Describe the disadvantages faced by Catholics in Northern Ireland in the mid 1960's.
Ameer Patel - Describe the disadvantages faced by Catholics in Northern Ireland in the mid 1960's Since the partition of Ireland in 1921 Catholics and Protestants living in Ireland were unable to live equally, Ireland was split in two, the North became Northern Ireland and the South the Republic of Ireland, the main difference between the two was; that Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, 66% of the people that lived in Northern Ireland were Protestant, the remaining 33% were Catholic, Catholics wanted to Ireland to be united and independent while the Protestants wanted Ireland to be apart of the UK. This disagreement led Catholics to have many disadvantages when compared to Protestants, they were often discriminated against because of their views on Ireland.Catholics were discriminated against in many forms, and these forms can be put into the
categories political, economical and social.Northern Ireland was a state dominated by Protestants, this meant Catholics were out numbered by the majority of Protestants, however in some parts of Northern Ireland there were more catholics than Protestants, places like London Derry City, Tyrone and Fermanagh, when it came to election time, catholics were not fairly represented because of Gerrymandering, this was the process by which constituency boundaries were redrawn to favour the Protestant population, for example, In the 1920s and 1930s, the Ulster Unionist Party created electoral boundaries for the Londonderry County Borough Council to ensure election of a Unionist council ...
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categories political, economical and social.Northern Ireland was a state dominated by Protestants, this meant Catholics were out numbered by the majority of Protestants, however in some parts of Northern Ireland there were more catholics than Protestants, places like London Derry City, Tyrone and Fermanagh, when it came to election time, catholics were not fairly represented because of Gerrymandering, this was the process by which constituency boundaries were redrawn to favour the Protestant population, for example, In the 1920s and 1930s, the Ulster Unionist Party created electoral boundaries for the Londonderry County Borough Council to ensure election of a Unionist council in a city where Catholics/Nationalists had a marginal majority, despite there being about half as many Protestants in Derry compared to Catholics, Protestants still got 12 seats on the council, compared to the Catholics 8.Unionists now controlled the catholic areas, despite there being more catholics voting against them, this was a huge disadvantage for catholic people, Catholics now found it much harder to be employed, "Of 10,000 workers in the Belfast shipyard - the biggest source of in the city, just 400 were catholic" (The Sunday Times 1972) the Prime Minister of NI Lord Brookborough was for this; "I recommend those who are loyalists not to employ Roman Catholics, 99% of whom are disloyal" if a Protestant and a Catholic applied for the same job, no matter how qualified the Catholic was, the Protestant would always get the job. This resulted in unemployed Catholics not being able to feed their own families, and their children were put in the worst schools, while Protestants were put in the very best schools, Catholics that were luck enough to have a job, were often over looked by their employers when it came to promotions and raises, if a Catholic had been working for a company for a long time, and a Protestant had just started in the company, but working in the same position as the Catholic, the Protestant would get a promotion, "They say why aren't wee given higher positions? But how can you give somebody who is your enemy a higher position for them to come out and destroy you?" (Lord Brookborough) this meant that the salaries of Catholics were far lower than Protestants, "Of 177 salaried employees 145 earning £124,424 were Protestant, and only 32 earning £20,420 were catholic" (The Sunday Times 1972)Catholics were always put in worse houses compared to Protestants by councils but still charge the same rent, in addition, for example, If a Catholic family were in need of a home, they would become second class citizens to a single Protestant girl, the girl would have a better chance of acquiring the house than the needy Catholic family, furthermore, more Protestants were housed then Catholics "Of 1,589 houses built by Femanagh county council between the end of the second world war and 1969, 1021 went to Protestant families" (The Sunday Times 1972) Another way catholics were discriminated socially by the councils was that the councils would build more houses for protestants in protestant areas, even in catholic majority areas like Fermanagh, Catholics such as Liam O' Connor failed to get into a good Protestant University because he was a catholic, the Unionist government refused to build a University in Derry, Catholic children were not taught anything about Catholicism, they were only taught about Protestant history. This meant Children grew up believing that Catholics were evil and theProtestant religion was the way forward.To conclude, I believe it was very unfair for Catholic to be treated and discriminated against, the effect of this was, that Catholics formed NICRA the Northern Irish Civil Rights Association which imitated the tactics of the American Cicil rights movement.
