Paul McElhinney: 1974 was a momentous year with power-sharing and the UWC strike

Former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson once said that “a week is a long time in politics”.

By those lights, fifty years is an extremely long time in politics. The year 1974 in Northern Ireland, bathed in the mists of time, was a highly eventful one. Much has obviously changed over the intervening years, but interestingly, much is still the same.

The pace of change over 50 years has been monumental - one has only to look at old film footage of the era to validate that.

Many of the younger generation must look back with disbelief and horror at how different Northern Ireland was, at every level, then. Saracen tanks and Spacehoppers have been replaced by Teslas and AI robots with more to come. Older people must look back with a mixture of nostalgia, distaste, horror and maybe on occasions, apathy.

The Sunningdale Agreement for the Council of Ireland is signed at Sunningdale Park, Berkshire, 9th December 1973. From left, Oliver Napier, Liam Cosgrave, Edward Heath, Brian Faulkner and Gerry Fitt. Photo: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Despite all the changes, it is noteworthy that 1974, like 2024, also saw the establishment of a Northern Ireland Executive. The 1974 Executive was established following the Sunningdale Agreement between the British and Irish governments the previous year. Although supported by the Unionist Party led by Brian Faulkner, from the very beginning, the Executive faced strong opposition from the wider body of unionism, chiefly from the Rev. Ian Paisley and his supporters.

After the sustained pressure exerted by the Ulster Workers’ Council strike bringing life in Northern Ireland to a standstill, the Assembly and the Executive collapsed in May 1974. Direct rule from Westminster was then re-introduced in its place.

The current Assembly and Executive has seen a number of shutdowns and re-constitutions since 1998, while the fall of the Executive in May 1974 happened finally as one irrevocable event, never to return.

Parallels between the two periods separated by a half century are the fact that both Executives were representative of both the unionist and nationalist communities. Alliance was represented by one individual in 1974, its then leader, Oliver Napier, while in 2024, Alliance holds two positions on the Executive, reflecting its stronger showing in the Assembly elections.

Not that discussions and negotiations were necessarily easier in 1974 than currently, but the main protagonists from both the unionist and nationalist communities in 1974 were of a more ‘moderate’ disposition then; the Unionist Party and the SDLP.

By contrast in 2024, the main protagonists, the DUP and Sinn Fein clearly represent more ‘orange’ and ‘green’ versions of their respective communities (and in that, are probably more representative of their electorates). That division and hostility interestingly, however, did not ultimately prevent them from finally agreeing in January to coalesce into an Executive with wider, less factional goals in mind.

No-one can foresee the ultimate outturn for the current Assembly and Executive. Yet, initial signs are encouraging, particularly relationships at the very top, aided by mutually conciliatory gestures.

A contrast with 1974 is the fact that despite some opposition from the TUV and pockets within the DUP, these tensions are nothing compared with those in 1974 culminating in the Ulster Workers Council and the ultimate collapse of the Executive. Unionists then saw Sunningdale, the Executive and the proposals for a Council of Ireland as the ‘slippery slope’ towards a united Ireland. People in 1974 also had to contend with ongoing, vicious campaigns of violence not present in 2024.

The distance between the two communities is not as wide now and the middle ground is more evident, particularly with the rise of Alliance. Similarly, the passage of time has led to some softening of attitudes and easing of tensions. It has also allowed for new and more constructive thinking on modes of governing to emerge. This, itself, has probably made the prospects for the success of the 2024 Executive better than its earlier predecessor.

Few could imagine a senior unionist in 1974 visiting a GAA club to be photographed holding a hurley, or for a senior nationalist then to have given support to the RUC or to make openly positive comments about the Royal family. Times change and attitudes evolve.

While huge differences between the main parties of unionism and nationalism continue to exist, these have at least for current purposes, been submerged in favour of functional and constructive cooperation in dealing with those practical matters of concern to citizens across the community.

The success of the Executive and the Assembly will ultimately be judged on their success in dealing with those functional, practical matters. Importantly, the whole of the United Kingdom went to the polls in February 1974, called by Prime Minster Heath as a ‘who governs?’ election following the miners’ strike and the three-day week.

Labour received the largest number of seats following the election, but without an overall majority in the House of Commons. Labour ultimately formed a minority government for whom the votes of Unionist MPs were tactically important.

The seven seats for Brian Faulkner’s Unionists showed convincing support for the Executive and power-sharing, but trouble was brewing among grassroots unionists, a force that was to prove irresistible in time.

The collapse of the Executive had ramifications not just in the short-term, but also the long-term. It was not until 1998 that another attempt at power-sharing gained acceptance under the Good Friday Agreement.

We are seeing the fruits (and the flaws) of that Agreement even in 2024. The big question is whether Northern Ireland will experience a repeat of May 1974, or see a positive and more sustained success in broadly-based government. Relations between the First and Deputy First Minister have set a positive tone to their courageous and far-seeing endeavour. This has also encouragingly filtered down.

The auguries are good.

Paul McElhinney is a full-time writer living in Wexford. He is author of ‘The Lion of the RAF’, a biography of Air Marshal, Sir George Beamish and of many articles in Irish and international journals.