This is quite an important piece of footage representing the growing splits within Unionism emerging in 1966 and which would continue apace for the rest of the decade and into the next. Northern Ireland’s Minister for Commerce, Brian Faulkner, was attending a meeting of the Black Preceptory in Dromore, Co Down, where he was continuously heckled by supporters of the Paisleyite faction within Unionism. The government of Terence O’Neill had been trying to walk the difficult tightrope of a more liberal position to civil rights matters involving nationalists - with a mellowing of relations with the Republic of Ireland - and trying to keep the Unionist supporters on board.
Ian Paisley took a dim view of the government’s actions and had been increasing his vocal attacks as well as staging protests. After a protest turned violent in the summer of 1966, Paisley had been jailed for three months and his supporters had turned up to frustrate Faulkner and other government representatives at Black Preceptory meetings around the country. Faulkner, however, gives a very robust defence of the government’s strategy in the face of the heckling.