John Hume's maiden speech at the old Stormont, March 5, 1969, from a Derry Journal report

If politics were to be normalised the voices of the elected representatives on the Opposition side must be listened to, said Mr. John Hume, Independent MP for Foyle, in a maiden speech at Stormont on Wednesday, March 5, 1969.
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Mr. Hume, speaking on the resumed debate on the address in reply to the Queen's Speech, said the Government had failed to listen to the Opposition, when over the years, they sought to ventilate their grievances. Instead of being listened to they were pilloried.

Mr. Hume began by welcoming the sentiments in the Prime Minister's [Terence O'Neill] speech and went on to say that what was needed was action to create a just society in Northern Ireland.

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Mr. Hume described the 12 Unionist 'rebels' as a threat to the stability of the country and its constitution.

The late John Hume.The late John Hume.
The late John Hume.

He declared: "They are the greatest threat to the community and also the greatest threat to the constitution because, in their view, Northern Ireland should be maintained at the expense of one section of the population and by repression.

"The past four months have shown that repression had failed."

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He said that a clear statement that one man, one vote in local government was coming and that the reorganisation of local government would not lead to a larger gerrymander would do much to take the heat out of the present situation.

He urged that housing be taken out of the hands of local government and put into the hands of a central authority. This would stop housing being used as a political instrument at local authority level.

Mr. Hume welcomed the Derry Commission and said he was happy that its members had the interests of the city at heart. But he asked what about the position of Tyrone and Fermanagh? And would not the powers of the proposed Ombudsman be too narrow to include local government?

The disastrous error of the former Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. William Craig, in Derry, on October 5, put the final match to a bonfire which had been building up for years.

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Fears and suspicion had been mounting in Derry, said Mr. Hume, since the publication of the Matthew Report which envisaged the loss of 37,000 people from the area west of the Bann over a 20 year period.

Suspicion was strengthened by the siting of the new city of Craigavon and the resignation of the chief planner, who felt that it should have been in Derry.

The closing of a railway to Derry added to the suspicion and then came the despicable and criminal story of the second university.

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That was where the present trouble started because it brought an awakening of the public conscience. The people of Derry also felt that Magee University was being slowly strangled and this would not be accepted by the people of Derry of any shade of opinion.

Nor would the moving of the functions of local government to Coleraine or any other centre be accepted. It was these factors and emigration combined with the denial of civil rights, which led to the trouble in Derry.

"I would say that if we are to have a just society in Northern Ireland it can only be done with certain fundamental attitudes and principles in view," he went on.

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"It can only be done if we believe in the equality or rights of every citizen in our community and if we approach problems with justice in our minds and in our hearts. It can only be done if we believe in each other and wipe out the prejudices and fears of past hatreds."

Mr. Hume said the solution lay not with the people on the Opposition benches, but with the Government, who had the power to supply the remedies tomorrow. He also attacked the continued absence of one man, one vote, rigged boundaries and the retention of the Special Powers Act.