of casualties at the Battle of the Somme. Altogether 210,000 Irishmen fought for the British in the Great War and about 27,400 died.11

Meanwhile in Dublin a group of the Irish Republican Brotherhood led an uprising on 24 April 1916 (Easter Monday) and proclaimed a Republic outside the GPO. This was forcefully put down by the British Army and was at first widely unpopular among the Irish people. However, the subsequent execution of most of its leaders changed all that. The Easter Rising has been regarded ever since as a seminal event in the rise of Irish republicanism. After the First World War, Eamon De Valera set up the rival Dáil Éireann in Dublin in 1919. The Anglo-Irish War followed from 1919 to 1920 from which the term ‘Troubles’ was coined. Michael Collins was the leader of the Irish delegation who strove to obtain the best terms from the British Government, but he was out-manoeuvred by Prime Minister Lloyd George and his team, mindful of Ulster Unionist opposition. The result was the partition of Ireland. The Government of Ireland Act in 1920 established two parliaments, one in the north at Stormont, in Belfast, and one in the south in Dublin. Many in the new Irish Free State refused to accept partition and fought the partitionists in the Irish Civil War from 1922 to 1923,12 during which Michael Collins was killed.

Sir James Craig (Lord Craigavon) became the first prime minister of Northern Ireland. He called it, ‘a Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People’.13 Historians and other commentators generally agree that systematic discrimination against Catholics was a distinguishing feature of the fifty years of Unionist hegemony which followed. Richard Rose was probably the first to highlight sustained, widespread discrimination in Northern Ireland, especially in public appointments and resource allocation. Perhaps surprisingly, under the Unionist regime before direct rule there were more poor Protestants than poor Catholics. Rose explains:

The notorious discrimination against Catholics in both central and local government was not a device to further the material interests of Protestant working people, but a political strategy which allowed the Unionist leadership to represent Catholics in general as a continuing threat to the Union, which only Protestant unity could fend off.14

Discrimination led to continuing violence by the now designated Irish Republican Army (IRA) with 232 people killed in 1922, including two MPs. From 1956 to 1962 there was a sustained IRA campaign, which included attacks on army barracks in Britain when twelve republicans and six policemen were killed. The Unionist government had set up the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in 1922, including the almost exclusively Protestant ‘B Specials’ who particularly targeted suspected ‘republicans’. There was a Special Powers Act that allowed internment without trial and was much dreaded by Catholics, who were often all considered to be enemies of the State.15

The entirely Catholic Nationalist Party was rather disorganised, feeling impotent in the face of a solid Unionist phalanx, and refused to participate in the Stormont Parliament, even as an opposition until 1965. Nationalists justifiably complained about discrimination in the distribution of jobs and housing and voting rights. In the 1921 elections forty Unionists, six Nationalists and six Republicans were returned. These proportions changed very little over forty years, so that in 1965 there were thirty-six Unionists, nine Nationalists, and three Anti-partition members. Labour won three seats in 1925 and two in 1965. The Liberal Party had one seat. Thirteen MPs were elected to Westminster. All but two were Unionists who consistently supported the Conservative Party.16

Nationalist complaints of blatant discrimination in jobs endured, though largely ignored by both Stormont and Westminster. Catholics could not get jobs in local government or Protestant-owned companies, except at the most menial level. Housing was prioritised for Protestants. Electoral areas were arranged (‘gerrymandered’) so that Protestant minorities could elect councillors and MPs over Catholic majorities, especially in Derry. The discrimination in civil rights, justice and religion continued.

DIVISIONS

So what are the causes of evident social divisions? Is it politics or religion – or both? Politics is about secular (temporal) power. Religion is about spiritual power. When inappropriately mixed the two make an inflammable, often explosive, combination. Jesus kept them apart when he said, ‘Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’17 Too often people lack the wisdom to discern the difference. Marva Down comments that, ‘When dialectical truths are not held in tension, one side or the other side is easily sacralised’.18 Sometimes political power is stated as a ‘divine right’ and sometimes spiritual power includes secular power, as in the Vatican State.

Anthony Gettins gave a detailed analysis of the problem in his book, A Presence That Disturbs:

The first time someone separates people by drawing a real or symbolic line between them, the first time someone makes a moral judgement in choosing between people, at that moment the world has become divided where previously it was not. This act of division leads to dominance and destruction, inclusion and exclusions, hierarchy and privilege.

Sometimes people manage to live in peaceful coexistence though not in true harmony. Differences can harden into disagreements and people come to blows or worse.19

The typical characterisation of Northern Ireland is of a province largely split into two communities who do not trust each other. Life is about ‘us’ and ‘them’. So are the divisions and were the Troubles a religious conflict, or a political conflict, or an ethnic conflict? In summary one might say that it is rooted in fear of the Roman Catholic Church by Protestants and fear of British political domination by Catholics.

Andrew Marr, on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on 14 June 2010, discussing the problem of identity, remarked, ‘People who feel powerless seize on to identity politics’. The two communities in Northern Ireland clearly exemplify the operation of ‘identity politics’. Many of the Protestant minority on the island of Ireland were afraid of being dominated by the Catholic majority in a united Ireland scenario, so, since partition, those in the north-eastern part have developed, supported and depended upon the almost exclusively Protestant Ulster Unionist political party with its British identity to uphold and defend their cause. Conversely, the Catholic minority in the six counties of Northern Ireland for half a century felt powerless in the face of this Unionist domination and so looked to a Catholic Irish-Nationalist identity for their politics.

So how were people to deal with this irreconcilable political and social dichotomy? From time to time the IRA tried to make Northern Ireland ungovernable by attacks with guns and bombs. For many years most Catholics just kept their heads down and tried to get on with life. Their Nationalist politicians saw no point in trying to play an active part in government, even as opposition. The Protestant Unionists were fiercely defensive and tried to keep the lid on. Indeed Stormont Prime Minster Basil Brooke (Lord Brookeborough), advised his people, ‘Not to have a Catholic about the place’.20

There were some, however, who thought differently, particularly some members of the Liberal Party as well as some Unionists who supported the next Prime Minster, Terence O’Neill, in his attempts to show sensitivity towards the demands of an increasingly large minority population and the demands of the growing Civil Rights Movement.

At this point in time Oliver Napier, a Catholic solicitor and member of the Liberal Party, had a dream. He wondered if it would be possible to form a non-sectarian cross-community political party. He and others realised that violence would never bring about a stable, peaceful society and civil rights marches were unlikely to bring about the seachange required. There needed to be new political thinking. Initially Napier and Protestant Unionist Bob Cooper set up what we would now call a think tank – the New Ulster Movement, from which the Alliance Party was formed in 1970.

As current leader, David Ford, told the Alliance Party Conference in February 2010:

Just forty years ago this year, a group of people had a dream. They came up with the ludicrous idea that politics in Northern Ireland should not be dominated by division, but should be about co-operation, partnership and reconciliation. The sceptics had a field day.

How could such a bunch of do-gooders have any prospect of success? The notion of overcoming tribal politics was preposterous. Commentators generally predicted that a party founded on such principles could not survive a single election.21

The commentators were wrong. Forty years and many elections later David Ford was elected Minister of Policing and Justice – the first since John Taylor in the old Stormont Parliament of 1972. The Alliance Party have, too, their first elected Westminster MP, Naomi Long, who previously served as Lord Mayor of Belfast. Alliance has a second minister, Dr Stephen Farry, Minister of Employment and Learning, elected by the d’Hondt method following a successful Assembly election in 2011.

The chapters which follow chronicle the mixed fortunes of the Alliance Party in the forty-five years which have elapsed since its founding fathers set out with optimism and determination to change Stormont politics and community relations in Northern Ireland.

1

Perchance to dream: The founding of the Alliance Party 1969–1972

INTRODUCTION

This chapter shows how Oliver Napier and others developed the new Alliance Party through the vehicle of the New Ulster Movement against the background of the Civil Rights movement, continuing violence from both Loyalist and Republican paramilitary groups and the prime minister of the day Terence O’Neill’s attempts to provide a package of five reforms, thereby going some distance towards meeting increasing demands from the large minority.

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME MUST GIVE US PAUSE?

There were those who dreamt of a united Ireland and were prepared to fight and die for it. There were those for whom such a vision was a nightmare and who were prepared to fight to prevent it. There were even some who thought an independent ‘Ulster’ might be preferable. There were others with more modest dreams, who just longed for a fair society. Among these was an expanded force of university-educated Catholics, together with some Protestants who could see the injustices of the Unionist-dominated society and who wanted change. Some members of this mixed group, together with English students attending Queen’s University, formed the Civil Rights Association in February 1967 and held protest marches across the province.

In 1963 Captain Terence O’Neill had taken over as prime minister of the Stormont Government from the more hard-line anti-Catholic Lord Brookeborough. Perhaps O’Neill had a dream too that reform was needed, which led to a meeting with Irish Taoiseach Seán Lemass. The meeting was opposed by firebrand preacher Revd Ian Paisley who is said to have called Lemass a ‘Fenian papist murderer’.22

Catholics suffered systemic discrimination in terms of jobs, housing and electoral representation in Northern Ireland. In fact, many Protestant working people were not much better off, but they felt the Unionist government in the ‘Protestant Parliament’ at Stormont was looking after them. In the 1950s Ian Paisley came to the fore, vehemently opposed to all things Catholic, and opposed to anyone supporting Catholics.

Even after the defeat of the IRA in its 1956–1962 campaign, there was much fear among Protestants. Paisley whipped up this fear, and in 1965 the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), originally formed around 1913 to oppose the Home Rule movement, was revived. Perhaps they feared a fresh IRA campaign in the fiftieth anniversary year of the Easter Rising of 1916? In 1966 UVF members, including Gusty Spence who was subsequently convicted and jailed, murdered two innocent Catholics.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Since the 1944 Education Act, free secondary education had become more widely available in Great Britain (but not in Northern Ireland until 1947). More Catholics in particular were obtaining educational qualifications and moving into the professions, though the Civil Service continued to be mainly Protestant, especially in the higher echelons. The situation is demonstrated in an anecdote which describes the Minister of Agriculture’s response when accused of employing Catholics in his ministry: ‘I have 109 officials and so far as I know, four of them are Roman Catholic, three of whom were civil servants turned over to me, whom I had to take on when we began’.23

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was formed in February 1967, as mentioned earlier, supported by both Catholics and some moderate Protestants. This association was largely student led and coincided with student civil rights movements across Europe, particularly in Paris and Prague, as well as in the USA, where they were protesting against the Vietnam War. The Association was campaigning for universal franchise for local government elections, the redrawing of electoral boundaries, the introduction of laws to end discrimination in employment, a points system for public housing and repeal of the Special Powers Act.

The Special Powers Act was introduced in 1922 by the Unionist government in an attempt to establish law and order. It contained draconian measures such as empowering the Home Affairs Minister to take whatever measures he deemed necessary for that end. A summary non-jury court could sentence offenders to up to a year’s hard labour in prison or even a whipping. Actions could include the forbidding of inquests, closing licensed premises, banning assembly and marches in public areas, closing of roads, taking possession of arms, ammunition and explosives, seizure of land and destruction of buildings, and even spreading by word of mouth any opinions which might cause disaffection. There were provisions for stop and search and confiscation of motor vehicles, arrest and imprisonments on remand without a warrant. Originally the order was for one year, but in 1928 it was extended for five years and then in 1933 was made permanent following opposition from Nationalist MPs. The act was repealed in 1973 following direct rule. The full details are described in the CAIN WEB.24

The NICRA also demanded the disbanding of the Ulster Special Constabulary (the B-specials) who were almost entirely Protestant and alleged to be riddled with members of Loyalist paramilitary groups.

As in other parts of the world, the civil rights movement was vigorously repressed. Paisley and his colleagues often led the opposition, and the RUC as well as the B-specials often used violence against the protestors. Significant NICRA marches took place in Dungannon on 24 August 1968 and on 5 October in Londonderry. Home Affairs Minister William Craig officially banned this latter march. Over 2,000 people assembled and were viciously attacked by the RUC. Eleven policemen and seventy-seven civilians were injured. The following day students met in protest at Queen’s University in Belfast and formed a more militant group, People’s Democracy (PD), at which meeting Bernadette Devlin emerged as a leader along with Michael Farrell.

Following a meeting with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Home Secretary James Callaghan on 4 November, Terence O’Neill announced a package of five reforms on 22 November 1968, which were intended to meet the main points of the Catholic grievances. The five points were: a new system for allocation of houses by local government; an ombudsman to investigate complaints; a development commission to take over powers of Londonderry Corporation; the Special Powers Act to be abolished ‘as soon as it is safe to do so’ and the end of company vote – but there was no decision to enfranchise non-ratepayers. This innovation led to dissension in the Stormont cabinet, with William Craig calling for tough action against the NICRA, who were in any case not satisfied with O’Neill’s package.

ULSTER AT THE CROSSROADS

On 9 December 1968 Prime Minister Terence O’Neill appealed to the people in a radio broadcast over the heads of his cabinet critics, with his famous ‘Ulster at the crossroads’ speech.

Ulster stands at the cross roads. I believe ... the time has come for the people as a whole to speak in a clear voice. For more than five years I have tried to heal some of the deep divisions in our community ... What kind of Ulster do you want?25

He apparently received overwhelming public support, especially from Catholic leaders, including Cardinal Conway and Nationalist Eddie McAteer. The Unionists as a whole supported O’Neill, with four abstentions. But two ministers resigned, unconvinced by Terence O’Neill’s policies. So O’Neill called an Ulster general election for 24 February (known as the ‘Crossroads Election’). He himself defeated Paisley (standing as a Protestant Unionist) and Michael Farrell (People’s Democracy) in the Bannside constituency. Independent John Hume won Foyle from Eddie McAteer. Nationalists lost three seats to civil rights candidates. Republican Labour won two seats in Belfast for Gerry Fitt and Paddy Devlin. The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) also won a seat. Of thirty-nine Unionist MPs, twenty-seven supported O’Neill, ten were against him and two were undecided.

On 17 April Bernadette Devlin won the Mid-Ulster seat at Westminster in a by-election. Finally, on 23 April, the government agreed to universal suffrage in Northern Ireland elections – the same day the 21-year-old psychology student, Bernadette Devlin, made her maiden speech to an astounded House of Commons.

It is often forgotten that O’Neill had actually won the ‘Crossroads’ election on 24 February 1969 in that twenty-seven out of the thirty-nine Unionists elected supported his reform programme. They were, though, a mixture of Official and Unofficial Unionists and the divisions at the grass roots were serious. Despite having ‘won’ the election O’Neill had failed to unite the Unionist Party, so in April he resigned and was replaced by James Chichester-Clark. Violence continued when Loyalist gangs attacked and burned Catholic homes in West Belfast. On 14 August 1969 British troops were brought in to help the RUC. Initially Catholics, who were hard pressed by the Loyalists in Belfast, welcomed them. The honeymoon did not last long. Once the army called a curfew to search for weapons there were serious riots and the Catholic people turned against the army. Many of them turned to the newly formed Provisional IRA for support.

THE NEW ULSTER MOVEMENT

Meanwhile another group had a different sort of dream. A new political grouping emerged in January 1969 called the New Ulster Movement, which aimed to develop cross-community politics with moderate and non-sectarian policies involving both Catholics and Protestants. Its inaugural meeting was held on 5 February. As Denis Loretto recalled:

Chaos was at hand and it was up to the Northern Irish people themselves to put aside their sterile divisions and build the solution. The root problem was sectarianism. A combination of absolute equality and involvement for Protestants and Catholics and respect for the rule of law was paramount.26,27

Catholic solicitor Oliver Napier together with Ronnie Boyle invited a number of Liberal Party members, including Tony Cinnamond and Denis Haslem, to this inaugural meeting. As we shall see, it was always Napier’s intention that the NUM should be the launching pad for a new liberal non-sectarian party.

Sir Oliver commented that:

We did our best to hide the fact that a group within the Liberal Party was handling it, which would be the kiss of death. We kept [Revd] Albert McElroy informed at every step but asked him not to attend. I wanted to tell Sheelagh Murnaghan, but Albert advised against. He said he would – it would come better from him as Sheelagh was suspicious of me because she thought I was ‘too political’.28

The Liberals who helped found the NUM were promptly expelled from the Liberal Party. In the subsequent Stormont election, Liberal leader Sheelagh Murnaghan, who had held a seat for the Liberals since 1961 under the anachronistic university franchise, was only able to muster 15% of the vote in North Down.

It was very hard going to develop this new vision in the face of continuing violence and to produce credible documents that would form the basis of constitutional reform of the Stormont Parliament over many years to come. During 1969 the NUM built an active organisation with about 7,000 members, drawn from all sections of the community. It issued many influential papers29,30 and was the first organisation to call for a Community Relations Commission and a central Housing Executive. Its more radical members, however, were becoming dissatisfied with a movement. They wanted a new political party.

A key new member was another (Catholic) solicitor, Jim Hendron. In a very personal account31 he recalled how he and his wife Máire joined the Bloomfield Branch of NUM in September 1969. He quickly proposed that the NUM should set up a special committee to lead to the formation of a new non-sectarian political party. His resolution was easily carried.

The NUM’s first chairperson was personnel manager Brian Walker, followed by Dr Stanley Worrall, former headmaster of Methodist College Belfast.

1970 was the year in which NUM changed its role, owing to the formation of the fledgling Alliance Party. From being an electioneering organisation it became an ‘ideas’ organisation and one which sought to influence and shape political thinking and action in Ulster – and between Ulster and its two neighbours, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. A series of six sub-committees were set up which included:

I The Political Sub-committee, which aimed to penetrate all the known political groups, which made up, or impinged on, the Northern Ireland problem. These included the Unionist Party, through its moderate wing, into the middle area held by the NILP, the Liberal Party and the Alliance Party, into the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Nationalist Parties, and out onto the Republican and Provisional wing of the IRA. In addition they talked with all kinds of fringe political groups, including the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, the Catholic Minority Rights Group, and the Movement for Peace in Ireland Group. Only two groups refused to meet them: the Orange Order and the Political Alliance recently formed by Mr Desmond Boal. The NUM was invited in September to join the London talks initiated by Home Secretary Reginald Maudling.

II The Political Publications Sub-committee, which continued to produce documents such as John Whyte’s The Reform of Stormont,32 which proposed power sharing, and urged closure of Stormont. In 1971 The Way Forward33 and a Commentary on the programme of reforms for Northern Ireland34 emerged. The following year Two Irelands or One35 and Violence in Northern Ireland36 came out. The last publication was probably Tribalism and Christianity, published in 1973.37

III The Law and Order Sub-committee called for a renewal of the ban on all parades and marches and a ban on all gun clubs and the handing-in of all licensed guns. Members continued to try to find a way of helping to regain the acceptance of the RUC as a civilian police force in all parts of our province and amongst all sections of our people. The RUC was a very largely Protestant force, though there was no ban on Catholics joining, and was perceived by Nationalists as the military arm of the Unionist Party. The power which could be exercised by the Minister of Home Affairs over decisions by the Inspectors General lent support to this view. It was many years before even the moderate SDLP accepted the police and not until after the Patton Report resulted in a major restructuring of the RUC into the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in 2001. Only in 2007 did Sinn Féin come to accept the service. The Catholic membership of the RUC, ‘peaked at 22% in 1923 and declined to below 8% by the year 2000. Since the formation of the PSNI this has increased to about 30%.’38

THE NORTHERN IRELAND LABOUR PARTY (NILP) AND THE ULSTER LIBERAL PARTY (ULP)

The political history of Northern Ireland was dominated by unionism challenged to some extent by nationalism. There have been other more centrist political groups. The NILP was founded in 1924 as a centre-left social democratic party, attracting those who shared the values of the sister Labour Party in Britain. These values were: a fair deal, concern for the poor and those unemployed or lacking opportunities, balance, duty to others.39 Significantly, in the Northern Ireland context, it crossed the ethno-national and ethno-religious divisions to focus on issues rather than political structures. As McGarry and O’Leary said:

... a reasonable facsimile of the British Labour Party ... for a significant part of its history [it] never made significant inroads into the Nationalist or Unionist vote and disintegrated in the wake of the polarisation of the late 1960s.40

In its early days it managed to remain neutral on partition and attracted a considerable degree of support from both Catholics and Protestants until the formation of the Republic of Ireland in 1949. This disturbed the Unionists and in the election which followed there was a reduction in the Labour vote from 18.5% in 1948 to 7.1%, although the Irish Declaration was only one possible cause, however significant, for this decline.

A vast majority of Protestant workers supported the Ulster Unionists, because membership of the Orange Order enhanced their employment prospects over non-members, hence the predominantly Belfast trade unions not being supportive of the Labour Party.

As early as 1913 the British Labour Party gave the Irish Labour Party exclusive organising rights in Ireland. In the Northern Ireland general election of 1925 the NILP secured three seats in North, East and West Belfast after which the Unionist government dropped proportional representation – because it returned too many opponents. The only NILP candidate to be elected to Westminster was Jack Beattie (party leader 1929–1933 and 1942–1943), who was returned in 1945, but lost it in 1950 and regained the seat in 1951 under the Irish Labour Party banner. By 1949 the NILP abandoned its neutrality on the constitutional question and voted in favour of the Union with Great Britain, causing Catholic members to fall away. An earlier attempt to adopt this policy split the party when Harry Midgley (party leader 1933–1938) formed his own Unionist Commonwealth Labour Party and won a seat in 1945.

The NILP fortunes revived in the late 1950s when four of its candidates were elected to Stormont (Tom Boyd for Cromac, Billy Boyd for Woodvale, Vivian Simpson for Old Park and David Bleakley for Victoria) and the NILP became the official opposition. Following the civil upheaval of the late 1960s, the Prime Minister Brian Faulkner appointed David Bleakley to a Cabinet post as Minister of Community Relations in 1971. Direct rule was imposed in 1972 and the Northern Ireland devolved government of half a century’s duration had gone because Faulkner refused to give up Stormont’s control of security matters. In the 1973 referendum on the border the NILP declared its colours clearly over the constitutional question by campaigning for Northern Ireland to remain in the UK. A comprehensive, balanced book about the NILP was written by Aaron Edwards,41 published in 2009 and favourably reviewed by Jon Tonge in 2012.42

The British Liberal Party developed during the latter half of the nineteenth century. It drew on values and inspiration from renowned philosophers and economists, including Hobbes, Locke, Adam Smith, Tom Paine, and J.S. Mill. By the First World War it had placed much significant legislation on the statute books. These included the Irish Church Act (1869) which disestablished the Anglican Church in Ireland, the Education Act (1870), the Reform Act (1884), the Old Age Pensions Act (1908), and the Home Rule Act (1914) – intended to extend access to primary education and the franchise, to relieve penury in old age and to allow a measure of self-determination to Ireland.

There was an active Northern Ireland Liberal Association before the First World War, when the Liberal Party was in power in Westminster. They made gains in the 1925 Stormont elections. But these were reversed when the Unionist Party abolished proportional representation in favour of single member seats, in order to reduce opposition in the Northern Ireland Parliament from Independent Unionists, the NILP and the ULP.43

The party was re-launched in May 192844 under the dynamic leadership of Revd Albert McElroy, a non-subscribing Presbyterian clergyman and formerly an NILP activist. The party re-emerged as the ULP, after a dormant period following disastrous 1929 election results.

The party’s most successful office holder was the only female barrister practising in the province at the time – Sheelagh Murnaghan. She held one of the four Queen’s University seats from 1961 to 1969, during which time she energetically pushed a Liberal agenda in Stormont. Her efforts were rewarded by Secretary of State William Whitelaw when he appointed her to his Advisory Commission where she continued to press the ULP’s programme of reform, not least in relation to human rights, seeking equal rights treatment for Catholics within the existing state, rather than favouring unification of the island. An open letter to electors of South Belfast in 195945 reflected English Liberal aims of full employment, profit-sharing and co-ownership in industry, electoral reform and greater economic integration with Europe.

Her electoral success allowed her to challenge entrenched positions within the Chamber and promoted the formation of Liberal Associations across the province.46 Described as ‘both a courageous and a colourful political operator’,47 her debating skills were negated by Prime Minister Brookborough’s and then Prime Minister O’Neill’s denial of a free vote on the abolition of capital punishment, even though several Unionist backbenchers spoke in favour of her bill. Eventually, the government introduced similar legislation which was passed, the death penalty being retained only for the murder of police officers or prison warders.

She was infuriated by the introduction of internment without trial and concerned, as were her QUB constituents and NICRA members, by the government’s continuing use of the Special Powers Act. This guaranteed her on-going and growing dissent. Even after her political career ended when she contested the North Down seat in 1969 and South Belfast in 1973, she continued to write for the Northern Radical (the ULP’s monthly newspaper). Her reforming efforts along with those of the new Alliance Party members were rewarded by Whitelaw’s White Paper on Northern Ireland (1973) that established a Commission for Human Rights, a Fair Employment Agency and a PR/STV electoral system. She later chaired the national insurance and industrial tribunal and continued to press the case for education of itinerants’ children.

By this time much of the ULP middle-class and liberal Unionist support had gone to the Alliance Party, which succeeded in winning eight seats in the seventy-eight-member Assembly in 1973. The Alliance Party has taken over the task of the strenuous advocacy by the ULP for reform, long overdue in a Western democracy, now carried on in the twenty-first century by tackling new difficulties to be resolved under consociational arrangements. Similar liberal values must continue to apply.

The efforts made by earlier centrist parties, both NILP and ULP, must be acknowledged and celebrated. How the Alliance Party has been rising to the challenge in its later contemporary context is the subject of this book.

FOUNDING OF THE ALLIANCE PARTY

Sir Oliver Napier described in a personal letter how he came to consider setting up a new party:

As I was driving back from the Lisnaskea by-election in February 1969, I thought through the politics of non-sectarianism in Northern Ireland and came to the following conclusions;

To put up Liberal candidates in elections where there was no organisation in the constituency was stupid in the extreme. Albert called it ‘showing the flag’. It certainly was not a pattern for electoral success.

That there were non-sectarian people supporting other parties other than the Liberal Party – Labour – some Unionists – some Nationalists. The Liberal Party was splintering them further.

To launch a new party out of the blue was a recipe of disaster.48

He said:

You have to be more subtle than that and organise your party before announcing it. That is what we did in NUM: [we] formed the basics of a party based on organisations in each constituency.

It all worked a dream. No one suspected a Liberal Party foundation and we set up organisations in almost all Northern Ireland constituencies.

And so NUM was formed. As the Northern Ireland situation continued to deteriorate through 1969 Oliver Napier was joined by Bob Cooper and their close colleagues were increasingly aware that the current political structure was not going to work. The time had come for the next stage in moving towards a new political party. Without any publicity a group was formed late in 1969 consisting of some NUM members plus representatives of the ‘Parliamentary Associations’ which had formed around unofficial pro-O’Neill candidates in the February 1969 election. This group included Oliver Napier, Bob Cooper, NUM Chairman Brian Walker, Basil Glass, Tony Cinnamond, Denis Loretto, Robin Glendinning, Kate Condy, Tony Cowdy and some of those supporting Terence O’Neill, including John Hunter of Coleraine, Hubert Nesbitt, who was agent for Independent Unionist MP, Bertie McConnell and John Kane, a coal merchant from Larne. The group also included Cecil Hull, Alex Lyon, and Sydney Stewart. In October Jim Hendron was invited by Oliver Napier to meet Bob Cooper and to join this now sixteen-person group.