There are two main political parties; Unionists and Nationalists. Let's look at the unionists to start with. Unionists is said to be a belief in the continuation of the 1800 Act of Union so that Northern Ireland

Now let's look at Sinn Fein to see how it differs from the SDLP. Sinn Fein is the main nationalist party that represents nationalists. It was set up in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, in the aftermath of the hunger strikers and is a republican party. Sinn Fein means ourselves. Its present leader is Gerry Adams. Sinn Fein is the more extreme of the two main nationalist parties and in the past have had problems with their methods. Their aim is for a 32 county Irish republic, and in the past they supported violence to achieve this. In the 1980s they were more inclined to support violence and used ballots; but now their methods have evolved and they are talking about more peaceful methods. They believe in building a true democracy, where both political and economic power is distributed as widely as possible. Sinn Fein supports the Good Friday agreement but only support parts of it. They have more emphasises on supporting the prisoner releases. They don't support the police and do not sit on the policing board. They do not sit in British government however they do sit in parliament in Northern Ireland and they sit in Dáil (southern Irish parliament.) Sinn Fein is now prepared to accept working with British. Now let's look at the differences within unionists. There are two main parties within unionism. These are the DUP and the UUP which sometimes can be identified as the OUP. First let's look at the UUP.

The UUP was formed in 1905. Its first leader was Colonel Edward Saunderson. It is the more moderate of both unionist parties. Like the SDLP it has a new leader at present; Reg Empey is the new leader, who recently took over David Trimble. The UUP is mainly a protestant party. UUP is short for Ulster Unionist Party; or as it's sometimes known as OUP is short for Official Unionist Party. The UUP say they keep the interests of the people of Northern Ireland at the heart of British politics. They say they will ensure Northern Ireland remains British. They believe British-ness is a living, organic relationship with our fellow citizens in the rest of the UK. The UUP supports the 1988 Good Friday Agreement. It also supports power sharing with SDLP and Sinn Fein. They were prepared to sit in government as decommissioning was happening and not after it. The UUP are also prepared to work with Sinn Fein which is a big change. They believe the PROVO'S must be disbanded. The UUP's attitude towards the south is that they want gradual cooperation but no involvement in government of Northern Ireland. They are inclined to talk and visit the south. They are reasonably open; they don't want the south involved in law.

Now let's look how the DUP differs from the UUP. The DUP is the more extreme of both unionist parties. The DUP stands for Democratic Unionist Party. The leader of the DUP is Ian Paisley. The DUP do not support the Good Friday Agreement. The DUP are more extreme towards Sinn Fein. As of 2006 the DUP is the largest unionist party. The majority of the unionists are Protestants. The dup are against the Good Friday agreement. Their attitude towards decommissioning is very hard-line. They will allow Sinn Fein into government but not before decommissioning. Impression given from the DUP is that they will continue to put obstacles on road as they don't want to share power, as they say decommissioning has to be complete, time-tabled, verifiable, transparent, witnessed and photographed and they also want the disbandment of the IRA. Their attitude towards the south is more extreme and very hard-line. We can tell their methods are improving as Ian paisley who would not have stepped foot in the south has actually visited the south recently. They believe Sinn Fein should be left behind and those wedded to exclusively peaceful and democratic politics should move forward together. They say the IRA army council must not be allowed to dictate the terms for the future of Northern Ireland or hold the political process to ransom.

There are paramilitaries on both sides. On the Republican side there is the Provo's who are on ceasefire and the dissidents which are not on ceasefire and have bigger numbers. The dissidents were responsible for the Omagh bombing. On the loyalist side the paramilitaries include the UVF, LVF, UDA and UFF. They said they were always reactive towards republican paramilitaries. It is difficult to keep up with paramilitaries as they are meant to be secret and information is changing all the time. In conclusion to the difference with nationalism Sinn Fein and the SDLP, are both nationalist groups but differ in that Sinn Fein is more extreme and the SDLP is more moderate. They both want a united Ireland but have different methods of getting it. They support the Good Friday agreement but have different views. In the past Sinn Fein would have used violence to achieve their goals but now have become more like the SDLP in that they are more or peaceful means. They are now both prepared to work with the British to get a united Ireland. Sinn Fein receive the majority of nationalist votes, from mainly the young generation. In conclusion to the differences within unionism the UUP are the more moderate group which no longer represent the majority of unionists and the dup is the more extreme group. The UUP are prepared to share power with nationalists as do the DUP but the DUP have very different views and they will not share power as easy as the UUP. The DUP would be more inclined to use violence but like Sinn Fein are now using more peaceful methods. The UUP have always like the SDLP used and supported peaceful methods. The DUP will not sit with Sinn Fein until they are absolutely positive the IRA are disbanded and decommissioning has occurred. The UUP however are will and have sat with Sinn Fein as decommissioning was occurring.

Now both nationalists and unionists are using peaceful methods. Their differences are becoming blurred. As the situation between republicans and loyalists politics are evolving too. At the moment and hopefully to come the more extreme groups on both the nationalism and unionism side who were more supportive of violence are on the ascendant.

Ciara Loughran History Coursework 11x 06-04-06