O'Neill of the Maine, Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron, 1914–90, Ulster Unionist politician. A member of one of the oldest Protestant families in Ireland, he entered the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1946. He served as minister of finance (1956–63) and prime minister (1963–69). Regarded as one of the most liberal Unionists, he favored broadening Roman Catholic civil rights, although his party did not. His main concern was improving the economy of the province; his government stressed industrial expansion, training facilities for skilled trades, and the development of tourism, with considerable success. His formal meetings with Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch were regarded as too compromising by right-wing Unionists, and the gradual increase in prosperity, along with his limited civil-rights reform in 1968, did not satisfy Roman Catholic grievances. After failing to win a mandate for moderation in the 1969 elections, he resigned. He was created a life peer in 1970.
See his autobiography (1972).
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