This partition brought great fear to the majority of Unionists. Street fighting began because both Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Unionists were living together in the north. Apart from the obvious fear of being shot or ultimately dying in the street fighting (just as 453 other people did), for the Unionists there was a greatened fear about the Catholics in their area and the links with the south. The ‘enemy’ as it were was living amongst them – anything could have happened at any given time.
The Unionists knew that they were in the minority of land – this by itself, was not a problem. However, they also knew that the more land the south had, the more power they had. This scared the Unionist people.
In the Catholic Church, Emmon de Valera made the rules. He began to make new laws in the Irish Free State that affected the daily life of everyone in the south. The laws were rather harsh and a few of them seemed unnecessary. Divorce was outlawed, contraception could only be given by a doctor to married couples and bishops stopped the health care for mothers and babies. More laws were made like this and the fears of the Unionists grew. They knew that the same laws would apply to themselves if they were part of a United Ireland – this petrified them. Also, as one of the rules, non-Catholic schools had no government funding and had to raise their own money. The Unionists in the north knew they would struggle to keep all their schools going if their government funding was stopped. The horror of becoming a united Ireland was becoming stronger to the Unionists.
In the 1950’sthe Nationalists in the north began to get on with the Unionists. It was a huge turning point because as they began to believe they could live and work together. The Unionists fear of the south and the Republicans was put on hold.
However, in 1967 the Catholics set up a civil rights movement because the Unionist government had promised fair treatment, but nothing prevailed. The Protestant marches then ended in violence again between the Catholics and Protestants. The hopes for a peaceful solution had disintegrated. The fear has risen again in the Unionists.
However, this fear was slightly lifted by the introduction of new reforms, such as houses were allocated more fairly and Gerrymandering was stopped. These reforms failed, as did the Internment where suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without trial.
Britain realised that if any kind of peace were to be formed, it would have to be based on a compromise with the Catholic Nationalists so the Northern Ireland government was suspended and Northern Ireland was ruled directly from London. They arranged for a ceasefire and peace talks began in secrete but demands were high and the talks soon ended. They began to look for another solution and came up with the power-sharing executive, meaning Unionists and Catholics were made to share places in the government. This made the Unionists unhappy because they were the majority of people in Northern Ireland, but the minority (Catholics) were having an equal amount of say in the government. As the Unionists opposed this sharing the government, it failed after only 5 months. They were scared of power sharing with the Catholics because they knew that the Catholics could introduce their laws to the Protestant Unionists.
The leaders from the British government and from the Republic decided that conflict in the north couldn’t be solved unless a peace plan was made. In 1985 the ‘Anglo-Irish Agreement’ was signed by the British and Republic. This means a joint committee was set up by the governments to decide matters such as justice and laws in the north.
Although the Unionists has claimed the interference of the north in their government since the partition in 1921, the British were allowing the government of the Republic to have a say in the running of the north. This did not go down well with the Unionists, as the south officially could have a say in their government and the running of their country.
Talks in the 1990’s prevailed in the ‘Downing Street Declaration’. It planned to achieve cooperation between the UK and he Irish Republic by limiting terrorism and working together for peace. It also was unpopular with the Unionists because it gave Dublin a greater voce in the conduct of Northern Ireland.
The Unionists saw the Anglo-Irish Agreement as the end of the Union. Britain tried to reassure the Unionists but this went against the need to defend the agreement from critics or the Republic. Disagreement to the agreement came from traditional Nationalists, or Republicans in both parts of Ireland, and most passionately the population of Northern Ireland with the Unionists politicians. . The Agreement fell short of their political demands for a united Ireland. Both the British and Republican governments underestimated the strength of resistance from the Unionists. Many protests were arranged and protest speeches given from Ian paisley (leader of the DUP) and James Molyneuax (leader of the UUP). Again, all Unionist disagreement and fear rooted from the idea of being ruled by the south.
In the 1880’s the Catholic Church made Sinn Fein look for a peaceful settlement. The SDLP and Sinn Fein began to find a way forward by starting peace talks. The British government said that peace could only be accomplished if all political parties were involved, and so the Northern Ireland secretary (Peter Brooke) tried to involve the IRA and Sinn Fein in the talks. Peter Brooke said at this time that Northern Ireland held no strategic or economic value to Britain. This scared the Unionists because if they held no value to Britain, then the British government may decide to ‘hand over’ the north as it were – to let the Nationalists have a united Ireland. This is exactly what the Unionists feared (again because of the Catholic ruling that would apply to them etc.)
Both sides showed motivation in finding a peaceful solution through the Downing Street Declaration. In April 1994, the IRA declared a ceasefire in response but refused to disarm. This was both good and bad for the Unionists. They wanted the shooting to stop, and it had, but the IRA still had their weapons and could call and end to the ceasefire at any time. Due to impatience and the fact that the talks were going so slowly, the IRA did end the ceasefire in February 1996. Sinn Fein was then expelled from the peace talks, however in July the IRA called another ceasefire and Sinn Fein was re-admitted into the talks. The Unionists then demanded that the IRA be disarmed if they were serious about the peace talks. The Unionists were showing fear because they knew that if the ceasefire came to an end again, more people were going to be killed. The IRA believed their weapons were their power and, if were excluded from the talks again, they would have no means by which to re-enter them – they refused to disarm.
The Unionists then started to accuse the IRA of killing people and dumping their bodies in ditches – for this the Unionists believed that the IRA shouldn’t have been included in the talks in the first place. However, the Unionists were forgetting that they had also killed people and 3 months into the talks and not even an agenda was established.
In a high security prison in Ireland a Loyalist terrorist was shot dead in 1997. This shooting was the influence of the IRA and proved that even with high security, people were not safe. This scared the Unionists. They realised that if guns couldn’t be found in high security prisons, it would be a lot harder to be safe outside, with no security.
In the talks, the Unionists demanded their own parliament (Stormont) but Sinn Fein was against this idea and wanted a whole parliament where Dublin could still have a say in the running of Northern Ireland. Again, this is exactly what the Unionists feared and did not want a Catholic ruling over their Protestant majority in Northern Ireland.
The Irish government were dissatisfied with the offers Britain had given in the talks, and Unionists were irate when a document was drawn up with Tony Blair and Southern Ireland so that the Republic could help rule Northern Ireland. The Unionists felt betrayed by Britain because they were supposed to be on Northern Ireland’s side. The Unionists wanted the south to have no power over them at all. However, after re-negotiations, the south had some power, but less than before and the Unionists felt victorious.
The IRA said they would surrender their weapons slowly so the Unionists just had to accept that they were telling the truth. This was a risk for the Unionists and people doubted whether the IRA would do as they had promised. The Unionists wanted reassurance from Britain due to the fact that Sinn Fein joined the peace talks without surrendering any weapons. This need for reassurance show a hint of fear in the Unionists.
Shortly after, the Good Friday Agreement was signed on the 10th April 1998. Even though all parties signed the agreement, the Unionists may still have feared the agreement on letting out prisoners and ex-terrorists. However, this agreement signalised for a new beginning as written on page 1 of the Good Friday document. (Highlighted in the booklet).
Very simply, the Unionists believed (and still believe) in the union of Ireland and the UK. This means for them, they are almost another English country. Although they would have some power over their own affairs, the British parliament in London would have the final control. This, they believe would protect their interests in Ireland against the Catholic majority in the country. All the events since 1921 and with all the legislation passed, much of it shows two things: it allows for the weakening of United Kingdom control over Ireland, and is moving towards more influence for the Catholics in Ireland. The two things the Unionists do not want.
