Another common belief that the Unionist and Loyalists share is that they do not place their trust in the British government. They know that the North of Ireland is a large drain on the British purse strings, and that this is probably the main reason why Britain would retreat from the North of Ireland for it to become a one nation Ireland, or as the Nationalists call it ‘A United Ireland’.
This belief keeps the community on guard to protect their Britishness and makes them determined that partitions must be maintained. Many Unionist have attempted to maintain this union with Britain through negotiation and peaceful means, these groups include the U.U.P and the D.U.P. Loyalist groups have used physical force such as bombings and murder to try and maintain their Britishness. Groups such as the U.F.F, the U.V.F, the L.V.F and the U.D.A claim justification for their actions using the claims that they are not only protecting the state of Northern Ireland but also their own Britishness.
Nationalists/Republicans are mainly from the Catholic community. They are united in their belief that partition (the dividing of Ireland) is wrong. This group believe themselves to be Irish and maintain this through practicing Irish culture like Irish dancing and music and Gaelic games; you will usually find Gaelic sports halls in all nationalist in Northern Ireland. Moreover, many within this community try to maintain the Irish language and evidence for this can be seen in the boost of Irish language schools all over the province within the last ten years.
Although Nationalist and Republicans share this common belief that partition should be eliminated they believe in different ways of brining about the reunification of Ireland. Nationalists believe they can bring this about through negotiations and consent. However they understand, that consent is the key and that the Unionist’s cannot be forced in to the idea of a United Ireland Nationalists have had some great level headed ‘Civil Rights’ politicians such as John Hume and Seamus Mallon and Mark Durkan of the S.D.L.P. These highly respected politicians have spent the last thirty years trying to achieve a political settlement peacefully. They condemn the use of violence shown by the Republican movement. The majority of their aims have been achieved via the Good Friday agreement in 1998. It established the idea of a power sharing executive and a movement towards equality for Nationalists in the North of Ireland.
However on the other hand Republicans until the Good Friday Agreement believed their war against Britain was the only way of achieving their aims. This attitude was difficult to change as republicans have a long history of physical force going back to the United Irishmen in 1798, the Irish Republican brotherhood in 1867 and the most famous was the Easter Rising in 1916.
When partition was established in the Anglo Irish treaty of 1921 the Irish Republican Army swore to fight until Ireland was reunited. However, their campaigns failed in the 40’s and 50’s. Yet with the arrival of the British Army the ‘troubles’ began in 1969 and the I.R.A saw this as their opportunity to use military tactics to force British out of Northern Ireland.
Groups such as the I.R.A and the I.N.L.A spent twenty-four years killing British soldiers, members of the police force and civilians to get a United Ireland. Eventually Republican leaders such as Gerry Adams realized that the ending of military action in 1884 and beginning of negotiations was the best step forward. They were encouraged into taking part in the Good Friday agreement after success at the Westminster elections.
Some Republicans believe that Sinn Fein have betrayed them and sold them out to the British, these groups are called the real I.R.A and the continuity I.R.A. They have continued the armed struggle. However, they have been responsible for the single worse atrocity against civilians in recent times. This happened in Omagh when 30 civilians were killed in 1998.
In conclusion the majority of Republicans and Nationalists still share the hope that Ireland will be united. However the greatest change is that both now believe this can only be obtained through agreement with unionists.