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GOVERNMENT
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Member of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland, and
NI)
Legislature
 Northern Ireland Assembly located in Belfast
 Since Good Friday Agreement (1998) it has been largely
self-governing in most internal matters.
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Internationally, NI is probably best known as the site of a violent
ethnic, sectarian, nationalist, and political conflict between the
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nationalists, who see themselves as Irish and are predominately
Roman Catholic, and the
unionists, who consider themselves British and are predominately
Protestant
 (additionally, there are also people from both sides who consider themselves as
Northern Irish)
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Simply put, the unionists want NI to remain as part of the UK
(“loyalists”), while the nationalists want NI to reunify with the
Republic of Ireland, independent of British rule (“republicans”)
Since 1998, nearly all of the paramilitary groups involved in the
Troubles (e.g. IRA and UDA) have ceased their armed campaigns.
A Brief History of the Troubles: Early 1600s
•The
Plantation of Ulster
refers to the organized
colonization of Ulster – a province
in northern Ireland– by
Protestants from Scotland and
England.
•Private plantation by wealthy
landowners began in 1606.
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1690 – a system of Protestant English rule is imposed which
is designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority
and Protestant dissenters (Known as Catholic Penal Laws)
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1801 – Act of Union
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This system continued up to 1998.
the entire island of Ireland becomes part of UK
Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), often
referred to as The Liberator or The Emancipator, was an
Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century. He
campaigned for Catholic Emancipation—including the right
for Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament, denied for
over 100 years—and repeal of the Act of Union which
combined Great Britain and Ireland.
1905 – Sinn Féin political party is established by Catholics
with the intention of freeing Ireland from British rule
1913 – Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) a paramilitary group
created by Protestants who oppose the concept of Irish
Home Rule.
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1916 – The Easter Uprising, April 24
Political and sectarian conflict over whether Ireland
should remain part of the UK culminates in the
Easter Uprising, when Irish Catholics seize strategic
buildings in Dublin, notably the general post office.
 An est. 20,000 British soldiers enter the city and fire
on the rebels. The fighting lasts for five days and the
rebels are forced to surrender. Seventy are
sentenced to death and 15 are executed, fueling
support for Sinn Féin – the political party
representing the nationalist cause.
 Catholic rebels become known as the Irish
Republican Army (IRA).
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1919-1922 – War of Independence & the
Partitioning of the Ireland
Following the Easter Rising, Sinn Féin won a
majority of seats in Ireland and set up the First Dáil
(Irish Parliament) in Dublin.
Ireland essentially seceded from the UK. The Irish
War for Independence followed, leading to the
establishment of the Irish Free State.
In Ulster, however, and particularly in the six
counties which became Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin
fared poorly in the 1918 election, and Unionists
won a strong majority.
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The Government of Ireland Act 1920 partitioned the
island of Ireland into two separate jurisdictions,
Southern Ireland (comprising the 26 southern
counties – each with a Catholic majority) and
Northern Ireland (comprising the 6 Ulster counties –
each with a Protestant majority), both as devolved
regions of the United Kingdom.
This partition of Ireland was confirmed when the
Parliament of Northern Ireland exercised its right in
December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921
to opt out of the newly established Irish Free State.
 Violence escalates as Catholics oppose partition.
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The Anglo-Irish Treaty provided for a selfgoverning Irish state in the south, having its own
army and police.
However, rather than creating the independent
republic, which was favored by nationalists, the
Irish Free State would be an “autonomous
dominion of the British Empire” with the British
monarch as head of state, in the same manner as
Canada and Australia.
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1922-26 - The Irish Civil War
waged between two opposing groups of
Irish nationalists: the forces of the
"Provisional Government" that
established the Free State in December
1922, who supported the Anglo-Irish
Treaty, and the Republican opposition,
for whom the Treaty represented a
betrayal of the Irish Republic. The war
was won by the Free State forces.
The Civil War claimed more lives than
the War of Independence against
Britain that preceded it, and left Irish
society further divided and embittered.
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Bloody Sunday: The day began with
an Irish Republican Army (IRA)
operation organized by Michael
Collins to assassinate the Cairo Gang, a
team of undercover agents.
National Army soldiers
during the Civil War
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1948 - Irish Free State is granted full
independence from Britain and formally
becomes the Republic of Ireland.