David McCann: How the high political drama unfolded when O’Neill met Lemass
This week was the 60th anniversary of the O'Neill/Lemass summit, the first meeting between the two heads of government in 40 years.
Lemass: “I shall get into terrible trouble for this”.
O'Neill : “No, Mr Lemass, it is I who shall get into trouble for this.”
Why did the two PMs not meet?
For Unionism, while the Irish government laid claim to NI, the argument was that such a meeting would be impossible. For the Irish government, it was a mix of indifference and isolationism. Lemass begins to change this policy when he becomes Taoiseach.
What about the characters?
Captain Terence O'Neill became the Prime Minister of NI in 1963. He prided himself on being a moderniser, determined to focus on economic development. He saw the electoral threat from the NI Labour Party, which had won seats from the Unionist Party.
Sean Lemass became Taoiseach in 1959. Ending isolationism and embracing free trade, he wanted to modernise and open the Irish economy. A veteran of the Rising, he made overtures to NI for cooperation from 1963 onwards.
How did the meeting come together? In November 1964 Lemass accepts an invitation to address a debate at QUB in February 1965. The news that Lemass was visiting prompted a question by Harry Diamond, MP, to O'Neill about whether he would meet Lemass. O'Neill says he won't meet him.
O'Neill's response was merely a restatement of four decades of Unionist policy. Except this time, there is a difference. Enter the News Letter, which was the leading Unionist newspaper and was owned by the Henderson family. Bill Henderson was a former Unionist MP in the 1950s. The News Letter argued: "Meet Lemass; Why Not?"
The paper argued for a change, highlighting the economic benefits of cooperation with the Irish government. It ended with a political line that there was no danger to the Unionist cause in such a meeting and urged O'Neill to think again.
Back to O'Neill. Who cared and valued his image as a moderniser and a liberal. To have the leading Unionist newspaper urging a new approach mattered. It also provided an opening for O'Neill's chief rival in the party, Brian Faulkner.
Faulkner had a conservative image. As Home Affairs Minister, his hardline stance was credited with helping end the Irish border campaign, and he wanted to become PM at some stage. The News Letter editorial allowed him to outflank O'Neill on the modernising wing of the party.
In December 1964, Faulkner was Commerce Minister. He began preparing a submission to the cabinet seeking permission to meet his Southern counterpart to cooperate in areas such as trade and tourism. Knowing about Faulkner's move, O'Neill responds.
In total secrecy, he sends his secretary, Jim Malley, to Dublin with an invitation to Lemass for a meeting in Stormont. The meeting is so secret Malley hides behind a newspaper when he recognises someone on the train. Malley meets with TK Whitaker, the head of the Irish Finance Department, to convey O'Neill's invitation. Whitaker agrees to pass this on to Lemass, who immediately accepts.
A date of 14th January is agreed. This is just 10 days after the invite is conveyed. The pending meeting remains secret, more so on the NI side. O'Neill does not tell his cabinet, only a close circle of advisors and the head of the RUC. Lemass tells his driver on the 13th to have a full tank of petrol for tomorrow but does not say where they are going.
O'Neill spends the night of the 13th worrying about the next day. He worries mostly about how to greet Lemass and how not to offend him. He settles on: "Welcome to the North."
On the morning of 14th January 1965 Lemass gets into his car, tells his driver, "Belfast," and sets off with TK Whitaker. The Garda escort is only informed and gets Lemass to the border.
On the NI side, there is disbelief amongst some RUC officers that Lemass was coming.
Lemass arrives at Stormont at 1pm. The news only now really gets out about the meeting.
Lemass and O'Neill discuss economic cooperation.
Ken Bloomfield phones around cabinet ministers to tell them that Lemass is at Stormont. Faulkner responds: "You must be joking?".
The meeting is broadly welcomed across the island.
The media in Northern Ireland welcomes the new approach. However, elements within Unionism voice their unease about O'Neill's secretive approach, and Ian Paisley mounts a strong campaign outside.
The end result? A series of meetings between ministers of both governments resulted in the agreement of initiatives on trade, tourism, culture, and energy.
O'Neill and Lemass met again in February 1965. In 1967, O'Neill met Jack Lynch, which is when Paisley threw snowballs.
Dr David McCann is a historian and deputy editor of the website Slugger O'Toole. This article was first written as a thread by him on the social media platform X.