Northern Ireland Community Relations Commission

The Community Relations Commission was established by an Act of Parliament in 1969 to foster harmonious relations in the region. The Commission comprised ten members, of whom two were ex-officio, and the rest divided equally between Catholic and Protestant. The first Chairman of the Commission was Maurice Hayes. Hywel Griffiths was appointed Director of Projects and Training, and John Darby was appointed as Research / Publications Officer. Hayes resigned from the Commision on 9 February 1972, as violence escalated, in protest at the governments priorities in the region. In April 1974 Ivan Cooper, then Minister for Community Relations in the Northern Ireland Assembly announced that the Commission was to be wound up. In the event the Assembly collapsed on 28 May 1974 and the CRC was formally abolished in 1975 by an order in council. See also: Publications by, or on behalf of, the NICRC. Griffiths, Hywel. Donation of paper copies of 16 publications related to the work of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Commission (NICRC).