The politicians’ justification for having a parliament of the Protestant majority was that there was infact a protestant majority in Northern Ireland. They didn’t feel that it was right for the Catholics to have an equal amount of Catholics seat in the parliament, as there was a minority of Catholics in the country. Politicians easily argued that the Protestants worked harder and they certainly deserved to have a government in their favour, or a government with a protestant majority (Democrat). The Catholics were basically seen a group of people working against the protestants attempt of unionism. As far as the Protestants could see, that Catholics were the enemy going against the Protestants beliefs and therefore they did not deserve anyone to represent them.
The main reason given by the politicians about the differences in the economy between Catholics and Protestants was that the Catholics were disadvantaged in the Protestants economy in Northern Ireland. This meant that the problem had to be tackled from the source i.e., from education. As the majority of the economy in Northern Ireland was Protestants that meant that the people were working under Protestants views. As the views were based on their upbringing, they had more chance fitting in and understanding in their jobs. An argument presented by the politicians was, why should the protestant give jobs to the people who weren’t interested in making a stronger economy for Britain, but was only thinking of their welfare they did not see why they had to help or give jobs to the Catholics who were loyal to the pope, Rome and the Republic of Ireland. Another reason given was that most jobs were family business i.e., protestant family business. The Protestants felt that rather than giving the Catholics jobs, they could easily give it to their family members or a fellow Protestants. However this was not always the case. There were some Protestants who believed that the Catholics did not deserve the treatment in the work place, yet they were unable to do anything about it. This was because loyalists made sure that anyone who helped the enemy i.e., Catholics were seen as helping the enemy within. While everyone was blaming each other or making excuses for each other, the Protestants government never once accepted the blame themselves.
3. Why were British troops sent to Northern Ireland in August 1969?
The main reason the British troops were sent into to Northern Ireland in 1969 was due to the increase of violent attacks between the Protestants and the Catholics. This increased violence took place during the catholic marches i.e., civil rights marches and People’s democracy march. However there were many groups who could have been responsible for the damages, which resulted in the British troops being sent in. the groups thought to be responsible were the NICRA (Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association), RUC (Royalist Ulster Constabulary), the Unionist Government, Loyalists, People’s Democracy and the Irish government.
NICRA’s main concern was their civil rights campaign. It seems that the only part NICRA played in the arrival of the troops in Northern Ireland, was so that the troops could be protected, from the increasing violent behaviour of the loyalists. NICRA even showed calm and a peace, by stopping all the marches and campaign, when O’Neil promised them that his new reforms would give them equality in Northern Ireland. Yet it can be argued that some of NICRAs action could have provoked the loyalists. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Associations had support from many Protestants. However the leaders in NICRA were mainly Republican Nationalists, even though the Unionists were campaigning for the same things as the Catholics. The civil right campaigners may have been peaceful but they may have provoked the loyalists by exaggerating about their situation. The Catholics were complaining that they were being treated unfairly such as the poor housing conditions and low paid jobs. This angered the loyalist, as they believed that the some Protestants were treated the same way and they were in the same situations as the Catholics. The group also continued with their marches even when the government banned it, this could have easily been part of the reason why a fraction of the violence could be blamed on NICRA. However this could be argued that the only reason NICRA continued the march was because they were provoked. NICRA usually had a hard time trying to get their point across for their civil rights campaign as loyalists and some Protestants saw them as Republicans and not the civil rights campaigners.
When NICRA organised marches across Northern Ireland, the man who had the authority to ban these marches was William Craig, who was the Northern Ireland’s Unionist government’s Home Affairs Minister. Under the ‘Special Powers Act’, Craig could forbid marches. In October 1968, a civil rights march was to take place in Londonderry. The majority of the members were Catholics and believed to be part of the IRA. In spite of the ban on the demonstration entering Londonderry, the march went ahead. Then by the order of William Craig, the RUC where told to stop the march from entering Londonderry. This way an incredibly bad move for the Unionist government. The RUC (whose majority are loyalist Protestants) used violence to stop the peaceful march from entering Londonderry. BBC News cameras were at the scene to record the violent muddle. In some cases camera crews recorded the RUC beating a retreating civilians. This was not the only bad move made by the Unionist government. In November 1968, after the violence at Londonderry, the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, pressured the N.I. Prime Minister, Terence O’Neill, to do something to reduce discrimination. O’Neill then produced a package of reforms. The reforms would end gerrymandering, houses allocated on needs-related system and some of the Special Powers Act was removed. This however caused him to receive many criticisms from both the Catholics and the Protestants. Ian Paisley, a loyalist, accused him of betraying Protestants. O’Neill was a moderate politician, who found it extremely hard to deal with extremists. He received criticisms from both sides because the reform was too radical for the unionist critics but it wasn’t enough for the republicans. Even though O’Neill tried, he was unable to control N.I. and was unable to please anyone.
Some say that the People’s Democracy was partly to blame. They were fringe movement within NICRA and the members were mainly student socialist student. Their aim was to break truce between O’Neill and NICRA. They wanted to expose that the reforms were helping the nationalists, or the civil rights campaign. When the People’s Democracy marched into Londonderry, they were ambushed by loyalist mobs led by Ian Paisley. The peaceful protestors were yet again beaten and attacked by the loyalists. At both of the violent marches, the RUC were present in order to avoid confrontation. However, seeing as the majority of the RUC are loyalists, the RUC were no longer an impartial law enforcement group. Their actions were biased and violent. In the NICRA Londonderry March, the RUC were so determined to keep them out of Londonderry they beat retreating peaceful civilians. In the People’s Democracy March, the RUC failed to protect the unarmed peaceful campaigners and some even joined the loyalist mobs, and attacked the campaigners. As a result, the Catholics/ nationalists saw the RUC as the enemy. Many of the mobs that were harassing the Catholics were usually off duty RUC or B-Special officers. Since the RUC were undependable, and therefore the police lost control. As a result the head of the RUC asked army to ‘come to the assistance’. Therefore the RUC were to blame for the arrival of the British troops as they had lost control, and Northern Ireland didn’t seem to have any respectable law enforcement.
On the other hand the British government has to take some blame for this as well. Their actions were too little too late. They had allowed the discrimination among the Catholics and the Protestants i.e., gerrymandering, allocating houses to those who were Protestants only and not on needs related system. They had allowed the Catholics marches to be stopped but they did not stop Protestant marches to show that they were being fair to both sides. They allowed the N.I. government to treat the people unfairly. In addition, the British government forced O’Neill to produce a new package of reforms to decrease the discrimination in Northern Ireland. This only made the Catholics and Protestants lose their faith in O’Neill therefore he had lost control as well.
However out of all the groups mentioned, their common denominator was the Loyalists. Nearly every group were provoked by the loyalists or were part of the loyalist groups. They brought increasing fear among both Catholics and Protestants. They were the only group who were violent all the time and did not show calm at all. Some Protestants were on the Catholics side, helping them with their civil rights campaign, loyalists called them the enemy within, as they were seen as helping the enemy. The loyalists were so determined to get everyone against the Catholics; they targeted bombs at other Protestants so that the Protestants would think that the Catholics were responsible. They destabilised and increased tension when Ian paisley said that the IRA was in action again. This made all the Unionist MPs turn against O’Neill because they believed that the IRA were really in action again. As a result the British troops were sent in to prevent the IRA up rise. However, there was no IRA and Ian Paisley and the loyalists were responsible for spreading fear among the people. Therefore the main group, responsible for the arrival of the British troops were the loyalists.
The common denominator for all of the problems is the loyalist.
