Secondly, on the factor on the discrimination in the education system, this also led to the conflict as the young were taught to hate each other. The Protestants go to public schools that are government funded that cater for protestants only while the catholics go to private school that are partly winded by the government that cater for Catholics only. Private individuals have set up mixed schools that cater for both protestants and catholics but were not popular. The difference between the Protestants and the catholics are perpetuated because the protestant children british history and british sports such as rugby , hockey,cricket and are very loyal to britain. Meagwule, the catholic children were taught Irish history, play Irish sports like hurling, taught Irish language and culture and regard Britain as a foreign country. In mixed schools, although the subjects cater to both protestants and the catholics, they were highly unpopular. The education system deepened the rift between the Catholics and the protestants. There is an ethnic boundary marker which can be seen in the education system. This shows that the protestant and the catholic children rarely meet or get to know each other. There is social segregation which led to the conflict. Such a segregated educating system peperpetuates the differences, tells a distorted history and breeds fear and ignorance. Generations of children grow up to be distrustful of each other and hence more hostility. This will cause a major conflict as it started and bred from young. It is important as without this factor, the hatred would not have been so intense. Therefore, this is a major contributing factor to the conflict in northern ireland.
Thirdly, about the factor on the competition for jobs, this also contributed to the conflict in northern ireland as Catholics were foging with the Protestants over the jobs. The Catholics feel that they do not have an equal chance of getting the jobs that they want, even if they're as qualified as the Protestants. Its generally more difficult for the Catholics in Northern Ireland to find jobs, especially government jobs. In the 1960s, the highest-ranking Catholic in the education department in Londenderry, an area with a Catholic majority, was the official in charge of school meals. In the 1971 population survey, the Catholic males were 2and a half times more likely to be jobless than Protestants males. The number of Catholic engineers and civil servants was less than the proportionate numbers in Northern Ireland. There were also fewer Catholics in the senior positions in the public and private sectors. This shows that even though the Protestant working class were mostly of the same qualifications as the Catholics, the Protestants had a lot of political resources and had a better situation in the community of Northern Ireland. This eventually caused the Catholics to think that the government northern Ireland was biased and tensions were raised even further as a result of this. Conflict then ensued over a period of time, with people uprising on the issue of unemployment in the Catholic community. To sum this factor up, it was also important as without it, conflict would have been much less if the Catholics had their jobs and a stable income.
Based on the criteria of underlying basis , I feel that the most important reason leading to the Northern Ireland conflict is divided loyalties to different countries. At first, the Protestants' and the Catholics' divided loyalties caused them to have a invisible boundary marker between which led to rifts and discrimination of the other party. Furthermore, as they remain intolerant of each other, different rules and implementations would be put down to show the obvious difference between the rights and expectations of both the Protestants and the Catholics. As both had different opinions of each other due to their divided loyalties, the children of both parties were led to be cut off from each other, leading to a discrimination in the education system, which in turn makes a continuous cycle of hatred and discrimination toward both parties in Northern Ireland. If there had not been any divided loyalties, there would not be any hatred and this would not have led a discrimination in the education system. Both Protestant and Catholic children would have been playing and schooling together because there was no boundary marker. However, this is not the case. Moreover, this divided loyalty led to rules and expectations for the opposing party. In this case, it was in the expectations for jobs. Religion was a core factor in having a job and as the Protestants composed most of the seats in the Northern Ireland government, the Protestants were biased and let more of the Protestants occupy the jobs and positions in society. Divided loyalties was the main cause for hatred and discrimination between Protestants and Catholics and this led to redness and the Catholics were eventually pushed out from the job because of opposing religions. Therefore, as divided loyalties was the root behind the discrimination in the education system and the competition for jobs, it is the most important reason as it is the underlying basis for the discrimination in education system and the competition for jobs to build up and expand on. Without, divided loyalties between the Protestants and Catholics, the discrimination in the education system and the competition from jobs would not have been made possible.
Therefore, as seen from the weighing of factors, divided loyalties is the most important reason out of the three that were explained. In conclusion, loyalty to different countries made the Protestant and Catholics dislike each other, causing discrimination and contributing to the conflict in Northern Ireland.