Catholics objected to English rule but Protestant settlers from England and Scotland were beginning to settle. This was to prevent any or too much rebellion from the Catholics and, as mentioned before, to also act as front line of defence in case of an invasion from France or Spain. Where they settled was called Ulster, the North East of Ireland. The settling of the Protestants caused up roar, the best land and homes were being taken from the Irish Catholics and given to the Protestants. This eventually led to the rebellion in 1641, which was savagely put down Oliver Cromwell and his devoted English Protestant army.
1969 and things in Northern Ireland had become more hostile and segregated then ever. In 1900 Ireland was separated into North and South Ireland or Ulster and Eire. The South of Ireland became an independent state with its own Government based in Dublin, but the North belonging to England. The South is dominated by Catholics, but the land in question, has 1 million Protestants and only 600,000 Catholics. In general the Protestants want to stay British but the Catholics want a United Ireland. Those fighting for a united Ireland are called Republicans and those who are loyal to England and want to keep the ties with Great Britain are called Unionists or Loyalists.
With the majority of people being Protestant a large number of high ranking job positions belong to Protestant, which means all decisions, regarding things like who gets the best jobs and housing always leans in the favour of Protestant. Catholics with large families would be given smaller houses than Protestants with smaller families. Since 1921 Catholics have found it much more difficult to get jobs in Northern Ireland. Catholics were only allowed one vote while Protestants got two which ensured Protestants always had the majority of power. These voting systems lead to more conflict when peaceful Catholic rioting turned violent. Neither side will accept responsibility for who shot first.
Both sides say that the armed forces were in favour of the other side. However after 1921 the whole of the Police force was Protestants and even today the R.U.C is almost totally Protestant. The poor attitude to Catholics and the non-progressive situation in relation to a United Ireland lead to the formation of the IRA, the Irish Republican Army.
In Belfast people are obviously upset and disgruntled from all of the violence. Yet never have they been exposed to any other way of living. They have been enclosed in a world of bias, destruction and death. I do not think that causes of the troubles in Ireland are because people are naturally sour about what happened hundreds of years ago. I think that it is because people in Northern Ireland are too afraid to wish for a different way of life because of the amount of pressure there elders put on them to hate the people who have a different opinion to themselves. I think that the pressure and upbringing from the same sides of the groups is what leads to the violence and hate. Division in Belfast makes it easy to blame one group or another, without knowing them, when in fact there is very little difference between the two groups’ opinions. Both groups fail to compromise and blame each other for there losses and there quality of living. They both think that things work in favour for the ‘opponents.’
In 1921 the Irish Republican Army started there campaign, after the segregation of Ireland in 1920 against the Catholics wishes. There aims were to use methods of violence to get a United Ireland. In 1968 there was a civil campaign started to improve situation in Northern Ireland, but Protestant groups retaliated by burning down Catholic homes. During the ‘troubles’ between 1969 and 1996 over 3,200 people were killed. By 1969 a new civil war in Ireland begun between Protestants and Catholic communities. The secretarial violence lasted between 1969 until 1996 when the IRA called a ceasefire. In 1998 the Good Friday agreement was signed and ever since there has been a peace protest. In September 2005 the IRA decommissioned all of its weapons.
Despite the good progression the people in Northern Ireland today are now more divided than ever. They have little contact with each other and after the positive Cease fire 7 years ago there has been very little violence in Northern Ireland. Distrust and conflict still exist in the community but evidence suggests that more people than ever are now beginning to exploit the fact that they want peace and an end to the conflict.
Evidence shows that both sides in Belfast ‘see themselves as victims, but are unable to understand that the other side also at some point in history been a victim.’ This was taken from a news paper report from the Daily telegraph in January 2002. It suggests that the situation in Belfast has not in fact improved since the Good Friday agreement, but instead there is more of a division and there has been no reduction what so ever in the amount of mistrust and sectarian hatred in Belfast. Another report projects the division in Ireland and again suggests there has been no improvement in people attitudes, but instead the ‘peace lines’ has created a very effective divide and reduced violence.
After studying a number of resources it would seem that in order to improve the situation in Northern Ireland, then you will have to know down the ‘peace walls’ and have both groups meet, under supervised situation. If this were not to work then there would have to be a complete divide between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, with only Protestants in the North and Catholics in the South.
Generally I think that the people in Northern Ireland have been divided so much that conflict today would now seem pointless and almost impossible. People seem to have given up on political issues in groups and are now instead focusing on independent ways they can improve there lives. Catholics seem to have a fairer way of life which suggests that government is doing there best to reach solutions which are logical and fair.
