The
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was an organisation which campaigned for
civil rights for the Catholic minority in
Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in Belfast on 9 April 1967, the
civil rights campaign attempted to achieve reform by publicising, documenting, and lobbying for an end to discrimination in areas such as elections (which were subject to
gerrymandering and property requirements), discrimination in employment, in
public housing and alleged abuses of the
Special Powers Act. The genesis of the organisation lay in a meeting in
Maghera in August 1966 between the
Wolfe Tone Societies which was attended by
Cathal Goulding, then chief of staff of the
IRA.