His opinion of Britain's role in Ireland subsequent to the partition of the island and the independence of the Free State in changed during the s, in response to the outbreak of The Troubles.
He now saw opposing nationalist and unionist traditions as irreconcilable, and switched from a nationalist to a unionist view of Irish politics and history, and from opposition to support for partition.
Cruise O'Brien's outlook was radical and seldom orthodox. He summarised his position as intending "to administer an electric shock to the Irish psyche ". Internationally, though a long-standing member of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, he opposed in person the African National Congress 's academic boycott of the apartheid regime in South Africa. During his — career as a civil servant, Cruise O'Brien promoted the government's anti- partition campaign.
He served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, with responsibility for broadcasting, between and in a coalition government. She had three sisters, Hanna, Margaret and Mary. Hanna 's husband, the well-known pacifist and supporter of women's suffrage Francis Sheehy-Skeffington , was executed by firing squad on the orders of Captain J.
C Bowen Colthurst during the Easter Rising. Cruise O'Brien's father died in While others stood, he and Sheehy-Skeffington sat in protest on such occasions. His first wife, Christine Foster, from a Belfast Presbyterian family, was, like her father, a member of the Gaelic League. Cruise O'Brien and Christine Foster were married in a registry office in The couple had three children: Donal, Fedelma, and Kathleen Kate , who died in The marriage ended in divorce after 20 years.
