Comparing Catholic and Protestant Communities in Northern Ireland

Comparing Catholic and Protestant Communities in Northern Ireland There are two separate communities in Northern Ireland; these are the

Catholics and the Protestants. The reason they are divided is because

they both want different things. The Catholics want to join the South

and feel they are the rightful land owners to govern themselves. The

Protestants were “planted” by King James I in order to create a bigger

Protestant community to support him, and they want to remain part of

the U.K.

The Home Rule is when a country governs and runs itself, which what

the hard line Catholics in Ireland wanted; they wanted this as they

believed they were the rightful owners of the Irish land and craved

having total power. A British Prime Minister named William Gladstone

backed this idea, and helped support it. Protestants felt the people

in Ulster needing protecting, and so they formed an Ulster Unionist

Council to represent every Unionist. Eventually, in 1912, when the

third Home Rule was proposed, after two failed attempts, it was

approved and to be made law in 1914. When the Protestants in Ulster

heard that the Rule had been approved, they formed a force to let the

government know they would resist any bill – this was known as UVF

(Ulster Volunteer Force).

Patrick Pearse and James Connoly strongly believed that Ireland should

govern themselves. During World War I they decided it was ideal to

proclaim an Irish Republic, as England was loosing the war against

Germany. Around one thousand Irish rebels took over Dublin’s General

Post Office as headquarters. This led British forces to fight the

rebels using gunboats attacking from the River Liffey as well as using