Catholics in Northern Ireland

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Catholics in Northern Ireland

1. Source A indicates the problems Catholics in Northern Ireland had

finding jobs in the 1960's. It says, "The big employers were privately run

companies" who could easily be "anti-Catholic" and gives the example

of the Belfast shipyard which was the biggest source of employment in

the city which out of 10,000 workers only employed 400 Catholics. This

shows even the biggest companies were anti-Catholic. Source A also

gives the example of Fermanagh, a County with more Catholics than

Protestants, whose council filled 322 out of 370 posts with

Protestants. Which shows that anti-catholic prejudice was not only

true in privately owned companies but also in government jobs. In

fact, one of the "most sought after jobs" in Fermanagh, being a school

bus driver was taken up by 68 Protestants and just 7 Catholics.

2. Sources B, C and D go very far to suggest there was anti-Catholic

prejudice in Northern Ireland. Source B, which is a reliable source as

it is based upon the census, states "unemployment is experienced at a

much higher level by Roman Catholics than by Protestants" and

"industries which had the highest weekly wage in 1971" were

"predominantly Protestant". This is clear evidence of anti-Catholic

prejudice.

Source C gives clear figures showing anti-Catholic prejudice from

employers. It shows that out of 9,000 workers at Harland and Wolff

only 500 were Catholic and at Sirocco out of 400 workers none were

Catholic. It also indicates 3 more employers with very small

percentages of Catholic workers. However, this source is not as

reliable because the source could easily be biased. For example,

Catholics may run the magazine or the writer might want to use the

most shocking evidence to make a better read.

Source D is a quote from a former player-manager of Linfield football

club, he says " If you're a Linfield scout and you see a lad who's

good, the second or third question is "what school do you go to son"

and if it's saint something, then all of a sudden the boy isn't good

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