Ireland (22 page)

Despite officially being declared a republic, there was still great poverty in the country, and very little employment for the people. At the end of the Second World War, tens of thousands of young people emigrated each year to Britain and America and elsewhere. It wasn’t until the 1960s, when Seán Lemass became Taoiseach that foreign companies set up factories in the country, bringing much needed employment.

In 1967, free secondary education was introduced. Many more young people could now avail of a secondary education and go on to university. More foreign companies, attracted by a young educated workforce, came to Ireland creating even more employment. In 1973, Ireland, joined the European Economic Community (now the EU), which brought great benefit for farmers and industries. It gave Ireland access to European markets and attracted more foreign companies to Ireland, especially American ones, where they could avail of the new markets and favourable tax rates.

The Republic of Ireland was beginning to become the modern country that those who had fought and died for her freedom had envisaged. Its citizens were enjoying the fruits of education and an improving economy, and Irish people were enjoying success across the world.

Our sportsmen and women won gold medals at the Olympics; the Irish soccer team reached the World Cup Finals; U2 was the greatest rock band in the world; Ireland won the Eurovision Song Contest five times in ten years, including a three-in-a-row; the show
Riverdance
thrilled audiences all over the world; Irish filmmakers and actors won prestigious awards; our boxers and athletes became world champions; Seamus Heaney won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the highest honour any writer could achieve, while other writers also won international recognition.

But during all this success, there was yet a darkness hanging over the country. Not all the citizens of the island of Ireland were free. In the six counties that made up Northern Ireland, the Catholic people were suffering from decades of sectarian hatred, abuse and the lack of civil rights. In other parts of the world downtrodden minorities were demanding civil rights. In America, the African American people, led by Martin Luther King, were demanding the ending of segregation and the granting of their civil rights.

These winds of change were blowing across the Atlantic to Ireland. There was a sense of hope in the air. But the winds, as they had so often done in the past, were also blowing dark clouds over the country. In the past, these clouds had meant terrible violence. This time was no exception. Northern Ireland was about to be plunged into decades of such violence that had not been seen in that part of Ireland in hundreds of years. The violence was to spill over into the Republic and to Britain, and even onto the continent. Blood was again about to be shed in Ireland in the cause of freedom. In 1169, the Normans had come to Ireland bringing centuries of conflict and bloodshed. In 1969, 800 years later, bloodshed returned. It seemed as if nothing had changed and that it was the destiny of the Irish people to be always at war.

N
orthern Ireland consists of six of the Ulster counties – Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone. These six were chosen for a very good reason; it gave the new state of Northern Ireland, set up in 1921, a Protestant majority. This might not have been a serious problem if the Protestants had treated the Catholic minority fairly. They did not do so. Catholics were treated as second-class citizens, which was a recipe for disaster.

Despite being in the majority, the Protestants could not forget the atrocities of the 1641 rebellion, or the siege of Derry, or other nationalist rebellions. They lived in fear of the Catholics and did everything in their power to ensure that they did not pose a threat. They were also wary of the Free State (later the Republic of Ireland), which laid claim to the six counties of Northern Ireland.

As a result, the Northern Protestants had a ‘siege mentality’ and felt under constant threat from Catholics, both in the north and the south. This ‘siege mentality’ led them to devise a system of government in Northern Ireland in which they were guaranteed political power. In the city of Derry, for example, which had a Catholic majority, the Protestants introduced a system whereby they had extra votes. Called gerrymandering, it ensured that the Protestant minority held power.

Having power is not a problem if that power is used fairly. But the Protestants abused their power, using it to consolidate their own wealth and influence, while ensuring that Catholics remained second-class citizens. They were denied jobs, lived in the worst housing, and were discriminated against in education and other areas of life. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the police force, which consisted almost wholly of Protestants, also discriminated against Catholics. Another group of supposed upholders of the law was the part-time B-Specials. This force was Protestant and most members hated Catholics. They, along with the sectarian Orange Order, did much to subdue the Catholics and to sow the seeds of bitter resentment in them.

The Protestants celebrated certain historical events each year. Two of the most important events were the lifting of the siege of Derry and the victory of King William at the Battle of the Boyne. To commemorate these successes, the Orange Order paraded through the cities, towns and villages of Northern Ireland, including the Catholic areas. They subjected the Catholics to intimidation and often rampaged through Catholic areas, breaking windows and attacking any Catholic who crossed their path. The B-specials raided Catholic homes, wrecking them in the process. Anyone who resisted was beaten up and arrested.

By the late 1960s this situation had existed for nearly fifty years. Britain, which had set up the Northern Irish state, and which was still responsible for certain aspects of government, ignored the abuse of the Catholics. The Irish government also ignored them, though it’s difficult to know what they could have done to help. With no one willing to help them, it is not surprising that the Catholics in Northern Ireland felt abandoned by both governments. Feeling forsaken, their resentment against the Protestants continued to fester.

In the 1950s and 1960s the question of civil rights became an issue around the world. In countries where civil rights were denied, those denied their rights began to demand them. In the 1960s, Catholics in Northern Ireland also began to campaign for civil rights. Among those who campaigned on their behalf were John Hume, Ivan Cooper and Bernadette Devlin.

In 1967, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was founded and organised protest marches against discrimination. This alarmed the Protestants, who were frightened of losing their power. They reacted violently, using the RUC and the B-specials to attack the marchers. The marchers were also attacked by vicious Protestant extremists and members of the Orange Order, whose violence was ignored by the police and the authorities.

As had happened in the 1920s, Catholic families were burned out of their homes by Protestants, who were supported and encouraged by Protestant extremists like Ian Paisley, who preached hatred against Catholics. The RUC and B-Specials did not protect the Catholics. Instead, local Catholics tried to protect their own people and this gave the IRA a motive to become active.

When the civil war ended in 1923, the IRA had not disbanded. Though later banned by de Valera, they continued to exist as an illegal organisation. Military action was rare, though it did occur at times. One such action occurred on New Year’s Day, 1957, when a group of IRA men seeking to obtain arms, attacked a police barracks in County Fermanagh. Two of their members, Fergal O’Hanlon and Seán South were killed. Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA, still existed, but had little electoral success. They had adopted a non-militant policy and aspired to obtain their aim of a 32-county Irish Republic by political means.

Now the IRA in Northern Ireland began to protect Catholics from Protestant mobs. Some IRA members, along with members of Sinn Féin, disagreed with this, and the two organisations split. The breakaway group formed the Provisional IRA, or the Provos. Sinn Féin also split, with the hard-liners supporting the Provisional IRA.

Rioting broke out in Northern Ireland as violence became a part of life. When the situation threatened to get out of control, the British government was forced to act. They sent the army to Northern Ireland to protect the Catholics, and to try and restore peace. At first the soldiers were welcomed by Catholics, but as the Provisional IRA became more active, the British introduced internment. Hundreds of Catholics were arrested and imprisoned without trial. However, few Protestants suffered this fate.

Some of those Catholics arrested were active in the Provisional IRA, but many were innocent of any involvement in violence. The internees were treated cruelly and many subjected to what amounted to torture. This drove more young Catholics into the Provisional IRA and violence escalated, with bombs now being planted in shops and public houses, and in cars parked on the streets. People from all sections of the community, along with Provisional IRA men, Protestant extremists, RUC men, B-Specials and British soldiers, were killed in the violence.

On Sunday 30 January 1972, one of the most notorious events of what was to become known as ‘The Troubles’ took place. A civil rights and anti-internment march was organised in Derry. The British Parachute Regiment, elite soldiers in the British army, was on the streets to keep the peace. They opened fire indiscriminately on the marchers, killing thirteen innocent people. Another victim died later.

This Sunday, like that November Sunday in 1921 when the Tans opened fire in Croke Park was also to become known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. Again, the soldiers claimed that they had been fired upon by the Provisional IRA, but no evidence of this has ever been produced, and no soldier was even injured.

The killing of innocent, unarmed civilians by crack British troops, which was shown on television, sent shockwaves around the world. It led to even more Catholics joining the Provisional IRA, and drew more support from the Catholic community. The British government was forced to take further action, and in March 1972 they suspended the Northern Ireland parliament and began direct rule from Westminster. They also tried to negotiate a cessation of violence with the Provisional IRA, but the talks failed. An attempt to set up a power-sharing administration, where Catholics and Protestants would govern together, was brought down by a Protestant workers’ strike, which brought Northern Ireland to a standstill.

Violence escalated. The Provisional IRA continued the campaign of violence. Protestant organisations like the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) also became more violent. Though claiming that they only targeted Provisional IRA men, most of their victims were innocent Catholics. Their actions led to sectarian murders in which both sides killed innocent civilians in acts of revenge for other killings. Widespread rioting in the cities and towns continued and nearly 500 people died from violence in Northern Ireland in 1972.

The republic escaped the violence until 1974 when, on 17 May, car bombs exploded in Dublin and Monaghan. Thirty-three people were killed in the attacks, the highest number of casualties in any single day of violence during the thirty-odd years of the troubles. Even today it is still not known who was responsible for these two atrocities.

The Provisional IRA also took their campaign of violence to England, where members of the defence forces, members of the government and innocent people were killed. Attacks on British army personnel were also carried out on the continent. The death toll rose without any solution to the terror seeming imminent.

In 1981, Provisional IRA prisoners in Long Kesh prison outside Belfast went on hunger strike. They wanted to be treated not as criminals but as prisoners of war. The British government refused to grant the prisoners’ demands and ten hunger strikers died over the summer months. Once more, Britain came under scrutiny around the world, and many governments voiced their concerns about the continuing situation in Northern Ireland.

But public or world opinion did nothing to prevent the violence. Bombings, murders and rioting continued. Terrible atrocities were committed by both sides and sectarian hatred increased. The commemorative marches by Orangemen brought more violence. There seemed to be little hope of an end to the killings and destruction.

Behind the scenes, attempts were made to talk with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, who were now the leaders of Sinn Féin, which supported the campaign by the Provisional IRA. John Hume, who had been involved with the original civil rights’ movement, and was now the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in Northern Ireland, was involved in these secret talks. The Irish and British governments were also secretly involved, and these talks led to what became known as the Downing Street Declaration in 1993.

This document stated that the people of Northern Ireland, Protestant and Catholic alike, should decide their own fate. A 32-county Ireland could only come into existence with the agreement of the majority of the people in Northern Ireland. It stated that the people of Ireland alone had the right to settle whatever issues remained between the north and south by mutual consent. Only those who renounced violence could take part in any talks that might take place as a result of the declaration.

The following year the Provisional IRA declared a ceasefire, which meant that Sinn Féin could take part in talks. There was much opposition to talks, especially from sections of the Unionist and Nationalist population, from the Orange Order and from some of the paramilitary groups, which had sprung up on both sides, and which wished to continue their campaigns of violence.

However, with encouragement from the American President, talks began between the main parties in Northern Ireland, with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by Ian Paisley. He was opposed to any involvement in talks with the Irish government, or Sinn Féin, or with any party that supported violence. However, the talks were completed on Good Friday, 10 April 1998, and resulted in an agreement known as the Good Friday Agreement.