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Civil Rights in Northern Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Extract

The contemporary position of Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland (Ulster), is inextricably entwined in historical origins of religious, political, economic and social webs. Depending upon one's knowledge of history or emotional disposition, it can be traced back to Strongbow in the tenth century, or to the defeat of James II in 1690. For the more pragmatic and less academic, the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 and the London Agreement of 1925, which divided Ireland into the North and South, will suffice. While many will disagree, it seems that most Irish, North or South, if pressed long and hard enough, admit that the basis of the conflict is partition of the six counties in the North (Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone) from the 26 counties in the South.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1971

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References

* My research for this article was made possible by a grant from the Western European Studies at Notre Dame and the O'Brien Fund Grant at Notre Dame.

** Deny (Londonderry) has a Catholic population about twice the number of Protestants and the opposite is true of Belfast.

1 Coogan, Tim Pat, Ireland Since the Uprising (London, 1966), p. 308Google Scholar.

*** In Great Britain and The Irish Republic the term race refers to race or ethnic group. In the United States it refers to persons possessing in common certain inherited physical characteristics. Ethnic group refers to those sharing a common culture usually maintained in the face of an alien culture.

2 Kurokawa, Minako (ed.), Minority Responses (New York, 1970), p. 5Google Scholar.

3 Stewart, A. T., The Ulster Crisis (London, 1967), pp. 2628Google Scholar.

4 Chauvire, Roger, A Short History of Ireland (New York, 1965), pp. 8586Google Scholar; Stewart, , op. cit., pp. 21, 22Google Scholar.

5 Orange and Green, a Quaker Study of Community Relations in Northern Ireland (Yorkshire, England, 1969), pp. 613Google Scholar; hereafter cited as Orange and Green.

6 Coogan, , op. cit., p. 292Google Scholar.

7 Orange and Green, p. 21.

8 The Plain Truth, second edition, “The Campaign for Social Justice in Northern Ireland” (Castlefields, Gungannon, 1969), pp. 56Google Scholar.

9 Coogan, , op. cit., p. 301Google Scholar.

10 Orange and Green, pp. 25–27.

11 Ibid., p. 30.

12 Ibid.

13 The Plain Truth, pp. 11–12.

14 In A Commentary by the Government of Northern Ireland to Accompany the Cameron Report,” Belfast, 1969, p. 5Google Scholar. The Cameron Report is titled “Disturbances in Northern Ireland, Report of the Commission appointed by the Governor of Northern Ireland.” The Commission consisted of the Honorable Lord Cameron, D.S.C., Professor Sir John Bigart, C.B.E. and James Joseph Campbell, Esq., M.A.

15 Coogan, Tim Pat, The I.R.A. (London, 1970), pp. 127Google Scholar.

* The term “teague” is Gaelic for Tim, that is, a Catholic.

16 Egan, Bows and McGormack, Vincent, Burntollet (London, 1969), p. 2Google Scholar.

* Paisleyites are the followers of Rev. Ian Paisley, leader of the Free Presbyterians, a fundamentalist sect. He is presently a member of Parliament at Stormont Westminster. Bunting is his lieutenant.

17 Ibid., p. 32.

18 Ibid., p. 37.

19 Report of the Advisory Committee on Police in Northern Ireland (Belfast, 1969), p. 44.

20 Disturbances in Northern Ireland” (Belfast, 1969), p. 71Google Scholar.

21 Ibid., pp. 71–72.

22 Ibid., p. 73.

23 Ibid., p. 90.

24 Kurokawa, , op. cit., p. 6Google Scholar.

25 Ibid., p. 6.

26 Ibid., p. 6.

27 Walsh, Brendan M., Religion and Demographic Behavior in Ireland (Dublin, 1969), pp. 67Google Scholar.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid., p. 17.