Describe the disadvantages faced by the Catholics in Northern Ireland in the mid- 1960s.

to the Catholics that the Protestants were extremely prejudice. The Protestants and occasionally a few Catholics filled the majority of the posts that were occupied in County Councils. This was incredibly unfair as the council was for a county, which did not just consist of Protestants but Catholics as well, the Catholics needed to be heard by their council as well. This was very hard as there were hardly any Catholics. An example of this was in the county Fermanagh. The county council had 370 posts, 322 of which were filled by protestants and the rest Catholics, this was very unfair as more than half the population of Fermanagh was catholic. There were hardly any body representing the Catholics, so when new bills were being made the council barely had the interests of the Catholics in mind. They were not being heard. Second problem was an economical problem. Most new industries and investments that were brought to Northern Ireland to boost the economy, finished up in the hands of unionists. Many factories and shipyards mainly employed the Protestants and hardly any Catholics. Even when the Catholics did have a job, it was very rare for the Catholics to be promoted in their jobs. Unemployment rate increased a lot in the 1960s and the figures for the Catholics were slightly higher than Protestants. Unemployment meant that the government had to set up ‘The Housing Act’ to help people who were homeless. There were many long waiting lists for houses, however two thirds of the houses built by the local authorities, many of the homeless Catholics were more less fortunate than most of the protestants however they were given priority. (This was also because the Catholics were allowed to vote in the elections and to reduce their votes the council made sure that they did not become householders.) In June 1968, Austin Currie, who was a catholic and a nationalist started a sit in when a 19 yr old protestant girl was allocated a council house. Austin Currie was frustrated with the council’s decision of not putting a catholic family with children in the house. This was one of the first steps for the Catholics in the fight for civil rights. Protestants were not the only group acting against the Catholics. The British government sent in British troops to ease the rift between the Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland. At first the Catholics were pleased with the troops being sent in but soon their view and the troops attitude changed. At the beginning, the army were unbiased and fair towards the Catholics, however soon after they started setting the catholic people curfews and banned any one from socialising after certain times. In conclusion, the Catholics in northern Ireland ended up with no civil rights and were treated unfairly by the unionist/ protestants.                                                                                                               Saori Yoshimoto 碧綠色的兔子       酒井法子 Noriko Sakai socially, economically &politically