Action: The Housing Executive Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 which provides for all public authority house-building and allocation to be the responsibility of one central housing organisation, became law on 25 February 1971. The house-building target of the Five-Year Development Programme (1970–75) is 73,500 at a cost of nearly £300 million. This will represent a steep increase on existing output, even though the output of all new dwellings in the financial year 1970-71 was in itself a record figure of over 13,000. The appointment of Mr. Desmond Lorimer as chairman of the new Housing Executive was announced on 4 March 1971. Five other members have been appointed by the Minister of Development. The remaining three come from the Housing Council, a new advisory body representative of existing housing authorities. The membership of the completed Executive was announced on 6 May 1971. The first full meeting was held within a week and the Executive at once undertook a study of the problems facing it. After extensive consultations, the Executive has publicly announced the programme which it wishes to carry out for taking over responsibility from existing housing authorities: (a) The Executive will assume all the functions of the Northern Ireland Housing Trust on 1 October 1971; (b) The Executive will assume all the housing functions of the Belfast Corporation about January 1972; (c) The remaining local authorities having housing functions will become agents of the Executive under its policy control about April 1972; (d) The functions of these authorities will be taken over fully not later than October 1972; (e) Finally, the housing functions of the three Development Commissions will be taken over not later than April 1973. A full statement was issued by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive on 2 August 1971 on the progress made by the Executive and of its proposals for the assumption over a phased period of its full functions and responsibilities. BACKGROUND The establishment of the Central Housing Authority was made necessary by the failure of some local authorities in Northern Ireland to build houses where necessary and by a failure to allocate houses fairly. COMMENTARY The establishment of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive has been widely welcomed and it hoped that the Executive will be able to deal with the housing situation both by new building and by renovation and improvement of existing housing stock. It is essential that housing allocations and transfers will be made on a basis that is seen to be fair and just. It is also essential that house building be commenced immediately where new houses are necessary. Recent Annual Reports of the Northern Ireland Housing Trust (the Government Agency which is being taken over by the new Executive) indicate that the Trust experienced difficulties in obtaining the necessary permissions to build in some areas. The executive must not be impeded in a similar way. 27-LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION Commitment in the Communique of 10 October 1969. Although the process of local government reorganization was started several years before the Downing Street Declaration, the decision to establish a Northern Ireland Housing Executive had such important consequences that it was necessary to re-examine the whole sphere of local government reorganization. For this reexamination, the Northern Ireland Government undertook to set up a Review Body which would be broadly based and include representatives of the two main religious denominations as well as of business, professional and trade union interests to review in conjunction with the Ministries in Northern Ireland and local authorities, current proposals for reshaping local administration and to advise on the most efficient distribution of the relevant functions under the Parliament and Government of Northern Ireland. This step was supported by the United Kingdom Government. Action: An independent Review Body under the chairmanship of Mr. Patrick Macrory was appointed by the Minister of Development on 17 December, 1969. Its Report, completed on 29 May 1970, was debated in Parliament in October 1970, after which the Government carried out an intensive study of the recommenda tions in the Report and Parliamentary and public reactions to them. A major Statement, made by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on 17 December, 1970, laid down the principles on which a radical re-shaping of all local administration was to take place. Broadly, functions of a regional character such as health, personal social services, education, planning, roads, water, sewerage, fire service, electricity, electoral arrangements and many others were to be adminis tered on a regional footing for the whole of Northern Ireland, while functions of a local or district character were to be administered on a local footing by twenty-six new District Councils operating in a new single-tier local government system. These decisions were subsequently debated in the House of Commons in January 1971 and given general endorsement. Since then an intensive programme of action has followed. Consultative Documents seeking to convert the principles of re-organisation into detailed administrative proposals were published in March and April 1971. A Local Government Consultative Committee representing the various categories of Local Authority has been actively at work, directly and through various subcommittees and working parties. The first legislative step was embodied in the Local Government Boundaries Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 which provided for the appointment by His Excellency the Governor of a Boundaries Commissioner to recommend the boundaries and names of the twenty-six District Councils indicated in the Act and also the electoral districts or wards into which they are to be divided. The Act became law on 23 March 1971 and shortly afterwards a distinguished Lawyer, Mr. F. A. L. Harrison, Q.C., was appointed as Boundaries Commissioner. He commenced work at once. Time limits are embodied in the Statute with a view to ensuring that arrangements are in readiness for elections to be held to the new District Councilby the autumn of 1972, on new boundaries, new wards, universal franchise and votes at eighteen. The Queen's Speech at the Opening of the new Session of Parliament on 22 June 1971 summarized the many legislative measures which will be necessary to give effect to the widespread programme of re-organisation replacing the historie system of seventy-three local authorities by new regional and local arrangementand transferring some forty thousand local government staff to new employers. This quite unprecedented task is to be completed by 1 April 1973 when the Hous ing Executive, the five Area Education Boards, the four Health and Social Service Boards, the Ministry of Development regional services, the Ministry of Finance Regional Rating service and the twenty-six District Councils will all come into full operation. BACKGROUND No commentary is necessary on the background to the necessity for local government reforms in Northern Ireland. COMMENTARY The commitment in the communique of 10 October 1969 on the action outlined in the white paper is very welcome. However, in the light of past experience the implementation of each item of reform must be closely watched in order to achieve the basic commitment of equality of citizenship. 28 A NEW COMMITTEE SYSTEM FOR THE NORTHERN IRELAND PARLIAMENT The White Paper makes reference to "a new and important initiative not arising from either the Downing Street Declaration or the subsequent communiques." This was the Prime Minister's proposal announced on 22nd June 1971 for the establishment of three functional committees of the House of Commons covering the fields of Social Services, Environmental Services and Industrial Services. 'Of the three functional committees, plus the Public Accounts Committee. the Opposition should provide at least two chairmen. These would be salaried posts. Parliamentary committees are a well-established feature of the American and British parliamentary systems. The Prime Minister's proposal would be a useful development of parliamentary institutions in a normal society, and its value in such circumstances is not underestimated. However, in the present Northern Ireland context it appears to be rather irrelevant. Something much more fundamental is required to achieve the commitment in the Communique of 29 August 1969 to secure: "Proper representation of minorities, to be assured at the elected levels of government by completely fair electoral laws, practices and boundaries, and at nominated or appointed levels by a recognition that such minorities have a right to an effective voice in affairs." SUPPLEMENT 1-EXTRACTS FROM EDITORIALS IN THE "NEWS LETTER" "But How Long is the Haul?" (21 June 1971)-Having sold himself on the doctrine of James Callaghan it may be quite hopeless to suggest to Ted Heath-on the Solent or wherever he is that if Brian Faulkner, as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, today had as much freedom of manoeuvre as he had when he was formerly Minister of Home Affairs, we might at last begin to win this weary and frustrating struggle. "No Longer the Master" (22 June 1971)-Much of the blame for the protraction of the current violence can be attributed to a diminution of the authority that was originally given to Stormont by the Government of Ireland Act. Westminster-and here the essential support of 10,000 troops must be acknowledged has failed to recognise the danger elements in Ireland which were so clearly seen by the British Parliament half a century ago. At some crisis point-next week, next month, next year-Whitehall will have brought home to it that only a full restoration of Northern Ireland's writ in its own territory will end the murders, the arson and the explosions which the country now endures. How many lives will be lost and how much damage will be done before that vital decision is made and the country again set fair to fulfill its destiny? "Battle Faulkner Must Win" (28 June 1971)-Ulster today is fighting for its very existence. Since the Callaghan period, when the erosion of Stormont's powers began, the situation in the Province has deteriorated steadily. So that now in television comment and in almost all news columns, bar our own, there is free and frequent speculation about how the suspension of our self-control is to be brought about. "Paying for Past Errors" (27 July 1971)—All, or a great deal, of what was done at that time (1969) came through clearly as concession to the leaders of the minority and the Civil Rights campaign. In claiming credit for it now- -despite the tragically disappointing return it has brought-it is not difficult to see where Mr. Wilson's heart lay then and still lies today. Had Mr. Wilson listened to the advice from Stormont that was available to him, had he not closed his eyes to history, had he given unqualified support at that moment to the elected government of Northern Ireland and the forces under its command, the situation in Ulster would not be what it is today. SUPPLEMENT 2-CIVIL RIGHTS WORKERS PRESENT ANOTHER PAYROLL LIST Only one Catholic at committee education headquarters offices: In their latest list concerning salaried and other staff employed by headquarters in the various County services in Tyrone, Messrs. Phelim O'Neill, senr., former secretary of Omagh Civil Rights Committee, and Francis Coll, present secretary of the Committee, deal with Tyrone Co. Education Committee headquarters staff. Their investigations show that out of 77 persons employed in salaried capacity at headquarters only one is a Catholic. In a statement Messrs. O'Neill and Coll say: "The factual statistics released today concerning employment in County Tyrone Education Offices should leave no one here, or in any country in the world where these published facts are read, in any doubt whatsoever that religious discrimination is widely practised by local government authorities in Northern Ireland. "These hard cold facts will be widely read, digested and discussed by many people. All fair minded people who read them, regardless of their race or religion, will be abhorred not only by the fact that these figures provide irrefutable and indubitable proof of religious discrimination, but by the extent to which this injustice is practised in our community. It is sad, indeed sickening, to reflect that in Co. Tyrone, which has a Catholic majority, Catholics are totally excluded from employment in the field of education with one single exception. Salaries (excluding the part-time employees and the superannuated) total cost £81,306, and of this £2,440 goes to the sole Catholic official." STATEMENT BY JOHN P. COLLINS, NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN IRISH NATIONAL IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE, NEW YORK, N.Y. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Congress, we thank you for allowing us the opportunity of offering a statement for the record. Our committee, with chapters throughout the United States has as its primary concern the amendment of certain United States immigration laws. We represent all major Irish organizations in this area of concern. Our American Irish membership is composed of Protestants, Catholics and Jews. We speak today, not of immigration but rather of the plight of our brothers and sisters in the occupied six counties of Ireland. We remind you of the oppression these men and women have suffered in the past and in the present. They cry out for freedom and for justice. We support them in their quest. We request, that you endorse their rightful aims; that you encourage our government to publicly support them and that you report out to the House floor, Resolution No. 653. The American Irish community long served this nation of ours. It is time now for our nation to serve the ends of justice and to see that Ireland becomes a nation once again-free from the center to the seas A POLITICAL THEORY FOR A REUNITED IRELAND JOINT STATEMENT BY ROBERT CONNERY, PROFEssor of GoveRNMENT, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, AND THOMAS W. RYLEY, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, NEW YORK CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE (CUNY) The following proposals are submitted with a view toward attempting to demonstrate how a United Ireland can be developed while taking cognizance of the existing deep religious differences. Protestant residents of Northern Ireland (Ulster) are concerned that any such unification will mean that they will lack a voice in the government, just as now, Catholics in the North lack any effective voice in the affairs of that government. It might be suggested that the gerrymandering tactics used in Northern Ireland, which have so seriously hampered the Catholic minority that only one representative in the Northern Irish parliament (Stormont) is Catholic, might give the ruling Ulster Unionist Party some ideas on how this could be done, and that a unified Ireland would mean a reprisal in kind. It is the contention of this paper that such fears are not valid. It is possible to maintain the existence and the integrity of Ulster within the context of a United Ireland. But, it is clear that the Catholics of the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland must accept certain basic premises if unification is to be achieved. The existence of stable, responsible governments in countries in which religious and ethnic differences have been the source of past grievances is not unusual. Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Canada and Lebanon are examples of democratic states in which governments have developed ways of coping with these differences, providing for minority rights in such a way as to satisfy most members of the minority group. Some facts about the existing situation may be of some value in determining how the solution may be improved. 1. POPULATION The population of the Republic of Ireland and of Northern Ireland is as follows: The Republic of Ireland has a bi-cameral legislature. The Upper House or Senate, is largely appointive, has little power and in this paper is omitted from any projections. The Lower Chamber, or Dail, is composed of 144 members, all elected from single member districts or approximately one representative for every 20,000 persons. The results of the 1969 General Elections indicated the following distribution of party membership in the Dail: 77-178-72—28 Fianna Fail. Fine Gael. Labour.. Independents. Total |