The Protestant treatment toward Catholics in Northern Ireland throughout the 1960’s was depressive. Irish Catholics suffered in many ways and were treated as second class citizens in their homeland. In what ways did the Protestants politically isolate and marginalize the Catholic population? In order to answer this question, I will look at primary and secondary source documents that address political positions held by Protestants and Catholics. I will also look for laws and decrees that were passes to examine if they unfairly targeted specific parts of the population in Northern Ireland.
Summary of Evidence:
Political
• ”James II was an earnest Roman Catholic who wanted to put his co-religionists in position of power wherever possible in both England and Ireland, even if this meant bending or breaking the laws which specifically prohibited Catholics from taking such positions.”
• The Penal Code aimed to deprive the Catholics of all civil life, reduce them to a condition of ignorance, and dissociate them from the soil. “Religious orders, Catholic schools and Catholic bishops were banned under this code.” 1
• “Catholic alienation from the legal apparatus of Northern Ireland was compounded by the exclusion of Nationalists from many senior posts in the judiciary.”
“Voting qualifications were also based upon finance, disproportionately disfranchising Catholics…Poorer Protestants were also affected, but greater proportionate reliance amongst Catholics upon public housing meant that many forfeited their right to elect local representatives.”
“Catholics were also disadvantaged by the existence of business franchises, by which companies could hold up to six extra votes, exercised through nominees.”
• “Penal legislation i...
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...m, and Ash Timothy. Garton. Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present. Oxford [England: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
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Tonge, Jonathan. Northern Ireland: Conflict and Change. Harlow: Longman, 2002. Print.
Weisser, Henry. Ireland: An Illustrated History. New York: Hippocrene, 1999. Print.
Whyte, John Henry. Church and State in Modern Ireland, 1923-1979. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1980. Print.
After the Act of union had been passed, Daniel O’Connell worked effectively in addressing Irish grievances; his actions were significant in contributing to the changing nature of the Irish question. Even though O’Connell tried to address the same issues as the society of united Irishmen, he abandoned the use of violence and instead took a constitutional approach such as the use of monster meetings and working alongside parliament in order to gain catholic emancipation and repeal of the union. O’Connell’s zeal for reform influenced parliament in passing the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829. Even though in the short term the Act had been insignificant in Ireland as the British government purposely reduced the Irish electorate by increasing qualifications from 40 shillings to £10 in an attempt to retain Protestant dominance, it was the prime cause for the d...
It is mentioned in the journal, “The Demographic Factor in Ireland’s Movement towards Partition(1607-1921)” ...
Ireland has a very conflicted history. Just when that history may seem to take a turn for the better, it seems that there is always another event to keep the trend of depression ongoing. The separation of the Protestant and Catholic Church would be the center of these events. However, the two different groups could potentially work together for the betterment of the nation. Through an analysis of why Protestants and Catholics split in the first place, disadvantages that Catholics would face in the coming years and also how these disadvantages were lifted, an argument will be developed in that there is perhaps the chance that they may end up working together in the future for the betterment of Ireland. Although these two groups would fight over the countless decades, they need to join into one entity if they wish to see a better future for Ireland.
Violence, terror, suffering and death. The conflict that has been burning in Northern Ireland seems to be an unstoppable battle and it has flooded over the land of Northern Ireland. The struggle for power and the persistence of greed have fueled the raging fires of the opposing groups. The conflict in Northern Ireland has been discussed continually over the past few decades. Ever since the beginning of the “Troubles,” organizations have been scavenging to find a plan that will cease the violence. Throughout my research for this project, the questions of what are the main sources of conflict in Northern Ireland and why have they continued today guided me to many fascinating pieces of evidence that provided me with a more compassionate view of the situation of Northern Ireland. My research topic was very broad and to get down into a more explicit viewpoint, I chose to search for my sources by selecting three disciplines.
In the beginning, life was not easy for the numerous Irish - Catholic immigrants who fled the Great Potato Famine of 1845 and, “. . . Protestant ascendancy, British colonialism and turbulence in their own country. . . “(2) Because of their lack of funds many Irish immigrants landed in less expensive Canadian ports, and then walked down into the United States.(3) Not only was the ocean voyage difficult, but once reaching the United States, most immigrants found that they were not welcomed with open arms, but rather pushed away because of their religious affiliations. Catholics found themselves the minority and targets of discrimination.(4) Settled Americans saw the new influx of Irish immigrants as a plague, dirtying their streets and neighborhoods, filling their jails and sanitariums, creating public disruption. “Negative stereotypes imported from England characterizing the Irish as pugnacious, drunken, semi-savage, were common and endured. . . “(5) A...
Gray, Peter. Famine, Land, and Politics: British Government and Irish Society. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1999.
This paper does not argue that the IRA should be excused for their acts of violence during the Troubles, but rather calls the reader to see both sides of the story. British representatives insisted on framing the IRA as a terrorist group in the international media and refused publicly negotiating with them. Their position as a world power gave them a great deal of freedom from monitoring and accountability when it came to the treatment of prisoners. In practicality, the IRA were treated neither as ordinary criminals nor political prisoners, which brought the British into unchartered waters. Desperation to find a way to stop the violence in the North, without any clear rules in this conflict, resulted in numerous instances in which innocent lives were irreparably damaged or taken altogether.
The authors provide a background to the Troubles of Northern Ireland, with their main focus being a detailed analysis of the religious, geographical, age and gender distribution of polit...
The Irish and British governments fought for many years over the ownership of Northern Ireland. Britain had main control over Northern Ireland, and Ireland did not think that was fair. Be...
Not a unified and separate country until 1921, Northern Ireland has had cultural, financial, and economic that makes it stand affront from the rest of the Emerald Isles. With its close proximity to England and the immigration all through the 1600s of English and Scottish, Northern Ireland has become more anglicized th...
One of the most closely watched and widely debated conflict of our time is the one occurring In Northern Ireland. It has been a hot debate for over a century now, yet the root of the conflict is still unclear. There have been many theories over time, yet none have been able to adequately describe what is really happening on the matter. This conflict is divided by many lines; ethnically between the Irish and the British, and religiously by the Catholics and Protestant denominations.
Religion in James Joyce's Dubliners Religion was an integral part of Ireland during the modernist period, tightly woven into the social fabric of its citizens. The Catholic Church was a longstanding tradition of Ireland. In the modernist spirit of breaking away from forces that inhibited growth, the church stood as one of the principal barriers. This is because the Catholic faith acted as the governing force of its people, as portrayed in James Joyce’s Dubliners. In a period when Ireland was trying to legitimize their political system, religious affiliations further disillusioned the political process. The governing body of a people needs to provide a behavioral framework, through its constitution, and a legal process to make delegations on issues of equity and fairness. When religion dominates the government that is in tact, it subjects its citizens to their religious doctrines. In terms of Catholicism in Ireland, this meant that social progress and cultural revolutions were in terms of what the church would allow. The modernist realized that this is what paralyzed the Irish society of the times. In the stories of Dubliners the legal system is replaced by the institute of religion, and it is the presence and social context of the Catholic Church which prevents the Irish community from advancement. ...
Home Rule emerged shortly after the potato famine in 1870 (10, pg 73). The Irish Parliamentary Party established this idea, seeking to encourage national pride, and by doing so the Irish Parliament would be re-established (10, pg 73). This was to be accomplished through a revival of the language, sport, and culture (12, pg 9). Promoting Home Rule seemed like a positive notation, but problems did arise. Pope Leo XIII, the Catholic hierarchy of Ireland, opposed the idea of Home Rule, because the leader of the movement, Charles Stewart Parnell, was a Protestant (10, pg 73). This issue would continue to grow well into the 20th century, dividing Ireland into two separate groups (10, pg 73).
White, Robert W; White, Terry Falkenberg. “Repression and the Liberal State: The Case of Northern Ireland, 1969-1972”. The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Jun.,
Tovey, H and Share, P. (2002). Sociology of Ireland. 2nd ed. Dublin: Gill & Macmillen.