If the employers were unable to differentiate a Catholic and a Protestant from the first two questions. They would know for sure with the last. All Roman Catholic schools around the area were named after patron saints. St Gregs for example. This greatly hindered Kieran’s chances in securing a job.
However, after much canvassing he was finally able to secure a role within British Telecom. The divergence of religion was well empathised within the company. Two thirds of the employees being Protestant and a third Catholic. This was quite an accurate representation of the population in Northern Ireland at the time.
Kieran claimed that he never felt personally persecuted as a Catholic. However it was apparent where the power resided. It was incredibly unusual for a Catholic to have a decent job. If a Catholic did manage to gain occupation in one of the major companies it would become the norm for the individual to be attacked and threatened, causing them to leave. Even in BT there were depots with UVF and UDA flags.
Situations became so extreme that it become illegal for Catholics to own a business, this is because you needed a business to gain the power of vote. The people never got say. For example, there was a large business in the Protestant area called Mackies. The man who owned the business hired 5000 employees, predominantly Protestants. He was therefore enabled 5000 votes thus ensuring the power remained with the Protestants.
Even in Government it was clear where the power lied. There was an organisation in Northern Ireland, quite similar to the Freemasons called the Orange Order. All the government officials were members and all were Protestants. If any member married or let their family marry a Catholic, they were expelled.
The violence truly broke out when Kieran was around sixteen. Travelling became extremely dangerous, even simply walking or catching a bus could result in somebody losing his or her life. The neighbour hood that Kieran lived on was typical of a Catholic estate, you had to be street wise to survive.
Overnight however, the streets became a battlefield. This was the time that Kieran experienced gunfire for the first time. “I could hear the pops and crowds screaming”. Rioting and shooting became a daily occurrence in this area, peaking at around 300 shooting incidents a day. “People became use to it” claimed Kieran “just like during the Blitz, it became the norm”
Sectarianism became a lot worse. If a Catholic was caught in the wrong place and the wrong time a beating would not be the only punishment. Rumours of interrogation, mutilation and torture were always aloof. These Protestant paramilitaries would roam the city and Catholic areas trying to snatch innocent victims.
People had to be cautious when walking home in the pitch black. (the army shot out the street lights). Kieran himself nearly fell into the hands of snatchers himself.
These were times when the IRA had a good reputation, only shooting at military targets. Gun battles between the IRA and the army was becoming frequent and often occurred between buildings, the army on the pavement and the IRA on the rooftops. If civilians walked through the firing would stop until the civilian walked through. This was before the IRA took up a more ruthless strategy, bombing and murdering anybody. If a civilian walked through battle during these times, they would have been shot dead.
The IRA in Kieran’s area were incredibly secretive, their identities always kept hidden. Balaclavas, scarves and heavy items of clothing were often used.
Even though Kieran lived in a Catholic heavy area, the IRA had threatened him many times. Once for not donating money to their collection, and another time for buying a soldier a drink. They would send small children around to attempt to guilt civilians into donating money. If no money was presented they would send ‘heavies’ around to try and ‘persuade’ you to donate. ‘knee capping’ was a very common method of ‘persuasion’ (being shot in the knee caps) and was a threat brandished to Kieran when caught buying the soldier a drink.
Kieran had nearly lost his life several times. A car bomb ignited outside of his flat, causing the walls and the ceiling to collapse. Describing it as ‘just like the movies’ where everything happened in slow motion, the explosion ripping everything in its path to shreds.
This was the final straw for Kieran. He decided to move to England. He wanted to live in a place where he could say what he liked and go where he pleased. “It was nice to live in a place where nobody cared if you were Catholic or Protestant” the only people to ever ask that question were the one’s who also moved from Belfast.
However they never asked the question directly. They would ask. What is your name? Where did you live? What school did you go to?
