The Northern Ireland Dilemma- A New Solution?

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The Northern Ireland Dilemma– A New Solution?

The Problem

Northern Ireland is a very strange place. It exists as a disputed territory between Britain and Ireland, and has done for around 70 years. The population of the province can be pictured in the simplest terms as a dichotomy, two mutually exclusive viewpoints held by two groups of equally belligerent people, confident in the essential truth of their particular beliefs.

One of these groups of people, lets call them unionists, wish to maintain the Union of Northern Ireland with Great Britain. They are mostly protestant and have been the ruling force in Northern Ireland since it’s creation. They have generally been oppressive, given to majority rule (understandable, as they for the majority…) and terrified of an uprising of belief in a United Ireland.

The other groups can be broadly classified as nationalists. They tend to be in the Catholic minority and would prefer to sever links with Britain (whom they see, with some justification, as an oppressive occupying force) and form a United Ireland. Historically they have been under-represented in government and would therefore prefer to see a system of proportional representation introduced.

The relationship between the two communities varies from mutually antagonistic to co-operative acceptance, depending on recent events and of course on the situations involved. However, it cannot be denied that the future outcomes envisioned by each group are irreconcilable, limiting the ability of a resolution to satisfy everyone involved.

Current Solutions

The current solutions that have been developed are merely the logical end points of the two schools of thought. From this we therefore have

a) Northern Ireland to be removed from the United Kingdom and fully integrated into a united Ireland.

Or

b) Northern Ireland to cut off all links with Eire and remain a region within the United Kingdom.

Current government policy seems designed to stall any movement from the current vacuum, accepted by everyone, liked by no one. This may work, as one other solution to the N.I. problem could be

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c) Hold Northern Ireland’s future and concentrate on improving the present until everyone forgets about any long-term goals.

Time has always been the greatest healer, but in the Northern Irish case it’s had over 400 years to whitewash over local disagreements and has resoundingly failed to do so. This situation, though attractive to the government and those in power, ultimately will probably not work.

Another solution being edged towards at the minute is

d) To devolve Northern Ireland into a country by itself with real community representation in government and a certain degree of independence from London, such as Scotland ...

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