CCS Junior Certificate History: Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland 1920-1939

• In 1920 Northern Ireland (6 counties) set up in Government of Ireland Act
• NI parliament met in Stormont Castle, Belfast
• Sir James Craig became 1st PM
• ‘Protestant Parliament for a Protestant people’
• Parliament/Government of NI controlled by Unionists
• 52 seats: Unionists 40, Nationalists 12

Unionists vs. Nationalists
• Unionists wanted NI to remain part of GB
• Nationalists wanted 32 county independent Ireland
• Unionists mostly protestants
• Nationalists mostly Catholics
• Unionists ratio to nationalists about 2:1
• Extreme nationalists called ‘republicans’
• Police: RUC/B-Specials mostly protestant
• Special Powers Act (1922) gave police more powers

Problems in Northern Ireland
• Sectarian (religious) violence/riots
• Sectarian discrimination (housing/jobs)
• Segregation (separation): schools, sport, leisure, shops
• Economy: poverty, unemployment (28% in 1931)
• Gerrymandering: drawing constituency boundaries to favour one side
• [eg. in Derry 60% nationalists but unionists controlled Derry City Council]

Northern Ireland during WWII 1939-1945
• 1939 GB declares war on Germany
• Bases in NI for ships/troops (120,000 US)
• Factories in NI provide aircraft, munitions and linen for parachutes, uniforms, tents
• Shipbuilding in Belfast shipyards
• Belfast bombed by Germans in April & May 1941 (about 1,100 killed)
• Irish govt. send fire brigade to help

Northern Ireland in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s
• After WWII GB Labour govt introduce ‘Welfare State’ to UK inc. NI
• Free medical care (NHS)
• Better unemployment assistance
• Better pensions • Free secondary education (1947)
• Housing built
• Anti-TB campaign in NI

Problems
• Economy: shipbuilding & linen industry decline
• IRA violence: ‘Border Campaign’ 1956-1962
• Sectarian tensions & discrimination
• NI parliament controlled by unionists
• Gerrymandering meant nationalists underrepresented on local councils
• Discrimination against catholics in allocation of jobs in civil service and housing by local councils
• Only property owners could vote in local elections
• So many poor nationalists had no vote

Unionists vs. Nationalists
• Nationalists wanted • (a) end to discrimination against catholics
• (b) 32 county ‘united Ireland’
• Unionists wanted NI to remain part of GB because
(a) they had a sense of British identity
(b) they saw Irish Republic as catholic state and feared discrimination

Terence O’Neill as PM of NI and the Civil Rights Campaign
• Terence O’Neill became PM in 1963
• O’Neill tried to improve relations with catholics and Irish republic (met Lemass 1965)
• NICRA set up to get civil rights for all 1967
• Police & ‘paisleyites’ attacks on civil rights marchers seen on TV around world
• NI govt. forced to make some changes
• O’Neill resigned in 1969

The Troubles
• Violence between catholics/protestants in Derry & Belfast
• British troops sent to protect catholics
• SDLP set up by John Hume (1970)
• IRA split (official & provisional)
• Violence between PIRA & British army
• UVF attacking catholics
• NI PM Brian Faulkner introduces internment
• Jan 1972 British army kill 13 on ‘Bloody Sunday’
• GB govt. shut down NI parliament (Direct Rule)

Sunningdale Agreement
• Conservative govt. of GB and govt. of Irish republic signed Sunningdale Agreement in 1973
• Power-Sharing Executive (government) (of Nationalists and Unionists) to run NI
• Council of Ireland for cross-border co-operation
• Agreement opposed by Ian Paisley & extreme unionists
• Unionist Ulster Workers’ Council organise general strike to bring down executive (May ’74)
• Direct rule from Westminster re-introduced

Violence and the Hunger Strikes
• In 1970s many killed in violence in NI
• After 1976 GB govt. wanted paramilitary prisoners to wear prison uniforms
• IRA prisoners organised ‘Dirty Protest’
• In 1981 IRA prisoners began hunger strikes
• Bobby Sands elected as MP and 1st to die
• GB PM Margaret Thatcher refused to give concessions and 9 more hunger strikers died
• Tensions in NI and anti-British feeling in Irish republic increased

The Anglo-Irish Agreement 1985
• IRA plant bomb in Grand Hotel in Brighton and nearly kill Margaret Thatcher
• Irish Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald and GB PM Margaret Thatcher sign Anglo-Irish Agreement
• GB govt. agree to consult Irish govt. on NI and to encourage cross border cooperation
• Unionists opposed to any role for Irish govt. in NI (‘Ulster says No!)

The Peace Process
• SDLP and SF in talks
• GB & Irish govt. in talks
• John Major issued ‘Downing Street Declaration’ (1993)
• Declared that GB had no ‘selfish or strategic reason’ for remaining in NI
• IRA ceasefire (1994) SF/GB govt. in talks
• IRA ceasefire broken & bombs in London (1996)
• New IRA ceasefire (1997)

Senator George Mitchell chairs talks on NI
• US Senator George Mitchell chaired talks on NI including
• Nationalists (SDLP & SF)
• Unionists (UUP not DUP)
• Irish govt.
• GB govt.
• Other NI parties

Good Friday Agreement
• Good Friday Agreement signed April 1998
• NI assembly (parliament) to be set up
• Power-Sharing executive (including Unionists & Nationalists) to run NI
• Cross border bodies set up
• Council of Isles set up
• Reform of NI police (RUC – PSNI)
• IRA to decomission weapons
• Articles 2 & 3 to be removed from Irish constitution