When Northern Irelandis refereed to in the newspapers and on television, there is usually a reference to 'the two communities.' What are these two communities and how do they differ in their attitudes and believes?

Northern Ireland Coursework

Peter Rodgers 11PY

When Northern Ireland is refereed to in the newspapers and on television, there is usually a reference to ‘the two communities.’ What are these two communities and how do they differ in their attitudes and believes?

There has been disagreement in Northern Ireland for a long time, and there hasn’t yet been a suitable solution found. The two main groups in the conflict are the Unionists and the Nationalists. The Nationalists want Ireland to be a whole and not segregated. The Unionists are in support of the United Kingdoms part of Ireland. The Unionists are mostly Protestant and the nationalists are mostly Catholic, although this isn’t a strict rule. Sinn Fein with Gerry Adams is the main nationalist political party; they are closely linked with a paramilitary organisation called the IRA (Irish Republican Army). The IRA and INLA (Irish National Liberation Army) both belief the way to get attention is by force. These paramilitary organisations are Nationalist freedom fighters, but Unionist terrorists.

The UUP (Ulster Unionist Party) is the main party in Northern Ireland they are totally committed to peaceful political methods. There is also the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) they are a more hard-line political party. Among the many groups there are the Nationalist paramilitary organisations and there are Unionist paramilitary organisations. The UDA (Ulster Defence Association) and the UUF (Ulster Volunteer Force) are both unionist paramilitary organisations, within these groups splinter organisations such as the UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters) are like the nationalist forces, they use force for attention.

The Nationalists and Unionists have disagreements in own views. The ...