Conflict in Ireland - source related questions and answers

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History Course Work Conflict in Ireland

What can you learn from Source A about the disadvantage faced by Catholics in Northern Ireland in the early 1960s?

Catholics in urban and rural area in Northern Ireland, both have disadvantages.

In town, most Catholics face anti- Catholic prejudice among foreman or personnel manger. But it is a hard thing to prove Catholics employment discrimination.

For example: In a Belfast shipyard, they have 10,000 workers but just 400 are Catholics. About 4% are Catholics.

In Fermanagh the employees on the council are about 87% Protestants. The top jobs are filled by Protestants. A popular job is bus driving, Because of the long rest and holidays. There were 75 school bus drivers, but just 7 were Catholics.

The Catholic unemployed problem isn’t just about numbers. It is about the fact that Catholic didn’t have equality with Protestants. They could not find the jobs and living in run down poor areas. This could be a vicious circle.

How useful are these sources in helping to assess the extent of discrimination against Catholics?

There are 2 useful sources about his problem.

In source B we read about Linfield player- manager.

He says when they were scouting for new players, they will ask “What school did you go?” If the player says a school with a saint’s name, suddenly the manger think this player not good enough. Because he may be Catholic.

In source C concerns the Ian Paisley and other Unionists. He said that keep Protestant and loyal worker in times of depression. This mean Catholics are unloyal workers. They remember that Ireland refused to join Second World War to help the British against the German army.

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In Northern Ireland many people think the Catholics are unloyal workers and worse than Protestant. Their status is like black American in 1950s in the Southern Status.

These sources are both useful because the source B is talking about his personal experiences over a long period of time. Ian Paisley’s comment is useful because he had formed a political party specifically to main the unionist supremacy in N. Ireland obviously he would have had many supporters who agreed with him.

All of these sources refer to a single city in Northern Ireland. Use the sources, and your own knowledge, to ...

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