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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