Social Problems of the Troubles in Ireland
For about 150 years Ireland and neighboring countries have struggled with social controversy and segregation that has consumed society and its views, which have been labeled as the “Troubles”. Ireland has struggled to become peaceful and accept the ties it has to the United Kingdom. In every country there is hate, wars, and events that cause the population to raise up arms and try to get their points across, but in Ireland it has lasted a very long time due to Nationalists versus the government, Catholics versus Protestants, Loyalists versus Unionists, and many other radicals that believed in something greater than what Ireland was during certain time periods. Britain played a big role in Irish History and its problems. (Edwards, 2010, 2) This social issue has hurt many people over the past few hundred years. The issue of the Troubles reflects on immigrants, society, other countries, and religion.
Since the potato famine Ireland has had its ups and downs. In the 1850’s the Irish fought for land and would eventually become known as a main idea for Irish politics. Throughout the years the Irish had created leagues and organizations that appealed to many to fight the ongoing battles of Irish culture. At first there was the Irish Tennant League that dealt with the land distribution. (Douglas, 52) Then a secret militia of Irish veterans came together on Saint Patrick’s Day to create an Organization that would lead the crusade of Ireland. Most of the organizations were made up of the lower-middle class and the lower-class population. These gave way to bombings, riots, rebellions, and movements. (Douglas, 53-54)
Many believed that Ireland “was culturally isolationist, economically backwar...
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Catholics. Once while preaching in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, Reverend Paisley “calls down contumely on ...
INTRODUCTION The history of Ireland "that most distressful nation" is full of drama and tragedy, but one of the most interesting stories is about what happened to the Irish during the mid-nineteenth century and how millions of Irish came to live in America (Purcell 31). Although the high point of the story was the years of the devastating potato famine from 1845 to 1848, historians have pointed out that immigrating from Ireland was becoming more popular before the famine and continued until the turn of the twentieth century. In the one hundred years between the first recording of immigrants in
But the BPPI can also provide us with much more than the ‘official view’. British governance of Ireland took place in the context of executive responsibility to Parliament, a body which contained growing numbers of oppositional and nationalist Irish members who could demand returns of official data and serve on committees and commissions of inquiry, and beyond Parliament (however imperfectly) to an Irish as well as a British public opinion, increasingly conscious through the burgeoning popular press of the proceedings of Parliament. Irish newspapers, for example, carried not only verbatim accounts of parliamentary debates, but long extracts from the BPPI, and debated their findings and implications in editorials. The BPPI were very much part of the public life of 19th and early 20th-century Ireland.
The Irish Famine 1845-1849 “Is ar scáth a chiéle a maireann na daoine” “It is with each other’s protection that the people live” From the Fifteenth through to the Nineteenth centuries English Monarchies and Governments had consistently enacted laws which it seems were designed to oppress the Irish and suppress and destroy Irish Trade and manufacturing. In the Penal laws of 1695 which aimed to destroy Catholicism, Catholics were forbidden from practicing their religion, receiving education, entering a profession, or purchasing or leasing land; since Catholics formed eighty percent of the Irish population, this effectively deprived the Irish of any part in civil life in their own country. In the eighteenth century the Irish condition had improved: The Irish merchant marine had been revived and ports improved, and the glass, linen, and clothing industries developed. Agriculture had also been improved and in 1782 the Irish Constitution was formed.
Life was very difficult and hopeless in Northern Ireland during the ”Troubles”. People, mainly the Catholics, had to learn to live among riots, murders, bomb raid, discrimination and political violence. Many people did things which they did not want to do but they did because they would be punished if they resisted. They did not know when their families were attacked by hostile groups.
British- Irish relations over the past three hundred years have been troubled. There have been many tensions caused by religion in Northern Ireland and Britain's unfair rule of Northern Ireland. The British are guilty of many of the indignities suffered by the Irish people. They are also guilty of causing all of the religious and territorial conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
The years 1870 to 1890 in Ireland saw the fervent battle of Charles Stewart Parnell and his Home Rule party for home rule in Ireland. This consisted of Ireland having its own parliament to deal with internal affairs while still remaining under the control of Westminster in international affairs. It was not the desire for a full separation from Britain that would come later. However, by 1890, problems in Parnell’s personal life lead to a breakdown in communication with the Prime Minister and to a split in the Home Rule party. According to M E Collins, this left a void in Irish politics and life that was filled with a new cultural awareness and a questioning of Irish identity: ‘the new movements were different. They stressed the importance of Irish identity, Irish race and Irish culture’ (170 M E Collins, Ireland 1868 - 1966). It is at this point that Fanon’s ‘Wretched of the Earth’ becomes relevant to Irish history. In his chapter entitled ‘On National Consciousness’, Fanon stresses the colonised native fears of being assimilated totally into the culture of the coloniser, of being ‘swamped’ (169 Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth). These were the exact concerns that occupied the minds of the Irish people after the failure of home rule. They began to be anxious about what Collins terms ‘the distinguishing marks of Irishness’: ‘a culture and language that was different to Britain’s’.
Ireland in The Coming Times- Essays to Celebrate T.K. Whitaker’s 80 Years edited by F. O’ Muircheartaigh, IPA, Dublin, 1997.
Tension in Ireland started rising as the British began colonize Ireland. The Norman conquistador Maurice fitz Gerald said “We are English to the Irish, and Irish to the English” (McNamee), meaning they are two different types of people. You can’t change one into the other and expect them to be happy. But the british rule thought differently. Religion became a main topic of disagreement in Ireland due to the different types of religion. The British were Protestant while the Irish were Catholic. The Irish had been Catholic for so long that they couldn’t remember being any other religion. When the British wanted Ireland to become Protestant and they wouldn't have it. Which led to the Irish being persecuted and the Protestants taking over control (I need help with this citation). Many children had a hard time dealing with what kind of
The troubles refer to the age-old disputes over the control of Northern Ireland. Even though the arguments lasted for several centuries, things did not turn extremely violent until the 1960’s (Delaney). Many terrorists entered Northern Ireland during that time. Terrorists who entered the country were said to be okay, and there was nothing wrong with them. Letting the terrorists slip by without stopping them had very deadly consequences. Thousands of people died because of the terrorists invading Northern Ireland. Very few tried to stop the terrorists from coming into Northern Ireland (Graham). Those who did attempt to stop the terrorists were unsuccessful (De Breadun).
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In the Irishman’s mind “[he] s[ees]...parishes as the primary catalysts in the deterioration of Irish society” because of their disregard of the modern times (“James
McCann et al. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1994, 95-109).