Although relations between Nationalists and Unionists were never totaly hormonous, the Northern Ireland government had made countless gestures towards and on behalf of Nationalist and Roman Catholic sentiment. The first Roman Catholic church in Belfast was built by Protestant builders and by money donated by Protestant businessmen. William Philbin, the Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor, had accepted an invitation to a reception in Belfast City Hall. In 1963, Young Unionists travelled to Dublin for talks with a branch of Fine Gael. On the 3rd of June 1963, when Pope John XXIII died, Northern Ireland Governor, Lord Wakehurst, sent the condolences of the people of Northern Ireland to Rome. Terrence O'Neill said that, "[the Pope..] had won widespread acclaim throughout the world because of his qualities of kindness and humanity." The next day the Union Jack was flown at half-mast over Belfast City Hall.
However, O'Neill's attempts at building bridges during his appointment as Northern Ireland's Prime Minister, was constantly thwarted by a certain religious zealot - Ian Paisley. The Republic, under the direction of Taoiseach Sean Lemass, had grown in economic stature - to the tune of 4% economically per year between the years of 1959 to 1972. The economic gap between the north and the south had begun to narow. Contrary, while Northern Ireland's living standards continued to increase - mostly because of the advantages of it remaining in the UK - the traditional industries had begun to suffer. The largest Ropeworks company in the world - Belfast Ropeworks - collapsed. Short Brothers - Northern Ireland's aircraft factory, was enjoying mixed fortunes. The Shipyard Harland & Wolff was suffering due to not having expanded and modernised until 1970. The huge linen industry was suffering - probably due to the increase in success of popular man-made synthetics. The government had managed to almost reach its target of 30,000 new jobs in 1969 but, because of the decline of the various big industries in Northern Ireland, the net gain of the number of jobs was only around 5,000.
In 1965, O'Neill sent Lemass an invitation to Belfast. The meeting was amicable, and measured by both in terms of success. Paisley however, had taken the stance that O'Neill was a traitor and an encourager of popery. He had previously said of the Queen Mother and Princess Anne that they were "committing spiritual fornication and adultery with the Anti-Christ" regarding their visit to Pope John in 1958. Further, he had told a gathering at Belfast City Hall that "This Romanish man of sin is now in Hell," after the pope had died some five years later.
Nevertheless, Captain O'Neill pressed on with the issue of bridge-building, damage control and repairations between the two communities. On Good Friday 1966, he expressed his hope that Catholics and Protestants could be educated together some day.
On the 6th of June, 1966 Ian Paisley led several hundred supporters from his church on the Ravenhill Road through the city. They were apparently protesting at the Presbyterian Church's "Romanising ways." Paisley's demonstrators had been attacked with bricks as they passed through Catholic areas of the city. The police fought to restrain people in the Markets area until midnight, and Paisley was arrested and sent to Crumlin Road jail. The next weekend rioting broke out on the Shankill Road, and the police had to deploy water canon to contain them.
1966 was the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Militant loyalists met in a bar on the Shankill called the Standard Bar. There they formed a new terrorist group named after the old Ulster Volunteer Force, with an aim to oust O'Neill and fight against the IRA. On the 7th of May, one UVF member tried to petrol bomb a Catholic-owned pub on the Shankill. He missed, which might be funny but for the fact that he set fire instead to Martha Gould's house - a neighbouring elderly Protestant - who was burned to death.
Various attacks against what the UVF claimed were known IRA men were carried out. One man who was involved in murdering Catholics, after having been arrested, told the RUC, "I am terribly sorry I ever heard of that man Paisley or decided to follow him."
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