Deprived Derry City - 1966

The struggle for employment and housing in Derry. Unemployment has always been high in Derry, as much as 14% for men. When the Birmingham Sound Reproducers (BSR) factory in Derry laid off 1000 workers, it drove the male unemployment rate to almost 20%. Prospects for finding employment in Derry are slim to none. For many the only hope for making money is at the bookmakers. One man says he has only worked for ten weeks since leaving the army in 1950. He does not even have a pension. Others out of work from BSR have redundancy money, but no idea of when or where they will find work. I don’t know, haven’t a clue, no chance in Derry. This sentiment is echoed by a woman who says her husband has to go to England whenever he needs work. While some people feel representatives like Seamus Mallon are doing their best, others are taking matters into their own hands and have formed the Derry Unemployed Action Committee. The housing situation in Derry is equally grim. Satisfying housing needs requires the construction of 500 new homes every year until 1981. However since 1963, only 55 houses have been built each year. The pressure on housing in Derry is greater than anywhere else in Northern Ireland and the pressure in the South Ward electoral divisions is much greater than anywhere else in Derry. Several families are living in dire conditions in condemned houses on Magazine Street. They are only moved when the roof of their building caves in. A man facing unemployment for the third time recounts his struggle to get a house from Derry Corporation. He made his initial housing application in February 1959 but, After 8 years I found there was no house forthcoming. Through his own tenacity, rather than any assistance from public representatives, he was finally re-housed, I’m delighted with it, after waiting eight years, it’s heaven. This episode of ‘Seven Days’ was broadcast on 12 December 1966. The reporter is John O’Donoghue.