December 1970: School Segregation & Attempted Gun Theft Gone Wrong.
The Beatles, Cardinal Conway and Andrew Jardin.
Around the world, the most talked about piece of news in December 1970 would have been Paul McCartney filing a lawsuit to dissolve The Beatles. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, we had a further death and more political developments.
One of the big talking points in December 1970 was the publication of a pamphlet on the topic of segregation in education in Northern Ireland by the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal William Conway. The introduction of the pamphlet looked at why the debate on integrated schools existed;
The question of segregated schools as they are called has been flickering across the screen in Northern Ireland fairly constantly during the past few years. Politicians’ speeches, television debates, the correspondence columns of newspapers, have all made their contribution. Very often the message conveyed is quite simple - that segregated schools are one of the basic causes of trouble in Northern Ireland and that for this the Catholic Church is to blame.
So far as I can recall, this message first began to go forth about five or six years ago. At that time the voices raised against discrimination in Northern Ireland, in jobs, housing and the local franchise, were beginning to be heard. It was suggested that while Catholics were being asked to participate in community life they were largely ignored when it came to local government jobs or even appointments to non-salaried posts on statutory bodies. It was this policy, the argument went, which effectively cut Catholics off from participating in the life of the community.
Then someone had an idea - it was the Catholics themselves who were cutting themselves off by their "voluntary apartheid" in the schools. This was evidently thought to be a good political line - it was simple and clear and it put the boot on the other foot. As a political tactic, it has had some success but by now people generally recognise that, at least in the mouths of right-wing politicians, it is somewhat lacking in sincerity. As one of the leaders of the New Ulster Movement said early in 1970:
"Many of those who clamour for integrated education would be the first to object if someone waved a magic wand and produced it. Protestant extremists would obviously resist the prospect of nuns and Christian brothers teaching their children in integrated schools".
And a correspondent from the Times Educational Supplement who visited Northern Ireland a year ago summed up his own impressions in a single sentence:
"At the moment the only people who are professing wholesale desegregation are extreme Unionists who believe that this is as good a stick as any to beat the Catholics with".
Similar to some of the other pamphlets, booklets and flyers that were circulated throughout the early stages of the troubles in Northern Ireland, by groups within both sides of the conflict, I can’t help but feel this could have very much been seen as another piece of propaganda, which could have potentially stirred up some more resentment from one side or another. I personally feel that issues such as education should be left to elected representatives to discuss in government, ensuring that there is some consistency in approach. But what do I know, I’m just a guy with a keyboard.
There was a meeting by the Official Advisory Committee at Stormont, where they discussed the topic of minority groups in government, and also Cardinal Conway. I found the first few points on the meeting minutes quite interesting. You can also read the full report here.
The 23rd of December 1970 saw another life lost. Widely reported to be the work of the PIRA, a Protestant man, a married father of 4, Andrew Jardin (65), was shot dead at his home in Hannahstown, Belfast. The book I recommended in the last instalment, 'Lost Lives', speculated that the incident resulted from an attempted robbery of guns stored in the house.
Three years after the events of 23rd December 1970 a press report appeared which described what happened:
Christmas Eve was only a few hours away. The night was dry and cold. There wasn’t much sign of a white Christmas. In the kitchen of her home, a middle-aged Belfast woman was doing some seasonal baking.
Earlier she had helped her married daughter and her two children put up a Christmas tree. Her husband finished with the day’s work and was pottering around the house.
A knock came on the door. Expecting the carol singers the daughter quickly made her way to the hallway to welcome them. But the “carol singers” brought death and heartbreak to the family for whom Christmas would never be the same again…
“I saw a young man at the front door. I opened it just enough to speak to him. He put his hand inside his coat and immediately started to force his way into the hall.
“I tried to close the door and the man produced a revolver from inside his coat.
“I called to my father and I then saw two other men pull the front door open and the first man went into the hall. When I tried to close the door the bottom pane of glass was broken.
“As I was struggling with the men at the door I heard a number of gunshots ring out in the hall and I could smell smoke.”
Mr Jardin was a gun collector and was able to fire four times before dying.
At the end of December, the financial cost of the disturbances and riots during 1969 and 1970 was estimated to be £5.5 million. With inflation, today that would equate to a staggering £33.2 million!