Two nations?

Some people say that from the time of the famine the gradual appearance of two nations can be seen in Ireland. During the 19th century Ulster, and particularly Belfast, became industrialized in a similar way to the North of England. Because of its industrial economy Ulster was not as badly affected by the poor potato harvest as the rest of Ireland, which depended on agriculture. Also, the land laws in Ulster were much fairer than in the rest of Ireland. This meant that, whereas people in the south of Ireland blamed British rule for their poverty and suffering, the people of Ulster found that union with Britain had brought them prosperity, and markets for their industrial products.

Dutring the attempts between 1886 and 1914 to get Home Rule for Ireland (independence from Britain in all things relating to internal affairs), the people of Ulster resisted strongly and said they would fight rather than give up union with Britain.

Partition

After a long and violent struggle, the southern part of Ireland finally became a Free State in 1921. Ulster chose to remain part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This division of Ireland is known as 'partition'.

The Irish Free State declared itself a republic in 1949 and is now known as the Irish Republic, or Eire (an old Irish word for Ireland). It is completely separate and independent from Britain and Northern Ireland, and its government is in the capital city, Dublin.

In 1949, Northern Ireland still had its own Prime Minister and its own Parliament at Stormont in Belfast which was responsible for the province's internal (not foreign) affairs, but it was still part of the UK.

Conflict

From the beginning, the Stormont Parliament was dominated by Protestants. Northern Irish Catholics, who were now in a minority, found that they did not have equal opportunities with Protestants for housing and employment. A campaign of civil rights for Catholics was started but very little attention was paid to it by the ruling Protestants.

In 1969 there was rioting in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants. By 1972 the hostility between the two groups was so bad that Britain suspended the Northern Irish Parliament at Stormont and sent in the British army to keep the peace. The soldiers were welcomed at first by the Catholics as protectors from Protestant violence, but when the army began house-to-house searches of Catholic areas for men with guns, the welcome soon turned to bitterness.

There have been many deaths since 1969. In 1972, on what became known as 'Bloody Sunday', British soldiers opened fire on Catholic demonstrators in Londonderry and thirteen people were killed. In addition, many British soldiers have been killed. Both the Protestant and the Catholic communities have illegal secret armies fighting a bloody war. On the Catholic side are the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and INLA (Irish National Liberation Army). Both these organizations want to achieve a united Ireland by violent means, but they are condemned today by the government of the Irish Republic. On the Protestant side are the UDA (Ulster Defence Association) and the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force).

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 104 f.