A HISTORY OF THE TROUBLES

Introduction To understand the Troubles in Ireland it is important to

first understand the history contributing to the events

From as early as 795, Ireland had immigrants, known as settlers, including the Vikings and the Normans

In 1166, Diarmaid Mac Murchadha, an exiled high king of Ireland approached Henry the II of England and asked for Norman knights to help him regain power in Ireland in return for his loyalty to the English throne.

The first Norman knights arrived in Ireland in 1167 and helped Diarmaid regain his throne, followed by a larger force in 1171, which helped ensure Norman control in Ireland

Since then parts of, or at times all of, Ireland has been ruled or reigned over by the English throne

The Plantation

Although Ireland was under British rule, they did not assert full control until after the English Reformation

From 1608 until the mid 17th century, thousands

of English and Scottish Protestant immigrants, known as settlers, were given land confiscated from the native Irish

These Protestants belonged to the Anglican church, known as the Church of Ireland, and all other faiths were outlawed

During the plantation, a set of Penal laws were also introduced seriously curtailing the religious, legal and political rights of anyone (particularly Catholics and Presbyterians) who did not conform to the Anglican church, even though 85% of country was Catholic at the time

Catholic clergy were expelled from the country and were liable to instant execution when found. Many had to attend their devotions at Mass rocks in the countryside.

Civil War in Ireland

Needless to say the Irish rebelled against this, however they were violently opposed by the English forces, the most brutal of which was led by Oliver Cromwell

By the end of this war almost 1/3 of the native Irish population were either dead or exiled and almost all lands owned by Irish Catholics were confiscated and given to Anglican settlers

Still recovering from this Ireland once again became involved in a British conflict between 1689-1691, when the wealthier Irish Catholics supported the deposed King James II against King William, in the hope he could help repeal the Penal Laws

Although this happened over 400 years ago, King William’s victory is still celebrated every year by Ulster Protestants, including Presbyterians, who actually supported King James during the conflict

The Irish Potato Famine Although the 1700’s were much more

peaceful than the preceding 200 years, Ireland’s native people still suffered under British rule

Some absentee landlords managed their Irish estates badly, and food was produced for export, not consumption

1740-41 saw very cold winters and the failure of the potato crop.

This led to the Irish Potato Famine where 400,000 Irish people died, and another 150,000 had to emigrate

This situation was made worse by the Navigation Acts which allowed England to freely export goods to Ireland, while Ireland had to pay tariffs on any exports they made

Many were evicted as they were unable to pay rent to their English landlords when their crops failed

The United Irishmen The late 1700’s saw the beginnings of Catholic and Presbyterian

emancipation in Ireland, for example they were once again allowed to own land, however a Protestant (Anglican) faction, the Peep-o-Day Boys launched attacks on Irish Catholics in retaliation against this

Counter attacks by the Catholic Defenders, in South Ulster, caused the members of the two religious factions to grow apart

In 1791 Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell, notably both Anglicans, and a group of nine Belfast Presbyterians met and formed the Society of the United Irishmen with a goal to establish “a cordial union among all the people of Ireland”

The group became supporters of the Catholic Committee which had been working to pass Catholic Emancipation bills and repeal the remaining Penal Laws

The United Irishmen Many Anglican Protestants were

concerned by the formation of this society and formed the Orange Order in 1795 with a goal of remaining loyal to William of Orange and his heirs and upholding the Protestant faith

For the United Irishmen, a lack of success and English resistance to their goals, led to the Irish Rebellion of 1798

This was crushed with vicious brutality by the English forces and most of the leaders were caught and executed

Thomas Russell, one of the founders of the society, was hung in Downpatrick Jail

Today, Wolfe Tone is revered by the Nationalist population of Northern Ireland, ironically despite the fact he was an Anglican Protestant

The Act of Union Another of Ireland’s great ironies arises from

the Act of Union in 1801, which abolished the Irish government and brought Ireland directly under English control

A new political framework was established and this resulted in a closer bond between the Anglicans and the formerly republican Presbyterians, who were encouraged after the Rebellion to become part of a loyal Protestant community

Throughout the 1800’s, Irish opposition to the Act of Union was strong and in the 1860’s the idea of Home Rule was proposed

This was to lead to the Easter Rising, and later to the partition of Ireland

Home Rule The Home Rule movement established the divide

between most Catholics, who wanted the restoration of an Irish Parliament, and most Protestants, who were afraid of being a minority in a Catholic-dominated Ireland and wanted to support the union with Britain.

For the first time, Presbyterians in Ireland were of the same opinion as their Anglican counterparts

By 1912, Irish Home Rule was looking like a real possibility, but unionists, based mainly in Ulster, violently opposed this and led by Edward Carson, the Black Man, they signed the Ulster Covenant pledging to resist Home Rule by force if necessary.

To this end, they formed the paramilitary Ulster Volunteers and imported arms from Germany

Nationalists formed the Irish Volunteers, to oppose the UV and to ensure the Third Home Rule Bill was established. They also imported arms from Germany helping them to stage the Easter Rising in 1916

The Easter Rising When Britain declared war on Germany in

1914, the Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood decided to stage a rising before the end of the war, and to accept any help Germany would provide

The Rising took place during Easter in 1916, however it was put down violently by British troops after only 7 days of fighting.

The leaders of the rising were executed, however this served to make them martyrs in the eyes of their countrymen

In 1919, members of Sinn Féin set up the first Dáil and established the Irish Republic

This led to the Irish War of Independence and subsequently to the Partition of Ireland

The Partition of Ireland

The 1920 Government of Ireland Act partitioned Ireland into two separate areas, Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland - both devolved regions of the United Kingdom.

The partition of Ireland was confirmed when the Parliament of Northern Ireland in December 1922 opted out of the newly established Irish Free State.

A boundary commission sat to decide upon the boundary, however many Nationalists who had fought in the War of Independence saw this as a sell out of their objectives, especially since the commission was deemed of little importance by the newly formed Southern government

The Partition of Ireland As a result, although Unionists were happy with the

outcome, Nationalists felt that gerrymandering was used to define boundaries and that Northern Ireland was founded on a deliberately organised Unionist majority –initially the Catholic population was only 33%

As a result Northern Ireland came into being as a creature of strife and division between the Unionist and Nationalist communities

Northern Ireland

Following the partition of Ireland, the remaining members of the Irish Republican Army continued to fight for a United Ireland

As a result the highly controversial Special Powers Act was brought into force in 1922 – this essentially gave the government absolute autonomy to establish and use any methods they felt necessary to ensure peace

Although supposed to be a temporary Act, in 1933 it was made permanent and used against the Nationalist community long after the initial period of violence had come to an end

Despite periods of unrest during the 40’s and 50’s, by the early 60’s, Northern Ireland was relatively stable

Beginning of the Troubles A number of key factors contributed to the

start of the troubles, one of which was the formation of the UVF – the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1966

This illegal group was founded to oppose the perceived threat of an escalation of IRA activity during the anniversary of the Easter Rising

The UVF formerly declared war on the IRA in May 1966, and threatened violence against those found harbouring them

Beginning of the Troubles

Most people, however would link the start of the Troubles with the attacks on the Civil Rights Marches of 1968-69

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association launched a campaign in 1967 to End the gerrymandering of electoral constituencies Abolish rate payer franchise in local government

elections End the unfair allocation of jobs and housing End the Special Powers Act

Violence broke out at several marches when the Catholic marchers were attacked by unionists objecting to the march

Beginning of the Troubles

The police force at that time, the Royal Ulster Constabulary were seen as supporting the unionists and doing nothing to intervene

On the 4 Jan 1969 a march from Belfast to Derry (Londonderry) was repeatedly attacked by unionist forces

In response to the lack of police protection, many nationalist communities erected barricades to prevent the police from entering their areas

This is really seen as the beginning of the troubles

Battle of the Bogside

In August 1969 the Battle of the Bogside occurred between the nationalist population of Derry’s Bogside and the unionist Apprentice Boys who were due to march past the Bogside along the City Walls in celebration of the lifting of the Siege of Derry in 1689

Rioting between police and loyalists on one side, and Bogside residents on the other lasted for over two days before British troops were sent in to restore order

This riot led to rioting in Belfast, Newry and many other towns and left many dead and many homes burned

Battle of the Bogside

Nationalists claimed that the RUC did not make sufficient attempts to act against the loyalist rioters – they had no confidence in this police force

As a result of this, and pressure from the Irish government, the NI government asked the British government to deploy the British army in Northern Ireland to restore order and prevent attacks on Catholics

Nationalists initially welcomed the army, as they had little faith in the police force, however this relationship quickly soured.

The Height of the Troubles

1970-72 saw violence in Northern Ireland at its height with incidents occurring almost daily

Unionists claimed the upsurge of violence was caused by the formation of the Provisional IRA, a more militant faction of the original group

Nationalists claimed it was due to:- the failures suffered by the civil rights movement the continued victimisation of Catholic communities, including

internment without trial the fatal shootings of 14 unarmed nationalist civil rights

demonstrators on what became known as Bloody Sunday

In a tit for tat campaign between the PIRA, IRA, UVF and newly formed UDA – Ulster Defence Association –violence begat violence during 1972

The Height of the Troubles This period of the troubles was categorised by:-

Bombing campaigns – including Bloody Friday when 22 bombs went off in the centre of Belfast

Sectarian assassinations Involuntary or forced displacement of both Catholics and

Protestants from formerly mixed areas

In 1972 the UK government did not believe the Northern Ireland administration could address the security situation and suspended the Stormont government, introducing Direct Rule from London

Although intended to be a short term measure, political deadlock and the troubles continued through the 70’s and 80’s

The 70’s The troubles were characterised by fear and

mistrust from both sides of the religious divide

Following on from Direct Rule the government tried to implement the Sunningdale Agreement with power sharing between Unionists and Nationalists and an input from the Republic of Ireland

This was strongly opposed by many unionists, and also by the IRA

Sunningdale was brought down in 1974 by the Ulster Workers’ Council Strike which stopped all business in Northern Ireland and cut off essential services such as water and electricity

1974 also saw the formation of a second IRA splinter group, the INLA – Irish National Liberation Army

The 80’s The 80’s opened with the

commencement of hunger strikes by Nationalist paramilitary prisoners who wanted the restoration of political status for prisoners

In the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike ten republican prisoners starved themselves to death.

These were highly emotional events for the nationalist community with over 100,000 people attending Bobby Sands’ funeral – Sands was the first hunger striker to die

In the wake of the hunger strikes Sinn Fein, seen by unionists as the Provisional IRA’s political wind, began, for the first time to contest elections in both the north and south of Ireland

The 80’s Both sides received donations of

Arms during the 80’s and bombing campaigns continued as did shootings

In particular the 80’s saw a determined bombing campaign undertaken in England by the IRA

The Anglo Irish Agreement in 1985, giving the Irish government a consultative role in the internal government of Northern Ireland, led to an escalation in UDA and UVF activity – Unionists saw this as the British government’s first steps to abandoning the province

The late 80’s saw the political wing of the IRA, Sinn Féin, led by Gerry Adams, seeking a negotiated end to the conflict

First Ceasefire After much political discussion the

loyalist and republican paramilitaries declared ceasefires in 1994

The year leading up to the ceasefires was a particularly bad one, marked by many atrocities on both sides

There was an escalation in bombings and shootings and the year before the ceasefire saw a large number of civilians murdered

In February 1996 the IRA revoked the ceasefire with the Docklands bombing in the Canary Wharf area of London

This attack was followed by several more, including the Manchester bombing which was the largest bomb attack in Britain since World War II

Political Process

The IRA resumed their ceasefire in 1997 as negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement were starting without Sinn Féin – later that year they were invited to join the talks

Many paramilitary groups spilt during this time to form dissident splinter groups including the unionist Loyalist Volunteer Force and the nationalist Real IRA

In August 1998 a Real IRA bomb in a busy shopping area in the centre of Omagh killed 29 civilians largely discrediting dissident Republicans and their campaigns in the eyes of most nationalists

At this stage the unionist and republican dissident groups are still in existence and although they are small they are still capable of violence

The Steps to Peace

These led to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 which restored self government to NI on the basis of power sharing

In 1999 reforms included a reform of the RUC which was renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland and was required to recruit at least a minimum numbers of Catholics

Power sharing was suspended in 2002 when unionists withdrew after allegations were made against Sinn Féin regarding, among other issues the Provisional IRA’s failure to fully disarm – this was completed in September 2005 to the satisfaction of everyone but the Democratic Unionist Party

After the 2nd

ceasefire talks began between the main political parties in Northern Ireland

The Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement was signed on 10 April 1998 and

implemented on 02 December 1999

It had many principles including:- The constitution of Northern Ireland can only be changed following a

majority vote by its citizens

All parties must use “exclusively peaceful and democratic” means

The creation of a Northern Ireland Assembly with devolved legislative powers

Abolition of the Republic’s territorial claim to Northern Ireland – the Republic changed its constitution to support this

Conditional early release for paramilitary prisoners

A 2year time frame for the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons

Reform of the police service and normalisation of military services

Dual Nationality for NI citizens – and the right to choose nationality

Casualties

Responsible Party Number Killed

Republican Paramilitary Groups 2057

Loyalist paramilitary Groups 1019

British Security Forces 363

Unknown People/Groups 82

Irish Security Forces 5

Total 3526

Between 1969 and 2001, 3526 people were killed in the troubles

The following table shows a breakdown of these figures

The Ongoing Problems

Since the Good Friday Agreement moderate parties have been overtaken in popularity by more extreme parties on both sides

Although political violence is greatly reduced sectarian animosity has not disappeared

Residential areas are more segregated between Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists than ever

Tensions between communities rise and violence often breaks out during the “marching season” – this is when the Orange Order parades take place across the country

Orangemen maintain they should have the right to march along “traditional routes” while Nationalists argue that marching through predominantly Catholic areas is unnecessarily provocative

Social Feeling

The impact of the Troubles on the people of Northern Ireland is compared to London during the Blitz

The stress from the daily threat of bomb attacks, street disturbances, security checkpoints and a constant military presence has had the strongest effect on young people growing up through the troubles

Normal friendships with people from the other side of the religious/political divide were nearly impossible , especially in large towns and cities, like Derry and Belfast

Despite the peace process, the Troubles and their cause and consequences are simply still not discussed with people from “the other side”

Fear and mistrust still exists between the factions, however the situation is improving

The Legacy of the Troubles Today in Northern Ireland there is still an obvious divide

between communities but the situation is improving

This divide is very apparent in many small ways, some of which would be unrecognisable to anyone living outside the country. These include:-

Segregated educational systems – predominantly at primary and compulsory levels

The wearing of emblems

National flags

Sporting allegiances

Choice of forenames

The pronunciation of the letter H

CONCLUSION

Undoubtedly Northern Ireland has had its troubles over the past 40 years, however the country has now experienced relative peace for the past decade

Hopefully in the future all the citizens of Northern Ireland will be able to leave the past behind them and embrace a happier, peaceful future.