Lesson Objectives
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To gather an understanding of what the
Downing Street Declaration was.
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To gather an insight into the Nationalist and
Unionist feelings on the reforms that were
suggested.
Reactions of Westminster &
Stormont
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Using the army might help stop the
violence, but it would not solve
Northern Ireland’s problems; new
political ideas were also needed.
The question now was whether
such ideas would come from
Stormont or Westminster. London
had left Northern Ireland to
govern them selves for years, could
that now be allowed to continue?
More importantly, could
Westminster introduce policies that
would reconcile nationalists and
reassure unionists?
The Downing Street Declaration

On 19 August Chichester
Clark travelled to London to
meet British Prime Minister,
Harold Wilson. The outcome
was the signing of the
Downing Street Declaration.
This Declaration aimed to
reassure both communities

Downing Street Declaration
What the declaration told each
community…
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Nationalists were told that ‘every citizen of
Northern Ireland is entitled to the same equality
of treatment and freedom from discrimination
as obtains in the rest of the UK irrespective of
political views or religion.’
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Unionists were told that ‘Northern Ireland
should not cease to be part of the UK without
the consent of the people of Northern Ireland.’
Additional Reforms
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Further Reforms were introduced in the following
weeks:
A committee was established under Lord Hunt
The Scarman Tribunal was set up to investigate recent
disturbances
A single housing authority was established, taking over
housing functions from local councils
Measures to prevent discrimination in public
employment were announced.
How do you think the Unionist community would react
to such proposals?
The Economy

A £2 Million programme of work-creating
schemes
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Increases in investment grants
Reactions to the Reforms
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Many Unionists were concerned at what they
saw as continuing concessions to the
nationalists. The final straw came when the
Hunt Report was published.
It had two main focuses:
Disarming the RUC
Disbanding the B Specials and replacing them
with the Ulster Defence Regiment, a part-time
force under army control.
The Hunt Report

The Hunt Report was published. The
Report recommends that: the Royal
Ulster Constabulary (RUC) should
become an unarmed force; the Ulster
Special Constabulary (the 'B Specials')
should be disbanded; a new RUC
Reserve should be set up; and a new
locally recruited part-time force should
be established under the control of the
British Army [this force was to become
the Ulster Defence Regiment, UDR].
Arthur Young was appointed as Chief
Constable of the RUC at the request
of Harold Wilson, the then British
Prime Minister. Young was appointed
to oversee the reforms recommended
in the Hunt Report. The publication of
the report sparked serious rioting by
Loyalists in Belfast.
Reactions to the Reforms.

On 11 October serious riots followed protests
by Loyalists against the disbandment of the 'B
Specials'. Later Loyalists open fire on officers of
the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) (who were
blocking their route to a Catholic area of
Belfast) killing the first RUC officer to die in the
present 'Troubles'.
Unionist Politicians
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“An absolute sell-out to the
republicans and the socalled civil rights movement
which is only a smokescreen
for the republican
movement".
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'Sell-out'
Unionist backbench MPs
voted by 28 votes to seven
to support the Hunt report
but opposition MPs in
Stormont have attacked it.
The Rev Ian Paisley
described it as:
He also called on the
prime minister to resign
Tasks
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Read through pages 122-123 of your CCEA textbooks
Answer questions 2, 3, 4, 5
Debate- Read question 6- You will must take on the role of a Unionist or a
Nationalist-(I will give you your role)

How do you feel about the conclusions of the Cameron Report and the Hunt
Report?
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Summary: Have we reached our lesson objectives? Lets refer back to what we
hoped to achieve:

To gather an understanding of what the Downing Street Declaration
was.

To gather an insight into the Nationalist and Unionist feelings on the
reforms that were suggested.
Learning Objectives

To gather an understanding of why the IRA
split and why the Unionist paramilitaries became
more popular at this time.
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What was internment and why was it
reintroduced in 1971?
Military and Paramilitaries Reactions
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Where was the IRA?
‘I Ran Away’ was the
accusation most frequently
levelled at the IRA because
of its failure to defend
Catholics during the violence
of July and August 1969.
Since the ending of it border
campaign in 1962, due to the
lack of Nationalist support.
Border Campaign (IRA)
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It seemed as if the IRA were more
interested in Marxism (the
economic and political theories of
Karl Marx 1818–83, German
political philosopher, which argue
that class struggle is the basic
agency of historical change, and
that capitalism will be superseded
by communism)
However, some of its members
were unhappy with the situation.
This led to a split of the IRA
Split of the IRA

The Official IRA, which continued to focus on
establishing a socialist Ireland. At the same time
violence was still used until a ceasefire was called
in May 1972. In 1974 the movement split again with
the emergence of the Irish Republican Socialist
Party and the militant Irish Nationalist Liberation
Army.

From the split the Provisional IRA formed. They
claimed the traditional role of defender of the
Nationalist community.
IRA OBJECTIVES

Civil Rights
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Defence of the Catholic population
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The destruction of the Stormont Government
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The removal of ‘British imperialism’ from
Ireland.
The IRA and the British Army
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The last aim meant that the IRA would come into conflict with
the British army. Ironically up to this point the army had been
more acceptable to the nationalists, as a source of protection,
than it was to the unionists. However, the army found
themselves in a difficult situation, i.e. trying to maintain order
while a political solution was imposed.
The IRA’s campaign began to take off in earnest in the middle
of 1970. The British army responded in July by imposing a 34hour curfew on the Lower Falls area while a house-to-house
search for weapons was carried out.
How do you think the Nationalist community reacted to these
actions of the British Army?
Political Disaster

Although some weapons
were found politically it was
PR disaster and has been
credited with helping to
increase the membership of
the IRA. In addition it
weakened the good
relationship that had been
built up between the army
and the nationalist
community.
As Professor JJ Lee has highlighted
‘If the army did nothing but wait,
the IRA might gradually acquire
the resources to mount an
aggressive campaign against it. If it
seized the initiative through ‘arms
searches’ it would inevitably foster
IRA recruitment among outraged
Catholics whose homes it had
vandalised…The ‘arms searches’
came as a godsend to the IRA.’
Why do you think Lee has described it as a ‘God send
to the IRA’?
Protestant Paramilitaries

The Protestant Paramilitaries also wanted to see the end of
the Stormont government but for very different reasons.

They sought a return to the old days of Unionist
domination. The UVF had grown and prospered against the
background of NICRA’s campaign and O’Neill’s perceived
appeasement of Catholics. It had developed a military style
organisation and had ‘increasingly found reasons to preempt the counter IRA violence.’ (Wichert)

September 1971 saw the formation of the UDA to fill a gap
in the defences of the loyalist community. It saw itself as a
defensive grouping that would resist republican aggression.
With over 30,000 members within a year, it was viewed by
the authorities as too large to ban.
Faulkner replaces Chichester-Clark
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The levels of violence and
destruction shot up during
the remaining months of
1970 and 1971. The
Stormont Government
demanded a stronger
response from Britain’s new
Conservative Government,
but little happened, as the
London Government didn’t
want to alienate the
nationalist community even
more. In despair, ChichesterClark resigned and he was
replaced by Brian Faulkner
Faulkner’s response
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Faulkner appeared to have a better grasp of the
situation than his predecessor, however, he too was
unable to reduce the levels of violence. By the time
marching season had arrived in July/August 1971,
violence was at an all time high, particularly in Derry.
The Government’s response was the reintroduction of
internment: the arrest and detention without trial those
suspected o working for the destruction of the state.
Check out the following hyperlink to see and hear
Faulkner’s speech.
Faulkner's Speech
Tasks
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Read pages 124-125
Answer questions 3-7.
Also try the extension activity. ‘Who was responsible for the
growth of the IRA?’
Think about this question from the following perspectives
The IRA
A Nationalist civilian
A Unionist civilian
The British Army
How do you think they feel about the growing popularity of
the IRA?