Essay On Conflict In Northern Ireland

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.

The Troubles emerged after many years of incidents between the Protestants and the Catholics. One issue that contributed to the conflict was the border that separated Northern Ireland from Ireland that was drawn in the seventh century. This is one of the many issues that has also contributed to the Catholics resentment (Conroy 1995). The most recent episode of this ongoing conflict between these two denominations has been occurring for over thirty years. Even though they have a reached a peace agreement, a resolution for this long struggle does not seem to be coming in the near future (Hancock 1998).

Since the time of the first civil rights marches in 1968 to the year of 1994, over 3,500 have died and over 35,000 were injured from fighting. “Robberies, bombings, assassinations, and terror tactics spread to engulf Great Britain and the Irish Republic, greatly decreasing the common person's sense of security and impinging on the populace's personal freedom,” (Hancock 1998). Between the years of 1969-1970, the Provisional Irish Republican Army was able to finally re-establish itself, which was the result of the frustrations rising from the Catholic population instead of the continual ethnic hatred. “This discrimination has a long historical record, datin...

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...ed on the research above, I would say that the conflict occurring in Northern Ireland is about religion, but also about civil rights. In the book, it talked about how badly Catholics were treated. “Houses belonging to those of the wrong religion were torched,” (Conroy 1995). They were deprived of their dignity, and were forced to go back to the “ghetto” they left years ago. Those belonging to the Catholic religion were pretty much exiled for being Catholic. Their civil liberties were taken away and they were harassed most of the time. Religion plays a big part in this conflict, and being of one or the other cause conflicts and violent outbreaks. Each side is fighting for something and each side is seen as the enemy (logic of exclusion), and to make a point, they used force. Even today, the past still haunts Northern Ireland, and may never reach an absolute solution.