The search for peace in Northern Ireland is proving to be difficult.What are the main issues that divide this community?

The stripping of political and human rights by the Protestants and the economic burden, left on the Catholics fuelled the anger of the Native Irish. It can be argued that the Northern Ireland War was the result of Catholic hostility towards their Protestant arrivals. Throughout the history of Ireland, the Irish have been forced to defend their territory, but at times they did it in ways that was most violent. Hostility of the Catholics occurred in the massacre of the Protestant settlers during the early 1600s, which resulted in many Protestant deaths. During the war, the IRA (Irish Republican Army) also did not help their case when they began acts of terrorism on the Protestant population.

Shortly after the formation of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland hostilities pushed these two countries to the brink of civil war. This was prevented by the start of World War I. English persecution of the Irish people is one cause of the tensions in Northern Ireland. Before 1793 Irish Catholics were persecuted by British law. Catholics were not allowed to buy and sell land, get proper education, marry Protestants or vote. This fueled problems in Ireland.

Unlike the Treaty of 1921 or the peace process in the 1970's, recent efforts stripe the IRA of it's reasoning in using violence. . Even the Real IRA, which split from the IRA following the Belfast Agreement lack public support when they conduct acts of violence against the British or unionists. Because the Belfast Agreement satisfies unionists for the most part, there has been a decline in sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. As a result the Catholic need for protection by the IRA from Protestants is no longer as relevant.

After Cromwell’s death the troubles in Ireland continued when a new King James II was appointed. James II was a Catholic and wanted to ... ... middle of paper ... ... the violence. However, in my opinion the main factor which lead to the British army being sent to Northern Ireland in 1969 were the government policies such as gerrymandering which caused the Catholic community to be given poor housing and jobs, which in turn caused them to protest about the treatment they were receiving from local councils which would end up in violence which was mostly started by the Protestants and then this violence would be dealt with by a biased police force who could not keep the peace and would just end up contributing to the violence by taking the side of the Protestants. So in conclusion it is my opinion that the government policies in Northern Ireland after 1922 and the partition of Ireland is a long-term problem that resulted in the deployment of troops by the British government in 1969.

Living in an age of ill-treatment of the Irish citizenry by the British monarchy of led authors to protest circumstances in the only way they knew how, with their words. Jonathan Swift was one such author who attacked the wrongs England committed upon Ireland using his wit and satire. Swift once said, “We have just religion enough to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another” (Baker). Therefore, the crux of the problem with Ireland and England was the desire for one to keep their religious freedoms while the other wished to replace a religion with their own. It is that fervor for religious control that led England to use every method at its disposal to force the Irish to convert from Catholicism to Anglicanism.

After 1500 the English took control for the first time by way of force due to the Irish being loyal to Catholicism and the English were strong protestants. The soldiers drove farmers off their land. The protestants were strongest in Northern Ireland, Ulster. The Irish made a rebellion but this was crushed at the battle of Boyne, many laws were passed to keep the Catholics quiet. Even up to 1914 the Irish were unwilling to accept English domination.

For the remaining Irish clans, England now became their major enemy and threat, against their customs and way of life. 1609 By the end of Queen Elisabeth’s reign, military conquests had established control in most parts of Ireland, with the exception of the northern province of Ulster. The Ulster clans had succeeded in creating an effective alliance against Queen Elisabeth’s armies, but was eventually defeated and brought under English rule. English colonists settled in these areas and by 1703 less then 5 per cent of the land of Ulster belonged to Catholics Irish. The native people of Ulster remained in the conquered areas, but were gradually expelled from the land that they used to own.

Reasons Behind Non-Achieved Decommissioning The reasons for the hostility between both the Catholics and the Protestants has links back to the 18th century, but the main problems today stem from the troubles of this century, The Easter rising, The events linked with Bloody Sunday, and more recently the Enniskillen bomb and the Omagh bomb. Due to violence from both communities and the failure of the British government to resolve the problem in the ways that each community wanted, all groups regard each other with distrust. Looking at today's problems and the early years of the 19th century it is not surprising that neither Par military group want to decommission, the IRA will not give up its weapons until the army leaves the province and the Army cannot leave until the threat of more terrorist action like Omagh and Enniskillen are removed. The Good Friday agreement was supposed to help speed the peace process, however the distrust, fear and resentment of each other make it hard for anyone to come to a final solution and for communities to make compromises in order for peace to be brought to the country. To understand why the four events took place and why it is so hard for any headway to be made in the Irish Problem it is necessary to look back at the history of both communities.

For example, Ireland's commerce was discouraged and their manufacturing was paralyzed by British legislation (The Outlook, pg 116). Religious treatment of Roman Catholics also angered the Irish. A large number of Irish were (and still are) Catholic and were repressed in many ways by English legislature. They were expected to pay taxes to support the Established Church of England, which gave Catholics no services. Furthermore, Britain forbade Catholics from providing education for their own children.

The actions of the rebels during the rebellion also suggest it occurred for religious reasons. The rebels headed for Durham cathedral where they tore up the protestant prayer book and held a catholic mass. These religious actions clearly indicate that they were unhappy with the religious situation in England at the time and by ripping up the prayer book symbolises they are attempting to change things. The rebel... ... middle of paper ... ...e somewhat powerful support as this the rebellion would not have got off the ground. The ideas for the rebellion did not originate when in church or anywhere remotely connected to religion but in court where the Nobles questioned the succession, argued that they deserved their powers and was plotting ways of getting rid of Cecil.