The short term causes of the conflict began in 1920. In 1921 Ireland was partitioned against the wishes of the Irish catholic population. Since then, Catholics have found it more difficult to live, and get jobs than Protestants do in Northern Ireland. Since 1921 the Protestants have wanted to stay part of Great Britain, whereas Catholics have wanted Northern Ireland to be re-united with Eire, the Irish Republic. After 1921 the majority of police (80%) in Northern Ireland were Protestants. Catholics were not treated fairly- even today the R.U.C is almost totally Protestant.
After the war it was decided in 1921 to partition Ireland into two parts. This was due to please the Protestants who threatened civil war if Britain gave Ireland its independence. The government of Ireland act allowed six out of nine countries of Ulster to remain part of Britain and to have their own parliament in Belfast. As a result the remaining and largely catholic 26 countries were granted self-government and were called the Irish Free State. A civil war resulted as angry catholic nationalists fought against the British army in their quest for freedom for all 32 countries as elections in the form of referendum were promised throughout the 32 countries but were never held.
Since then, an angry and frustrated minority of the Catholics living in Northern Ireland have suffered from discrimination and abuse by the Northern Ireland parliament dominated by the Protestants. Some tried to use terrorism to try to persuade the British to get out of Northern Ireland.
In 1968 the catholic population inspired by USA civil rights movement, began a campaign for better treatment for Catholics. Protestants retaliated by burning down catholic houses. Furthermore, Catholics and Protestants cannot agree on the best future political solution. Most Catholics would like a united Ireland, but most Protestants hate the idea of re-uniting.
From 1969 onwards, extremist paramilitary groups fought the civil war against each other in Northern Ireland. The British army was sent in to try to keep the peace but it failed to do so. During the “troubles” from 1969 – 1996 when ceasefires were agreed over 3,200 people were killed. Since then, there have been many years of uneasy peace in Northern Ireland. Most of the paramilitary groups have agreed to stop fighting each other.
These troubles have continued to breed distrust, suspicion and violence amongst Catholics and Protestants and therefore are short term causes of the conflict.
On Good Friday, 1998 the “Good Friday Agreement” was signed by all the major political parties in Northern Ireland. It was a commitment to try to find a Peaceful solution to the troubles. It created a new power sharing assembly, which makes its decisions about the internal affairs of Northern Ireland for example schools, housing, police and social policies. In December 2002 the assembly was suspended because of the IRA delays in decommissioning. At the beginning of 2003 there was no Assembly for Northern Ireland and control was being exercised by the Minister of state for Northern Ireland and the government in London. The assembly plan to continue their work in Belfast as soon as the political parties such as Sinn Fein persuade the IRA to hand over some of its weapons. In 2005 the IRA agreed decommissioning.
There are many issues which divide the two communities. Some of these issues are religious issues, for example during the Reformation of the 16th century Britain became Protestant while Ireland remained Catholic. In the 17th Century British settlers brought the Protestant religion to Ireland. Some Ulster Protestants believe today, as their ancestors and in the 17th century, that the Catholic Church is a wicked organisation that wants to take over the rest of the world. Furthermore, the protestant preachers, like Paisley, are the latest in a long line of clergymen who have mixed religion and politics. He says that the Protestant way of life will be threatened in a United Ireland. Ever since 1922 the Dublin government have tried really hard not to pass laws that Catholic priests disliked. Divorce is illegal in the Republic. Many Protestants resent this and fear similar catholic laws in a united Ireland. The churches have great power over education in both parts of Ireland.
Many of the factors that have caused the conflict are long term. For example, the Penal laws discriminated against the Catholics. The laws meant that Catholics were denied land and jobs so consequently they were in a worse financial situation that the protestants. It is hardly surprising that this led to conflict. We can still see this discrimination today in terms of housing and employment. All areas in Northern Ireland are segregated, mostly using “peace lines”. Moreover, Catholics found it more difficult to get decent council houses from the unionist councils from 1921 until 1969. Each usually has its own shops, schools and other services. There is often no reason ever to visit the other side’s district. The British have built many “peace lines” in Belfast between Catholic and Protestant areas to stop fighting and attacks. This physical division still exists and therefore this is a short term factor of the conflict.
Catholic students and Protestant students attend separate schools due to their religion. In school, Catholic children are taught the Irish language but Protestant children are not. Moreover, sports such as cricket are taught only in Protestant schools, and Gaelic sports are taught only in Catholic schools. There is also a lot of discrimination for job applications as adults can be labelled as Catholic or protestant by finding out what schools they went to. The churches refused to accept the idea of mixed schooling. However, in 1981 parents set up a few mixed schools across Northern Ireland, with an attempt to show both religions can live in racial harmony. This division causes children to develop prejudices against each other.
There has been conflict in Ireland for a very long time. I believe the most important cause for this conflict was the partition of Ireland. This is because the conflict continues as the Catholics wish for Ireland to be re-united once again whereas Protestants wish to remain as part of the United Kingdom. I feel this is the most important cause as everything else has built up from this point, F or example the short term causes such as segregation in schools and housing areas. I believe the partition is the most important cause of the conflict as the division of the country has resulted in Catholics and Protestants to hate each other, and this hatred is being passed down through the generations. In my opinion, religious differences and different beliefs also have a part to do with there still being conflict in Ireland. This is because Protestants believe is it sensible to stay united with the United Kingdom where as Catholics believe it is right to be as one with themselves, a re-united Ireland, separate to the United Kingdom.
The situation in Ireland is improving, although there still remain some areas still in conflict. The paramilitary ceasefires are still holding, however, British soldiers are still in Northern Ireland and distrust and suspicion still exists. The majority of people wish for peace and want to end the conflict, whereas almost all schools are still segregated. The re-occurring short term causes such as segregation mean the conflict continues in Belfast.
Furthermore, the paramilitary groups have not yet decommissioned or destroyed all their weapons. All relations between Catholics and Protestants outside of Belfast however, are improving slowly, whereas relations in Belfast are getting worse. More and more people are now living in segregated housing estates. The daily telegraph, written on 4th January 2002 by Charles Clover states “new figures show that relations between Catholics and Protestants have got worse since the 1998 Good Friday agreement was signed…” Since the signing of the Good Friday agreement in 1998 there have been 15 new “peace lines” erected or modified around Ireland making the Roman Catholic and protestant communities even more entrenched. Even now more walls are being built to keep the two sides, Catholics and Protestants, apart, however, the peace lines seem to be proving very affective as there are now fewer deaths and injuries and the bombings have stopped. They have used these “peace lines” as a superficial remedy for the conflict. Although the first article states that relations have become worse, other sources such as the second newspaper article show that the situation is better as there is not much violence left and relations are getting better. On the other hand, it also states that the barriers are not only separating the two communities completely, it is also starting to build up a barrier inside peoples minds, separating them from any belief that the two communities could unite.
The two articles differ in many ways. Article one, which was written on January 4th 2002 by Charles Clover for the Daily Telegraph, comments that the situation is getting worse, rather than improving whereas article two comments that the situation is getting better as peace lines are going up, segregating the communities, therefore conflict between the two communities is coming to an end.
The first article talks about Belfast becoming a more “unfriendly” place. It also states that Belfast is “more divided between Catholics and Protestants that before the terrorists declared their cease fire 7 years ago in 1994, when the peace process began”. This shows that the peace lines are not such a good idea, as relations between the two communities are getting worse. The article explains that statistics show that the situation in Northern Ireland is getting worse, rather that getting better between the Catholics and Protestants since the 1998 Good Friday agreement was signed.
The second article talks about the partition of the two communities, the segregation using peace lines. This article also states that the peace lines were a bad idea. The peace lines prove to have worked to stop the violence, yet the segregation and hatred between the two communities still continues. Tommy Kirkham, a spokesman for a political group representing the loyalist Ulster Defence Association said “they are easy to put up but very, very hard to take down. It’s not just the wall but the barriers in people’s minds because people have been separated and segregated from birth here. But I do hope they come down at some point in the future.” This speech that Tommy made to the newspaper reporters shows that it isn’t just the peace lines that segregate the two communities, it is also the mental barriers, the beliefs that they have been brought up with since birth that separates them. Both articles agree that the peace lines and segregation within the two communities in Ireland is not a good idea and is holding the two communities apart, away from any sort of peace arrangement.
My conclusion therefore, is that the situation in Ireland is improving as the violence and conflict is coming to a halt, yet the relations between the Catholics and protestants are getting worse which shows that conditions are only slightly better, and are only just beginning to improve, but also, whilst improving violence, the changes maybe scarring peoples minds against the opposite community. I feel that the only solution to the segregation is education. If young children are taught not to hate the other community in school, and more mixed schools are built in Ireland, the hatred may begin to die down through the next generation, as young children will be learning to get along with other people from the opposite community, which, in my opinion, will lead to racial harmony in both communities, and through the whole of Ireland.
