The Differences Between Treatment of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland

The Differences Between Treatment of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland

There was a drastic difference in the way Protestants and Catholics

were treated by the government of Northern Ireland. The parliament was

Protestant and local governments often favoured Protestants over

catholic, even when it was just an individual against a family,

regarding the allocation of housing. As well as this, Catholic who

applied to university or colleges stood a much chance of being

rejected than Protestants because of this, Catholics found it much

harder to get high paid jobs and were much less likely to be promoted

to higher positions. Catholics found it difficult to change their

status socially and often, whole generations families would be forced

to live in one, small, house being forced with people not being able

to afford to move out. Meaning that they had no chance to develop

socially meaning that they were at the mercy of the Protestant

government. Nearly all MPs were Protestant and because of they wanted

to help their own people. Catholics had many difficulty in altering

their situation because the Protestants held all political power and

did their best to keep it from them.

There has always been conflict between Catholics and Protestants in

Northern Ireland. The two sides caused a lot of trouble as neither

trusted the other. Protestants believed every Catholic was a

nationalist and Catholics believed every Protestant was a unionist.

Neither side was willing to forget anything that happened, no matter

how far in the past It occurred, when they feel they were wronged by

their opposition, these grudges cause a lot of hatred and ange...

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...m and to diminish their power and hold

on society. Paisley felt that if Catholics were left to their own

devices, they would try to destroy Protestants and gain control

throughout the world. Protestants like Basil Brooke attempted to mask

the discrimination, passing it off as "resentment" - Brooke was the

sort of person content with the system but knew that the reasons

behind it would not be acceptable to others outside of Ulster. The

Orange Order accepted the prejudice and openly admitted its existence,

however it was adamant that the problems were mutual and both side

suffered grievances as a result (although it naturally sought to make

Protestants seem more victimised). It was in these many ways that

Protestant politicians explained the social, economical and political

differences, between Catholics and Protestants.