The Stormont cabinet agreed to introduce prevention of incitement to hatred legislation only when the Rev Ian Paisley was elected to parliament, according to newly released Northern Ireland cabinet documents.
At a cabinet meeting on March 19th, 1970, the minister of community relations, Dr Robert Simpson, told ministers it was the only item in a joint Belfast-London communique of August 29th, 1969, that had not been acted upon.
In a memorandum Dr Simpson reminded his colleagues that the British home secretary, Mr Jim Callaghan, had urged them to enact the legislation "despite the difficulties".
He listed the problems surrounding such law, including the difficulties of enforcement and the possibility of inadvertently extending the law to "harmless evangelists". But he thought the government was committed by the communique, while similar legislation existed in Great Britain in the 1965 Race Relations Act. Lack of action had found expression in harsh criticism in Belfast Telegraph and Irish News editorials, while the chairman of the Community Relations Commission (Dr Maurice Hayes) had urged the need for early legislation.
In cabinet discussion the attorney-general (Mr Basil Kelly, QC) said the basic objection to the Bill was that it would affect only one section of the public. He did not think the government was committed to it.
The minister of agriculture, Mr Phelim O'Neill, proposed that the minister and the attorney-general might persuade Dr Hayes that the legislation might not help community relations.
The minister of commerce, Mr Roy Bradford, thought the pressure from the press might be eased if correspondents were briefed.
The issue was raised again at cabinet on June 23rd, 1970, when the Northern premier said a draft Bill had been brought forward at his suggestion for immediate presentation to Parliament. He said it would reassure those who might be drawn into agitation, thinking a British Conservative government would result in a slowing down or reversal of the North's reform programme.
Also, Dr Paisley's election as MP lessened some of the difficulties, he said. The Attorney-General said the legal difficulties would remain but the situation had changed. As to prosecutions, Mr Kelly said the onus rested with his office and he thought their number would be "very low".