What are the main differences between the believes of the Unionists and the Nationalists?

In 1649 the English civil war comes to an end. Oliver Cromwell was sent to Ireland to deal with the Catholic rebellion. The methods he used to crush the rebels were hard. When English soldiers captured the garrison town of Drogheda they ran wild, killing nearly 3000 people. Cromwell confiscated nearly all the land still owned by Catholics. It was then given to soldiers as payment for their services; this also prevented the Catholics from returning to the newly claimed protestant ground. If the Catholics who had lost their land could prove that they had taken no part in the rebellion, they were allowed to take up some of the poor farmland in the west. The Protestants see the English as heroes.

The second event which was important in shaping the protestant views was the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Since in 1688 problems in England affected Ireland again. King James II lost the throne in England for wanting to restore the Roman Catholic religion. James removal from the English throne was to have a big effect on Ireland.

James travels to Ireland and raises a Catholic army to rise up against the protestants. In March 1689 king James’ army trapped 35000 protestants in the city of Londonderry, in Ulster, and laid siege in the city. Robert Lundy, the commander of the garrison, wanted to surrender, but when stopped by the city’s protestant workers. When food began to run out people started to eat cats, dogs, mice, candles and leather to stay alive. Thousands died of disease. Still they did not surrender. On 28 July British ships sailed up the river Foyle to the rescue. The siege of Londonderry was over after 15 weeks.

England had a new protestant king, who had come form the Netherlands- William of Orange. He was King James II son in law. William took his army to Ireland to fight James and his Catholic allies. In 1690 William won great victories at the battle of the Boyne. The Protestants now had control of Ireland as the Catholic armies surrendered.

Protestants think that every time that the English are diverted the Catholics will rebel. Protestants need English protection so therefore want union with England. Protestants regard William of Orange as a hero. The Orange order is started in 1795 to protect Protestants. The Orange order still march through Ireland every year to celebrate the Battle of The Boyne. These marches have led to m mistrust and violence. The trust between the Catholics and the Protestants have been affected by these events.

Question 2B- Conflict in Ireland.

In this piece of coursework I will be looking at two events that have been particularly important in shaping the views of the Catholic community in Ireland. The two events I have chosen to look at are the Battle of the Boyne in1690 and the Irish potato famine.

The Battle of the Boyne in 1690 was a major event in Irish history. This event was caused by the removal of James 2nd from the English throne in 1688. James’s removal from the English throne was to have a big effect on Ireland. The hopes of James and the Irish Catholics were dashed in 1690. The new protestant king, William of Orange, followed James to Ireland with his own army and defeated him at the Battle of the Boyne on the 11th July 1960. After 1690 Protestants made sure that they had complete control of Ireland. Ulster Protestants still celebrate the Battle of the Boyne today as William of Orange remains one of their heroes. Protestants prevented any further attempts by Catholics to regain power. More Catholic land was confiscated so that by 1703 Catholics held only 14% of land in Ireland. Since the right to vote was linked to land ownership the Irish parliament was now controlled by Protestants, mostly Anglican Landlords. Between 1697 and 1727 the Irish parliament passed special laws known as the penal laws. These remained in force until the end of the 18th century.

Penal Laws.

1. No Catholic may bequeath his lands as a whole but must divide it amongst his sons. But if one of these sons becomes protestant he will inherit the whole of the estate. No Catholic can buy land or lease it for more than 31 years.

65334076. No Catholic shall be allowed to vote or become a member of parliament or town council. No Catholic shall join the civil service. No Catholic may be a lawyer or a solicitor.

65334164. No Catholic may join the army or navy. No Catholic may possess a horse of greater value than £5. Any protestant offering that sum may take possession of a horse of his Catholic neighbour. Catholics keeping guns are liable to whipping.

65334252. Catholics may not receive higher education or take professional jobs.

These laws are not only discriminating toward the Catholic community but they deny any freedom that they might be able to have. These strict laws mean that many must live in poverty. By doing this it tries to convert Catholics into Protestants.

Throughout the 18th century the protestant ruling class controlled everything that mattered in Ireland- even though they were a small minority of the population. This also guaranteed English control of Ireland. Ireland had become yet another colony in the slowly growing British Empire. The outcome of the Battle of the Boyne meant that the Catholics were ruled over by the English. In effect they had become second class citizens in Ireland. The penal laws prevented them from owning land or political office. These restrictions led to a great deal of bitterness and anger at the time. The Catholic’s came to feel that they had been badly treated by the English and this has shaped the present days views. The annual marches by the Orange men only serves to remind Irish Catholics of the defeat and helps to stir up hatred and violence.  

The Irish Catholic Potato Famine-Question 2B

The second event I will look at is the potato famine of 1846. This event had a major effect on the views of the Irish Catholics. In 1846 Irish Protestant or English Landlords owned a large part of the land in Ireland. These landlords rented out the land to Irish Catholic farmers who grew potatoes and corm.

This system worked until 1846 when the crop failed. It began with a blight of the potato crop that left acre upon acre of Irish farmland covered with black rot. As harvests across Europe failed, the price of food soared. Irish farmers found their food stores rotting in their cellars, the crops they relied on to pay the rent to their British and Protestant landlords destroyed. Peasants who ate the rotten produce became sick and entire villages became ill with cholera and typhus. Landlords evicted hundreds of thousands of peasants, who then crowded into disease, infested workhouses. Other landlords paid for their tenants to emigrate, sending hundreds of thousands of Irish to America and other English-speaking countries. Over 1 million Irish fled abroad and a massive 75% of these went to America. Ship owners often crowded hundreds of desperate Irish onto rickety vessels labelled "coffin ships." In many cases, these ships reached port only after losing a third of their passengers to disease, hunger and other causes. While Britain provided much relief for Ireland's starving population, many Irish criticized Britain's delayed response and blamed centuries of British political oppression on the underlying causes of the famine. The Irish Famine of 1846-50 took as many as one million lives from hunger and disease, and changed the social and cultural structure of Ireland in many ways. The Famine also made new waves of immigration, therefore shaping the history of the United States and Britain as well. The combined forces of famine, disease and emigration depopulated the Ireland. Ireland's population dropped from 8 million before the Famine to 5 million, years after. The Irish potato famine shaped the Irish Catholic views of Irish protestant landlords. One man blamed James Fintan as he could have been more generous. Others blamed the British government as they ignored Irish problems and could have saved lives. These memories of the famine still today make the Irish Catholics bitter and resentful.

Question 3 Part 1.

William Whitelaw, the first secretary of state for Northern Ireland gathered representatives from the nationalist state and unionist parties to a conference in Sunningdale, Berkshire. The Sunningdale agreement intended to make major decisions. This would be agreed by a Northern Ireland ‘power sharing executive’ that gave both Nationalists and unionists a say in the running of the country. They also agreed that a council of Ireland would be created that would bring together representatives from the republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. They would meet to discuss any issues of concern and to agree on appropriate action. The unionists did not want the Sunningdale agreement to succeed because they owned a lot more and would be forced to share more with the Nationalists. The IRA also didn’t want it because they would be out of a job. The power sharing agreement failed because the unionist communities led to a general strike, lasting two weeks. The strike led to road blocks, demonstration and power cuts across Northern Ireland.

Between 1980 and 1985 Prime minister of England; Margret Thatcher met with the prime minister of Ireland Charles Haughey and later Garrett Fitzgerald. To form The Anglo Irish Agreement. The agreement aimed to make close co-operation between the countries and develop more laws. More regular inter government conferences were intended to be set up. The Irish government were to accept the legitimacy of the state of Northern Ireland and the British government were to accept the possibility of a united Ireland. The unionists of Northern Ireland did not want the Anglo Irish Agreement to work because they did not want a united Ireland. The agreement failed because the Unionists went on strike and encouraged protests. They went on strike for two years. As time goes on Britain and Southern Ireland start to have differences because London became frustrated with Dublin’s refusal to hand over wanted IRA suspects.

There have been attempts in my life duration which have been far more successful than those previously discussed. Between 1989 and 1993 representatives from all of Northern Ireland’s main political  parties began to discuss solutions to the problems. They came up with ‘The Downing Street Declaration.’ British prime minister John Major and Irish prime minister Albert Reynolds signed the Downing Street Declaration. The declaration meant that both London and Dublin should agree that it is for the people of Ireland alone, to bring about a United Ireland, if this be their wish. Both governments give full respect for the rights and identities of both traditions in Ireland. Cross party talks would be set up. But only those parties that were against violence could attend. Sinn Fein agrees to announce violence, this leads to the IRA calling a ceasefire which happened on 13th August 1994. The Loyalist preliminaries follow in October 1994. So therefore it is a step forward as it has stopped the IRA and Sinn Fein resorting to Violence.

The IRA ceasefire soon ends after 17 months, because they became frustrated with the British governments apparent lack of pace. But this all changed when the labour party win the general election in May of 1997. This affected the peace process as the new government immediately set about trying to put the peace process back into action. Unlike when John Major was in rule. Discussions continued month after month between party representatives. Both Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern involved themselves in the details to a remarkable degree. Finally, on Good Friday 1998, all the main parties - with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party announced an agreement. A power sharing government was formed with ministerial posts distributed according to party strength. The involvement of the parties depended on the maintenance of ceasefires and 'decommissioning' of paramilitary weapons. A copy of the agreement was delivered to every household in Northern Ireland, and in May 1998 the accord was approved by the north and south, even unionist voters gave their approval. The agreement stated:

1. The state of Northern Ireland was legitimate and would remain a part of the UK unless the majority of the Northern Irish people voted otherwise.

65334340. The Irish Republic would end its claim to be the rightful government of the Northern Ireland.

65334424. A new ‘Northern Ireland Assembly’ would take over control from Westminster, education, health, agriculture and law making.

65334508. The assembly would have 108 members appointed by proportional representation, to guarantee a full representation from all communities.

65334592. Human rights and equality would be guaranteed.

65334676. All parties agreed to use their influence to bring about decommissioning of weapon within two years.  

Two architects of the agreement, David Trimble and John Hume, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Northern assembly met for the first time on the 2nd December 1998 this was due to the continuation of punishment beatings and failure of the IRA to decommission weapons. The assembly was suspended but was joined again on the 5th June 1999. It was suspended for this period of time due to concerns that the IRA was not decommissioning their weapons at a rapid enough pace. By May 2001 it was seen by many unionists again that the IRA were still not decommissioning so talk of suspending the assembly began again by David Trimble (UUP Leader). Meanwhile the IRA were carrying out murders and bombings in an effort to disrupt the peace process because they felt that the British government had failed to keep the promises made in the Good Friday Agreement. On October 31st the Northern Ireland assembly was suspended and direct control was reintroduced because of allegations that the IRA had a spy ring at the heart of the Northern Ireland government, and there were still hints that the decommissioning of weapons was not going as well as first promised by Sinn Fein. By November 20th 2002 all parties were invited to attend talks to revive the assembly, by Paul Murphy the Northern Ireland secretary. Elections to the Northern Ireland are still scheduled May 2003, even though the body has been suspended by London and Direct Rule has been re-imposed. So far the Good Friday agreement has had many hold ups mainly due to not having the IRA’s full co-operation as they failed to decommission weapons quickly enough and continually started and stopped ceasefires. With their patience this agreement will have been the best one yet.

Question 4: The Conclusion.

The future for Northern Ireland is still very unpredictable. This is largely based on weapons decommissioning. In 2001 it was confirmed that the IRA had not attempted to remove weapons from their arms dumps and therefore were keeping to their ceasefire agreement. Whilst the general ceasefire has held since 1998, peace and normality in Northern Ireland are threatened by the existence of splinter groups. The key parliamentary groups like the IRA, UVF and UDA all eventually agree to ceasefire. However some individual people from these organisations refused this and set up other private groups. I feel that Northern Irelands future rests on whether a sustained period of economic, political and social stability can be maintained. However Northern Ireland still face a large variety of problems since the Good Friday agreement was signed:

1. The orange Order still marches through Catholic areas in Northern Ireland.

65334760. The IRA will not decommission their weapons so more groups form such as ‘continually IRA’ and the ‘Real IRA.’

65334844. Talks are continually happening as a peace process is being tried to get moving again.

The Northern Irish problem is unlikely to come from within itself. The opposing viewpoints and strong feelings held will cloud any issue and hinder the implementation of any agreed solution, or even the likelihood of a solution being agreed. An intractable internal problem cannot be resolved by an internal solution. Any internal solution will necessarily lead to the fulfilment of one group’s aims at the expense of the other, or to a fudged compromise hated by both. A real and lasting solution must come from outside the problem, reflecting the input of new ideas and the development of a new future. Despite all these problems in Northern Ireland progress has been made finding a peaceful solution as the Major groups are still holding ceasefire. All of these stated problems do need to be overcome before a lasting peace can be achieved.