Caledon Protest
Category : Wars and Conflict
CLICK TO EXPERIENCE THE EXHIBITION - Caledon ProtestSTART
Caledon Protest
Austin Currie, a Nationalist MP at Stormont, and two local men occupied a house in Caledon, Co. Tyrone, on 20 June 1968. The action was in protest over the allocation of the house by the local council to a nineteen-year-old unmarried Protestant, Emily Beatty, who was the secretary of a local unionist politician. A Catholic family with three young children had been evicted recently from the house next door.
After a few hours, the RUC removed Currie and his fellow-squatters. Currie said that they had squatted in protest against the allocation of the house to an unmarried woman while more than 250 people were on the waiting list in the Dungannon rural district. He also wanted to draw attention to the system of allocation which allowed an individual councillor to give houses to anyone he wished.
The accompanying image shows Austin Currie, Nationalist MP in Northern Ireland.
© RTÉ Stills Library 0133/037
-
RTÉ's 'Eye Witness' programme looks back at the Caledon protest in a 1979 studio discussion. - Video 04:00
-
The Catholic Goodfellow family were evicted from 11 Kinnard Park, Caledon, where they had been squatting. Mrs Goodfellow describes the eviction. - Audio 04:31
-
Angela McCrystal gives a personal account of the housing situation in Dungannon and the formation of the Homeless Citizens League. - Audio 05:07
-
Nationalist MP, Austin Currie, locks himself into a council house in protest against the unfair allocation of houses. - Video 00:12
-
Austin Currie talks about the impact of his occupation of a house in Caledon in protest at housing discrimination. - Video 03:17
Caledon Protest
Category: Wars and Conflict
CLOSEBackground to the Caledon Protest
RTÉ's 'Eye Witness' programme looks back at the Caledon protest in a 1979 studio discussion.
- Production Year 1979
- ContributorTom Savage (Presenter)
"Sixteen of Us in One Small House"
The Catholic Goodfellow family were evicted from 11 Kinnard Park, Caledon, where they had been squatting. Mrs Goodfellow describes the eviction.
- Production Year 1969
- ContributorProinsias Ó Conluain (Reporter)
"I Have No Confidence in Dungannon Urban Council Whatsoever"
Angela McCrystal gives a personal account of the housing situation in Dungannon and the formation of the Homeless Citizens League.
- Production Year 1969
- ContributorProinsias Ó Conluain (Reporter)
Austin Currie in Housing Protest
Nationalist MP, Austin Currie, locks himself into a council house in protest against the unfair allocation of houses.
- Production Year 1968
Austin Currie in Caledon Protest
Austin Currie talks about the impact of his occupation of a house in Caledon in protest at housing discrimination.
- Production Year 1979
- ContributorTom Savage (Presenter)