A dramatic challenge to the Government to solve Northern Ireland’s unemployment problems had been made at Westminster by Mrs Patricia McLaughlin (Unionist, West Belfast), reported the News Letter on this day in 1958.
Mrs McLaughlin had drawn red glove on her hand and holding up her hand in the Commons had said: “This is the Red Hand of Ulster. If any Government can solve the problem of Ulster it is this Government, and I throw down the challenge to them, can you, and will you, solve our problems?”
Mrs McLaughlin then cast down the glove on the bench behind her.
During the debate Mrs McLaughlin had told the House: “Long term unemployment is something we understand only too well in Northern Ireland.”
Most Popular
-
1
NI man opens up his museum filled with items built up over 80 years
-
2
Royal Black gathering told ‘this country is not for sale’
-
3
Sport Relief All Star Games: Birmingham 2022
-
4
Where can I watch Belfast Film online? Is Belfast Film on Netflix or Amazon Prime - how can I stream Belfast?
-
5
Tom Daley investigates how it’s ‘illegal to be me’
She added that with a growing population in the Province that more and more people were finding themselves out of work because of decline in both the agricultural and textile industries.
She continued: “We are a modest and hardworking people and I sometimes think it is because we do not shout loudly enough or hard enough that we do not get our needs attended to.”
A number of the Opposition members had interrupted Mrs McLaughlin as she spoke claiming that they could solve unemployment, but she had retorted: “It is no use saying you can solve it when you in Opposition when you could never solve it when you were in power.”