The Conflict of Northern and Southern Ireland.

The Conflict of Northern and Southern Ireland

General Background

In Ireland there are two opposing sides: - The Nationalists (or Republicans) and the Unionists (or Loyalists). They both want different things. The Nationalists want Ireland to return to being one country instead of having a separate, divided Ireland. The Unionists, however, want Northern Ireland to stay part of the United Kingdom.

The Unionists have no designs on extending the United Kingdom in to Southern Ireland but would wish to retain the present political dominance over the political parties that the Republicans support. There is a majority of Protestants in Northern Ireland and the Republican parties will never win a general election. The Republicans, however, wish to overturn the present situation by uniting Ireland and allowing one government to rule the country instead of the British Government ruling the north from Westminster.

The political situation is made more complicated by the religious differences between the two sides. The Nationalists are generally Roman Catholic, whereas the Unionists are Protestants. Whilst both are supposedly Christian it has allowed the political conflict to become a sectarian war where people were murdered for nothing more than their religious beliefs.

There are also different factions within the two sides; both have an extremist party and a more moderate political party as well as terrorist groups that support the opposing factions. The Nationalist extremist party is called Sinn Fein and their moderate party is the SDLP. The Unionists parties are the DUP (extremist) and the UUP (moderate party). In support of the Republican cause the Irish Republican Army (the IRA) has been established for almost a century. During ‘the Troubles’ the IRA have been responsible for many murders, mostly of Protestants. To counter this, various Loyalist terrorist groups were established to fight against the IRA. They in turn have murdered many Catholics. The IRA philosophy was to try to bomb and murder the Protestant community until, they hoped , the British Government would give up and take its troops out of Ireland. The Loyalist paramilitaries, on the other hand, believed that they had to show the Protestant community that the IRA would not have it all their own way.

Events that have changed Northern Ireland

Bloody Sunday – changing the Republican View.

Terrorist groups changed the lives of the people in Northern Ireland. By their actions the IRA increased the presence of the British Military in the Province. People have grown accustomed to seeing soldiers and tanks on their streets. But, others would argue, it was the actions of the military in 1972 that accelerated the conflict.

One of the biggest events in the conflict of Ireland in the last century is Bloody Sunday which took place on ...

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Events that have changed Northern Ireland

Bloody Sunday – changing the Republican View.

One of the biggest events in the conflict of Ireland in the last century is Bloody Sunday which took place on 30th January 1972. The Catholics claim that they had every right to march for their civil rights. 13 Catholic marchers were killed by British Soldiers and another man died from his wounds a few days later. The Nationalists were outraged that the British had fired upon them when they weren’t armed and without any provocation (even though the British stance was that the IRA had fired the first shot).

The Catholics had at first welcomed the British army’s arrival as they thought that they would counter the B-specials, a paramilitary unit associated with the Ulster Constabulary. After ‘Bloody Sunday’ many ordinary Catholics distrusted the Army and believed that the army was on the side of the Protestants. With rival paramilitary organisations appearing from both the communities a war took place that cost the lives of thousands. Terrorist outrages involved such acts as the killing of a Catholic pop band, the , by Nationalists (who took them out of their van after a concert and shot them) to the blowing up of a young child at in Britain. The IRA could only have succeeded with support from the Catholic population. This support was fuelled by the events of Bloody Sunday.

Enniskillen -The Protestant Tragedy

On the 8th Novembver the BBC reported:

’A bomb has exploded during a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, killing 11 people. At least 63 people were injured in the blast, nine of them seriously. The device went off without warning at the town's cenotaph where people had gathered to pay their respects to the war dead. The dead included three married couples, a retired policeman and a nurse.’

The War Memorial at Enniskillen

In the aftermath of the bombing a tone of forgiveness was set by Gordon Wilson whose daughter, Marie, was killed and who was himself injured in the attack. "I bear no ill will. Dirty sort of talk is not going to bring her back to life. She was a great wee lassie," Mr Wilson said. A group called Enniskillen Together was set up to further the cause of reconciliation in the area. The IRA lost support worldwide after the bombing. On Remembrance Day 1997 the leader of the IRA's political wing, Gerry Adams, formally apologised for the bombing. This was an example of the IRA going ‘too far’. It repeated the mistake at Omagh years later when the atrocity accelerated the peace talks. Protestants, far from being intimidated, resolved to fight and some Nationalists were too appalled by the attack to voice support for their side.

Attempts at Peace

Ironically, the cause of the conflict over the last thirty years or more stem from a previous attempt to solve the ‘Irish Problem’. On July 11, 1921, a truce was declared between the forces of Great Britain and the IRA. Neither side had surrendered but where did they go from here? The answer was to attempt to negotiate a treaty that would give Ireland some form of self-rule. By agreeing to the ceasefire, the British had conceded that they would have to agree to some form of self-rule. For their part, the Irish had already declared a 32-county republic, and said they would accept nothing less. Now the two sides would have to sit down and see if they could find some way to resolve these two diametrically opposed ideas.

After tense negotiations the Treaty was signed thereby creating Northern and Southern Ireland. But the partition left many Catholics and would-be Republicans in Northern Ireland and the conflict has continued as the Catholics searched for equality in Ulster and for eventual reunification with the South.

Once the Troubles started peace attempts failed substantially and only lasted sometimes as little as 5 months. One plan was set up in 1998 know most commonly as the Good Friday Agreement. The 65-page document sought to address relationships within Northern Ireland; between Northern Ireland and the Republic; and between both parts of Ireland and England, Scotland and Wales. The Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble insisted that UK Prime Minister Tony Blair amend the agreement to ensure that no one in the proposed Northern Ireland Assembly could take office if it had links to paramilitary groups still engaged in violence. Mr Blair refused to make amendments but offered an assurance that politicians linked to paramilitaries who refused to hand over weapons would not hold office in a Northern Ireland government. In the end, the Ulster Unionist, SDLP and Sinn Fein leadership welcomed the agreement. Several Unionist MPs defected from the party to oppose the Agreement. The final Agreement was posted to every household in Northern Ireland and put to a referendum on May 22. The result was overwhelmingly in favour of the Agreement: 71.2% of people in Northern Ireland and 94.39% in the Republic voted Yes to accepting the Agreement.

In spite of what was seen as the success of the Good Friday Agreement, problems remain. The IRA have not handed in their weapons; there is still no working cabinet in Northern Ireland; there are still incidents of sectarian violence such as violence outside Catholic schools and there is continued mistrust of the police and the military. There is a cease-fire in place but the existence of the various splinter groups of terrorist organisations cause concern that the troubles may re-ignite.

The troubles have lasted too long to simply end because of the Good Friday Agreement. Most people in Northern Ireland will know someone who has suffered at the hands of the terrorists. The resentment and distrust will take many generations to remove entirely. There are still instances of prejudice and discrimination in every part of Society and as a result Republicans will still strive for a united Ireland. It is to be hoped that they will do so by democratic methods rather than resorting to violence and terrorism.