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Fortnight Publications Ltd.
T.V. or Not T.V.Author(s): Carol InnesSource: Fortnight, No. 31 (Jan. 12, 1972), pp. 7-8Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25543876 .
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FORTNIGHT 7
Density of Occupation, age and sharing of
accommodation in Northern Ireland I I I I I
S Density of over Estimated <,f ^Households
2 persons per room dwellings built sharing a dwelling
_1961 I pre-1919 j 1961 |
Northern Ireland 3.7
All County Boroughs
Municipal Boroughs and Urban Districts 2.6
All Rural Districts 5.0
Antrim 2.4 46.6 0.3
Armagh 4.0 62.6 0.4
Belfast, C.B. 2.7 59.6 2.4
Down 2.4 52.5 0.5
Fermanagh 5.1 78.7 1.6
Co. Londonderry 7.3 60.7 1.0
Londonderry CB. 7.0 55.4 10.6
Tyrone 7.0 69.2 0.8
Northern Ireland: Number and Percentage of Households without use of arrangements;
by tenure group, 1961
Owner Other Way
Occupied L.A. Rented Other Landlords Occupied
Furnished Unfurnished
No. c/c No. Vc No. Vc No. Vc No. Vc
N.Ireland 1,235 4.1 358 1.7 32 5.0 1,342 7.5 89 5.7
Antrim 1,235 4.1 358 1.7 32 5.0 1,342 7.5 89 5.7
Armagh JU42 13.6 216 2.9 21 10.7 711 7.7 42 6,9 .Belfast CB. 1 .7 - ? ? ? ?- I 7 ? " 4 0.4
Down 1,854 54.3 566 31.3 33 3.7 1,420 8.4 102 5.9
Fermanagh 2,232 28.1 134 7.2 11 9.8 634 26.4 71 20.3
L'derryC. 1,669 13.8 131 1.9 28 5.4 h,oi8 16.4 71 11.1
L'derryCB. 3 ? ? ? 1
? 14
? ? ?
Tyrone 2,914 17.3 276 3.8 41 15.7 1J48 16.5 105 13.2
Source: Census Reports. 1961. H.M.S.O.. 1963
"Arrangements*-* means all of the following: (i) Kitchen sink; (ii) Hot water tap; (iii) Cold water tap; (iv) Fixed bath; (v) W.C.; (vi) Cooking stove or range.
of tenure this group of the lowest standard. It is unlikely that this situation
will be remedied unless the private landlord is replaced or his tenant charged rents which would prove beyond his
means.. For the Housing Executive to take
over in this sectorin order to slow down the rate of obsolescence and improve dwelling standards would be costly. It would also create a monopoly situation in rented
property. It is likely that unless some
flexibility in the housing market remains,
mobility will be severely limited. Those secti* ms of the population not catered for
in the criterion for allocation adopted by the Housing Executive will be
inadequately served, Scope would seem to exist here for other forms of public
ownership, housing associations or co
operatives.
Clearly the problems facing the
Housing Executive are multiple. Many can not be remedied by the Executive itself but require fundamental policy
decisions elsewhere. Many are at present difficult to resolve. Statistical and other evidence is severely limited. Other than Census data, the reports of the Northern Ireland Housing Trust and a number of
special studies, there is little information on housing on which to base policy. What are the characteristics of private landlords? What are the likely effects of
changes in taxation, subsidies, rents,
incomes, migration, employment of
household formation? What types of
accommodation are required and desired and in what localities? Are special housing facilities needed for certain groups? What are the effects of movement between
dwellings? These wide gaps in knowledge, about
housing in Northern Ireland need to be remedied if the Housing Executive is to
begin to succeed in implementing a rational policy. One of its initial tasks is to embark on detailed field studies to assess the housing situation and further to
pursue and provide research into aspects of the housing situation.
TV. or not TV. Carol Innes
The justification for the 'inquiry into the future of Ulster' came finally in Lord
Devlin's summing-up; 'Although you (the viewer) cannot settle questions of policy, which must be for the governments concerned, what you can help to do is to settle questions of principle, for, in
matters of principle in a democracy, every citizen has a duty to form his own view.*
It had been.easy to forget in the
preliminary in-fighting, which had more to do with the function of the BBC as a force for political intervention than the content of the programme itself, that this was
essentially a programme for a British
(rather than United Kingdom) audience. It was for the education, information and
maybe, sparingly, the entertainment of the British,
- and on those terms must be
counted a success.
Complaining the following day about lack of balance, that most perceptive of statesmen, Mr. John Taylor was moved to
point out that it was 'clearly one-sided
against Northern Ireland policies'. But, in effect, this was not so. A filmed interview
(repeat) with Maudling, Faulkner's speech at the Lord Mayor's dinner, both clearly outlined the governments' views. As BF said, 'My colleagues and I have been around the conference table all the time.
We did not leave it.* And might honestly have added, 'And never will for a BBC studio*.
For off-beat and up-country Unionism there was Jack Maginnis, *the man who
saved the show' by agreeing to appear, and who ,
interestingly, suggested regional governments North and South, both under
Westminster. Now there's a new political initiative.
The audience was certainly given every variegation of view from which to make its
decision on the question of principle. Ludoyic Kennedy's asserted aim for the
programme: *an attempt to create a setting in which the Northern Ireland situation
could be looked at and a variety of
proposals aimed at bringing an end to it put forward' became, in the event oi
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8 WEDNESDAY, 12th JANUARY, 1972 secondary consideration. There was no
lack of proposals to deter a potential solution
- seeker; in fact it was in their
embarrassing number and dissimilarity that the difficulty of finding any common
ground lay. In the outcome. Lord Devlin could see only 'peace without victory' and
make a plea for talks without pre conditions.
Lord Caradon, the most optimistic of the three members of the 'committee of
inquiry* thought there 'could be
agreement on a short-term or a long-term
agenda, with nothing excluded.* It was a tenuous enough, though maybe
contentious enough, conclusion to the
three hour inquiry . . . somehow
reminiscent of the mills of God. But we forgot of course that this was a
British programme for British
consumption. We deluded ourselves beforehand with imaginations of a souped up Harry Thompson roustabout with the
easy familiarities of Ian, Gerry and Neil,
neglecting to see that 'your man* would
put on'his English manners for the occasion and present his views as those no reasonable man (in the shape of the
Clapham omnibus traveller) could refuse to accept.
With the possible exceptions of Jack
Maginnis, (who seemingly hasn't one), and Bob Cooper, (who can't afford one), it was an exercise in Public Faces.
Neil Blaney, who might rationally have been expected to have questioned the
concept of a British inquiry with a British 'committee' and to demand a Swiss, a
Swede or Dutchman in the chair, instead
paid tribute to the integrity of the BBC in
putting on the programme, and, after
urging British withdrawal from Ireland buttered the bread with the belief that
'today Britain has a glorious opportunity to earn the respect, not only of the people
of Northern Ireland, but people throughout the working world by the
manner in which she conducts her withdrawal.* It was a long way from
Ballyshannon.
Ian Paisley, not quite so far from the Ravenhill Road, did protest at Blaney and
0*Kennedy taking part in the programme but, nonetheless, he asserted his belief in civil and religious freedom for all, and looked for an imaginative social
programme in the fields of unemployment and housing. He did not close his mind to Lord Devlin's tentative suggestion of a bill of rights for the minority or to alterations to the Constitution, so long as these did not interfere with its basic principles. He forebore to harangue or .shout and said
'Yes, sir.* to Lord Devlin, thereby no
doubt dispelling some of the appalled dismay the hedonistic irreligious English feel for him.
It all began to seem excessive!)
unlikely. Then we saw Gerry Fitt. politely but
unrepentanth, refusing to consider talks
whilst internment lasted, and the shadows of those we know and love could taintK be
discerned again. Bob Cooper moved nearer to the core
of things when he revealed the soft centre, the fatal flaw in the Alliance Party: its lack
of a political philosophy. *
We. ..must unite Protestants and Catholics in the centre,* he said. *Once that.unity is achieved.
'Once that unity is achieved relations between people in this island could be treated in the context of a Europe which could make these differences seem irrelevant.' And once that unity is
achieved, what then for Alliance Mr.
Cooper? Lord Devlin, in his^immaculate English
fashion (the Belfast Newsletter, that
upholder of the freedom of the news media hastened to inform the following day that he is the son of a Catholic from
Dungannon), showed signs of becoming enmeshed in the local embroglio himself
with that first question of the Ulsterman, (usually less elegantly phrased): i hope you won't think this is an impertinent question but are you a Catholic yourself?'
Finally it was Bernadette Devlin who
pointed out that the IRA was not
represented in the studio, a remark which, while producing horse laughs all round, nevertheless accurately brought the situation in which we live back into the perspective that all the politeness, reasonableness and honest broker facades had dispelled. Sir John Foster, in his
summing-up did not think 'Miss Devlin can contribute much to an ultimate solution, standing apart as she does from the rest of the contributors*. It was very
cosy, but hardly relevant here where Bernadette Devlin represents a sizeable slice of a small electorate.
The English, Scots and Welsh could go to their beds content that they 'knew
about Ulster,' and that the discussions had been useful, productive and maybe even
paved the way for future solutions. 'We may have been dull but I don't
think we have been dangerous,' said Lord Caradon. Not, maybe, unless we ourselves are deceived by the ancient Irish sport of
making subtle mock of the English.
DUBLIN LETTER
Security Spill-Over Dennis Kennedy
There are those who say that the pre Chnstmas riot at Ballyshannon when three young men were charged with firearms offences was the best thing that happened to Ireland in the course of 1971.
It is the sort of incident which can both encourage and enable the Government to take firmer action against the IRA. As one
Government source put it, the only real
pressure comes when you are challenged. It has been fairly obvious for some
months now, despite internment scares
and wishful thinking on the part of
shadowy gunmen seeking national records, that the Government was going to do
nothing drastic.
The firearms legislation had been
tightened in July,, border patrols were mounted?a recent press relations visit to
the border at the Army's behest tended to reveal the inadequacies of the exercise
more than anything elelse?and the Government could assert that most IRA
activity in the North originated in the North.
It was and is true of course, that the
self-styled IRA leaders operate freely.in Dublin and elsewhere, issuing statements,
holding press conferences, and trying to sell their atrocity stories to the
newspapers. It is true too, that
membership of the IRA is itself an offence
in the Republic of Ireland, and that no one has been charged with it recently.
But it is not true to say that all gunmen go unmolested. Since September about 14 cases have been brought under firearms
and explosive legislation, many of them
involving more than one accused.
In September a man was charged with
possession of gelignite in Dundalk; two
days later in Cork a man was held for
possession of five revolvers and a shotgun. In October four young men were taken after a border gun battle and charged with
possession of arms at Dundalk, arms were
found at a house in Sutton and three men were held. A Killybegs man was charged with possession of gelignite, and at Omeath two more men were charged with
possession of detonators. A 70 year old
Kerry man was charged with having a sub machine gun.
In November the Dail was told that 250
prosecutions had been commenced "in the
past couple of months'* in relation to
illegal collections. (The particulars were not given.) About the same time seven
young men were held and questioned near the border on arms finds and shooting incidents, butno charges were laid.
Also in November the four men charged in Dundalk a month earlier after a border
gun fight were sentenced to 14 days.
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