Northern Ireland Assignment Section 1: How have groups within each community tried to achieve their aims between 1968 and the present day?

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Anna Glynn 11R2

Northern Ireland Assignment

Section 1: How have groups within each community tried to achieve their aims between 1968 and the present day?

The land mass that is known as Ireland is split into two parts. The North is aptly named Northern Ireland with the capital city Belfast. Northern Ireland is predominantly Protestant, being 2/3’s protestant and 1/3 catholic. It is made up of six counties, Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone. These counties are collectively known as Ulster. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. The Southern Region is known as the Republic of Ireland or the Irish Republic, its capital city is Dublin. The Irish Republic broke away from the British Rule in 1949 and now it is a totally separate country. In contrast to The North the south is predominately Catholic.

 The Northern Ireland conflict is between two parties which divide the Irish people into two communities of different, conflicting beliefs and ideals. There are the Ulster Protestants, those who reside in Northern Ireland and believe that it should stay part of the United Kingdom. They are proud of their status in the UK and of their history as a separate country, for example their triumphs over the Catholic South. The other party is the Republican/Nationalist party. Nationalists and Republicans are both Catholic groups who want a United Ireland, meaning that they believe that Northern Ireland should be under the rule of the Irish Republic government. The difference between the two parties is that Republicans believe that their aims of a United Ireland can be achieved through methods of violence and Nationalists believe that a United Ireland should only be attained by non-violent methods.

Both groups are equally passionate about their aims for the future of Northern Ireland. Between 1968 and the present day they  have used a number of different violent, peaceful, persuasive, threatening, and contentious methods to achieve their specific aims.

There were many different sub groups of the Republicans/Nationalists and the Loyalists. Some of the main ones were the Sinn Fein a Political Party who supports the militant campaigns to achieve a united Ireland. The Social Democratic & Labour Party (SLDP) who are a predominantly catholic political party who believe in achieving a United Ireland through non-violent, peaceful, democratic tactics. Then there is the IRA or Irish Republican Army. They have fought against the British since 1919. In December of 1969 they split into two groups; The Provisionals and Officials. The Officials moved away from violent methods. The Provisional IRA still believed violence was the correct way and subsequently played a major role in the Republican’s attempts to achieve a united Ireland. They became an infamous terrorist organisation who performed many acts of violence against the Unionists and the British Army. There was the DUP, Democratic Unionist Party and the OUP, Official Unionist Party which were the two main Unionist parties. The Orange Order is the largest protestant organisation in Northern Ireland and was formed in 1975 with the aim of protecting the Protestants. They hold marches in honour of the victory by William of Orange over the Catholics. The UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) and UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters) are two illegal paramilitary organisations who support the aims of the Unionists. The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the police force of Northern Ireland and was under Army Control from 1969-1977. Only 10% of the RUC was catholic. The Alliance Party was founded in 1970 and contains members both Unionist and Nationalist who want to bring the two communities together, peacefully. Throughout the troubles these groups tried many ways to achieve their separate aims.

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Unionists felt threatened by the Catholics of the south and feared that their country could once again come to be under the rule of the Republic. This led to discrimination of the Northern Irish Catholics and the aim to keep them from getting any power at all in Northern Ireland. Catholics were discriminated against in employment situations, they were treated as second class citizens when it came to housing and the worst discrimination arose when it came to local government issues.

The Protestants were afraid of Catholic rule so they did all they could to prevent it in Northern ...

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