On the 12th of July 1965, in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, Brookeborough's successor, Captain Terence O'Neill, gave a speech in which he expressed the hope that ' the Orange Order will alwasy be used as a force for positive Protestantism which makes sure that a man does his own duty to God and country before he citicizes any other'.
His speech at Ballymena demonstration took place only few months after O'Neill's controversial meeting with Irish Taoiseach Sean Lemass.