Northern Ireland Coursework. Question 2.

by Presbyterians [Protestant]. Partition created a large nationalist Catholic minority in Northern Ireland, this minority felt isolated in the new state when it was first formed. There was huge distrust on both sides. The Unionists didn’t make much effort into building new bridges with the Nationalists, as the Unionists felt that the Nationalists wanted to determine the new state whereas the nationalists felt the Unionists wanted to exclude them from having power. In the 1930s, the worldwide economic depression hit Northern Ireland really hard. Protestants and the Catholics were competing against each other as well as for jobs and trade. The arguments and rivalry caused sectarian tension and violence. There were particularly serious riots between the Nationalists and the Unionists in 1934 and 1935 in Belfast, following on from the Orange marches. In the early 1920s, many Nationalists were still hoping that the Boundary Commission [Anglo-Irish Treaty] would move the border so that they would live in the Free State. They did little to hide the fact that they did not want to be part of Northern Ireland. In the 1920 local council elections, the Nationalists gained majorities in Londonderry, Fermanagh and Tyrone. These councils refused to accept the authority of the new Belfast government when it was formally established in June 1922, and they only acknowledged the Dail. The Belfast government suspended the councils and appointed a running of all services and functions of the councils. Nationalist politicians refused to sit in Northern Ireland’s parliament until 1926. They then walked out again in 1932, when the Unionists scrapped PR. The constitution specified that all elections would be by proportional representation [PR]. The purpose of this was to give the minority of group’s fair representation in Northern Ireland. In 1922, the Unionists abolished it for local elections. The British government made no protest against this action, even though it broke the terms of the Government of Ireland Act. Nationalist MPs withdrew from the political process in protest at the decision to scrap PR. This made the problem worse, since they were not consulted when the boundaries of wards [areas which elected councilors] were redrawn. The result was ‘gerrymandering’ fixing the boundaries so that the Unionists gained the results they wanted. In 1929, the Unionist government also abolished PR in general elections. Once again, the Nationalists walked out in Protest. The British government also took no action. Discrimination against Catholics became a feature of the Northern Ireland state. For example, Catholics very rarely got jobs in the civil services. Also the Minister for Home Affairs, Richard Dawson Bates, refused to use his own telephone until a Catholic telephone operator in his department had been transferred to another post. Unionist leaders were also deeply suspicious of socialism. Some of their actions to reduce the threat of the labour movement [such as abolition of PR] actually resulted in discrimination against Catholics. Bloody Sunday On Sunday 30th of January, 1972, there was an incident which is now known to be called Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday is remembered even today, many people still have the visions of disasters, some are angry, and some are distraught over their unfortunate losses. A reason for the anger and protest is mainly the Widgery report. The Widgery report was set up to look into the events of Bloody Sunday. This was conducted by Lord Chief Justice Widgery. It was produced 11 days after the terrifying day. The Widgery report has been thought of holding ‘evidence’, of which Irish residents believe to be hidden, mainly because the British have held onto it for so long, which makes them suspicious. The Widgery report is also known to have been rushed, as it is only 38 pages long it used to be 250 pages long. Not to mention they also believe that it was the British Soldiers fault for all of their losses, as the soldiers were under strict orders to kill anyone and everyone who seems to attack them. This meant that local Irish residents would have only one opinion on the way everyone handles things to get results and that would be to use violence. Some say Bloody Sunday was caused by greed, some say it was caused by everyone being their own enemies, it is more than likely to be those reasons, yet some people have thought of it to be caused by fuel. Dublin investigated a new event and that was fuel. With fuel shortages the Nationalists were outraged, the IRA reacted with violence, and then a whole load of people started to get involved, which is another theory which is though to have started Bloody Sunday. Medical records have been held in Britain even until today! The rules are that the medical records will not be released until the year 2048. Some Irish and British became suspicious and mentioned that its so that the people that were there during Bloody Sunday, the people that witnessed the attacks and the people that is waiting to see if their love ones were ever found will probably be dead by that date. Is this unfair? Of course, all they are doing is proving that they are suspicious. With all these events that have happened in the past to do with the disastrous Bloody Sunday it lead to a huge distrust of the British.