History Lessons

Lord Trimble, the former Ulster Unionist party leader, gives his views on some of the key events of the Troubles, including the fall of Stormont in 1972 and the collapse of the power sharing Executive in 1974. He says Unionsits fears of a united Ireland in the early 1970s could have led to an extremely dangerous situation in Northern Ireland.  He talks in detail about his role in the UWC strike in May 1974, telling how he helped draw up a constitution for the Ulster Workers Council and also manned the switchboard at its headquarters in East Belfast. He describes his reactions to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in which 33 people died and to sectarian violence which claimed two lives in south Antrim.  He also tells how leaders of the strike left to avoid possible arrests which they expected would follow the notorious TV broadcast by Harold Wilson, in which he likened the strikers and their supporters to "spongers," and which helped seal the fate of the power sharing Executive.  He says mistakes were made on all sides, but he has no fundamental regrets about what he did in the early and mid 1970s.  His experiences then helped him when it came to the talks which led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

In Part 5, Lord Trimble says the failure to find a solution in Northern Ireland between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s was a "huge tragedy". There were also possibilities before 1968, but after 1971, when the Troubles began in earnest, it was much more difficult. It would have taken a miracle. He recalls being present at momentous events - the huge rally in March 1972 on the day Stormont fell among them, and speculates on missed opportunities.