Northern Ireland facing chaos

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33538, 20 May 1974, Page 1

Northern Ireland facing chaos

TiV.f.P. A.-Seufer— Copyrights

BELFAST, May 19. Northern Ireland is on the brink of chaos today after a [ call for Protestant power workers to start an all-out strike from > midnight tonight.

The call by the hard-line Ulster Workers Council was made yesterday after three ■ days during which the power workers have been supplying only about half of the British province's electricity requirement and causing widespread power cuts.

If the workers respond to-j night, the remaining one of' Northern Ireland’s five power' stations still operating will! probably shut down and all areas will be blacked out in-! definitely. “Razor’s edge’’ Early today an electricity authority spokesman said: “We are working on a razor’s edge, but we hope to be able to get through the rest of the week-end without the service collapsing.” If the supplies stop, the 15,000 British troops stationed throughout the province will be called in to help maintain essential services. There is speculation that they might be reinforced from units in England and West Germany. No council

The bitter political strike) was precipitated by the refusal of the Northern Ireland Governing Assembly to reject the formation of a Council of Ireland which would establish the first Governmental links between Eire and Ulster since Ireland was divided in 1921. The British Minister with responsibility for Northern Ireland, Mr Merlyn Rees, said [that just as the Irish Republican Army had not sue[ceeded in bombing its wav to

the conference table, so Pro- ' test ant workers would not be ' able to “strike their way to the conference table.” He said yesterday that ■ there would be no negotiation tinder duress with those involved in the “cynical disruption” of the social and economic life of Northern Ireland. A backlash to the strike came today from the Northern Ireland Congress of Trades Unions, the legitimate representative body for the workers, who announced two “back to work” marches in Belfast on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the province’s more familiar troubles continued with a man shot dead as he was enjoying a Saturday night drink with friends in a Belfast bar. Eight men, one armed with a shotgun, burst into the North Star in North Queen Street, singled their victim out and shot him in the back. They ran out and made their getaway in a taxi. .