The Role and Leadership of Terence O'Neill in Northern Ireland

1514 Words4 Pages

Students will assess the role of the Prime Minister in the Northern

Ireland context and they will describe the style of leadership

exhibited by their chosen Prime Minister. The discussion on the role

of prime Minister will also focus on any major areas of controversy

which arose during his term of office and an attempt will be made to

evaluate the response of the individual Prime Minister to the

controversy.

During the course of this essay I shall be examining the role of

Terence O’Neill in his term as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. I

shall describe his style of leadership and in particular focus on his

responses to some of the major controversial issues that arose during

his term of office. These include the citing of the new university at

Coleraine instead of Derry, and the Invitation of the Taoiseach, Sean

Lemass to Stormont without prior approval of his cabinet. Finally I

shall attempt to analyse his reaction to the immense pressure thrust

upon him by the Civil Rights Association, a movement which began to

signal the end of the line of Captain O’Neill as Prime Minister for

Northern Ireland.

Prior to becoming the new Prime Minister Captain Terence O’Neill had

been the Minister of Finance for seven years and during this time

built up a strong relationship with Businessmen in the UK. He

succeeded in attracting many new firms to setup in Northern Ireland as

a result of his professional approach.

He was 48 years of age when his predecessor Lord Brookeborough

resigned as Prime Minister after holding the title for some twenty

years.

One of O’Neill’s strengths was described by Former BBC political

Editor John Cole when he wrote that “he could take a situation” and “mould

it to his convictions and principles.” (pg 22, At the Crossroads)

Mr. Cole carried on to state that one major advantage O’Neill had that

other politicians lacked was “an experience of the world outside

Open Document