Ministerial Appointments at Stormont

Ministerial Appointments at Stormont

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Details

Location

Stormont

Year

1965

Date

Production 05/04/1965

Length

03min 54sec

Audio

mute

Format

16mm

black and white

Source

Funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland under the Archiving Scheme 2

Courtesy

Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Department for Communities, ITV, UTV Archive

Rights Holder

ITV

It is illegal to download, copy, print or otherwise utilise in any other form this material, without written consent from the copyright holder.

Description

Two ministerial appointments are made at Stormont.  

Ulster Unionist Herbert Kirk moves from Education to become Minster of Finance. We see his appointment letter in full.  William Fitzsimmons takes his place at Education and we see the two of them go about their business. Mr Fitzsimmons arrives at Stormont and heads to Dundonald House while at home, Mrs Fitzsimmons gets the call to tell of his promotion. Uncanny how the cameras happened to be there! 

Notes

Herbert Kirk became active in the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and in 1956 was elected to represent Belfast Windsor in the Parliament of Northern Ireland. In 1962, he became the Minister of Labour and National Insurance, also joining the Privy Council of Northern Ireland. In 1964, he moved to become Minister of Education, and the following year, Minister of Finance. 

In April 1965, William Fitzsimmons, MP for Belfast, Duncairn, was appointed to a Cabinet position, becoming Minister of Education. He moved to become Minister of Development in 1966, back to Education in 1968 and finally served as Minister of Health and Social Services from 1969 until the Parliament was prorogued in 1972. 

In 1968, Fitzsimmons' daughter married a Roman Catholic. As a result, he resigned from the Orange Order. At the 1969 election, former independent Unionist Member of Parliament Norman Porter stood against Fitzsimmons as a candidate whose opposition to Catholicism was in no doubt, but Fitzsimmons held his seat.  

Credits

An Ulster Television Production.

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