Terence O’Neill delivered his famous ‘Ulster at the crossroads’ speech in December of 1968 though it appeared from the events at Burntollet in January 1969 that the people had chosen to continue along the same perilous path as before. The subsequent change in political landscape set the tone for action and reaction to social change for a generation in Northern Ireland.

To help us understand the reforms and resignations which caused so many ructions within political unionism at this time I have enlisted the help and expertise of Alex Kane.

Alex is the former Director of Communications for the Ulster Unionist Party. These days he is a political commentator and a columnist for several publications including the Belfast Telegraph and the Irish News. I began by asking Alex to give us a sense of Terence O’Neill’s thinking when he delivered the iconic ‘Ulster at the Crossroads’ speech in December 1968.

This episode was produced as part of At the Crossroads: The Campaign for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland, a project developed by The Linen Hall. This project is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund and has also received financial support from the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council.

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By 1968 the campaign for civil rights in Northern Ireland had moved onto the streets. It was a deliberate decision, inspired in part by global events, particularly the civil rights movement in America.

In order to help us understand better the street politics element of the civil rights movement I have enlisted the help and expertise of Dr Melissa Baird.

Melissa is an historian of modern Irish and American history, she currently Assistant Editor of the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy with the Royal Irish Academy. Melissa received her PhD in 2023 from Queen’s University Belfast, which examined the relationship between the Irish diaspora in the United States and the Northern Irish civil rights movement.

I began by asking Melissa to give us an insight into the thinking behind the decision to take the politics of civil rights to the streets…

This episode was produced as part of At the Crossroads: The Campaign for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland, a project developed by The Linen Hall. This project is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund and has also received financial support from the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council.

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In November 1966, a public meeting was called to highlight the issue of civil rights in Northern Ireland. This was held in the War Memorial Building in Belfast and the audience was drawn from all sectors of libertarianism in NI.

By January 1967, at Belfast’s International Hotel, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) elected a 13-person steering committee and 5 broad objectives were issued to the press.

To help us better understand the demands of the civil rights movement I have enlisted the help and expertise of Dr Connal Parr and Dr Anne Devlin; a mother and son combination no less.

This episode was produced as part of At the Crossroads: The Campaign for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland, a project developed by The Linen Hall. This project is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund and has also received financial support from the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council.

Send us a text

Support the show