MILESTONES IN HISTORY

CONTRIBUTING TO CURRENT POLITICAL

ISSUES IN IRELAND

 ART OF IRELAND, 299

SUSAN C. OWENS

NOVEMBER 17, 2000

 Good afternoon. What is the background for a number of current Irish political issues? Fasten your seatbelts. This is 800 years in 20 minutes. For those of you deeply involved in Irish issues and know much more than I, be kind. If I make an unsympathetic remark or blunder, it is unintentional. We are dealing with a long painful history; feelings and opinions run deep.

Let's start with basics: political geography. The physical location of Ireland has had everything to do with its history and its issues with Britain. The position of Ulster was key to its unique social, economic and political development. 5452 square miles, 1/6th of the island. It is separated from Scotland by the narrow North Channel, at one point 13 miles wide. Over time, this channel was a link, not a barrier, with a continual interchange of people and trade. This interchange gave the northern part of the island a distinctive regional character.

Historically, Ireland came under English influence in the 12th century. Anglo­Norman knights were initially invited to assist Irish chieftains in a local conflict. By 1170s, Henry II had conquered the island. Since then, there has always been some level of local resistance to English involvement.

Most Irish Catholics were descendents from Celts or Gaels, people living on the island Ireland when British influence began. Serious conflicts erupted at the turn of the 17th century when Elizabeth I tried to impose the English Reformation on the Irish. Ireland was considered a potential base for enemies of the Queen and the Reformation. To control Ireland was judged essential to England's national survival. England could not let Spain into Ireland.

With that in mind, Ulster was colonized with English and Lowland Scottish Presbyterian settlers with the intent to subdue and defuse Catholics. Interestingly Machiavelli, in Chapter III of The Prince, written in 1513, recommended a plantation process of "settlement" to control captive lands. Actually, if Machiavelli's "plantation" principles had been properly applied, England would have solved its Irish problem. In principle, the natives should have been completely removed from their land. In practice, settlers allowed Irish to remain. They were needed for labor. Ulster became not solidly Protestant, but a province with two populations, Catholic and Presbyterian. There was much antagonism, religious animosity overlaying bitter land disputes.

We now have two Irelands emerging at the end of the 10' century, a Catholic Gaelic one, and a Protestant one, speaking English. Queen Elizabeth's Trinity College (1591) was regarded as a bridgehead for introducing civility and a Reformed faith. But the Irish were excluded. They were doomed to be uneducated, economically and socially depressed.

Irish Catholics were not satisfied. They wanted their faith and their land. A Catholic rebellion occurred in 1641. This allowed Cromwell to feel justified in responding with great ruthlessness. Within 14 years, Cromwell forces dominated all Ireland. There was a great redistribution of land and political power. This was the Protestant Ascendancy. In Eastern Ulster, the Ascendancy was more secure, built on the backs of Presbyterian settlers. By 1665, Catholics held only 1/5th of the land, mostly in Connaught. It was said that the Protestants got the best land and the Catholics got the best views. Catholics benefited little from an improving economy and trade. They lived growing their own food, and weaving their own cloth.

The Battle of the Boyne in 1690 occurred between abdicated English Catholic King James II and Protestant Dutch William III. Because of James' relationship to France, the pope did not support Irish Catholic efforts. James II was routed and fled the country. The Protestant conquest was complete by the next year. So what was in play for more than 100 years was: The English formation, the Counter­ Reformation, royal ambitions, and increasing English and Irish nationalism. The Battle of the Boyne is still celebrated by the Northern Ireland Protestants as a symbol of their cause. The celebration is a keystone of the "Marching season" which continues today in Belfast.

After this crushing defeat, Anti‑Catholic statues were put into place: the Penal Laws. The Irish Catholic could not vote or run for election. He was excluded from the bar, the bench, the university, the na7~and all public bodies. Unable to possess arms or a horse worth more than 5 pounds. The list of restrictions was forbidding. However, the Irish were not totally exterminated, their labor was needed. Three quarters of the inhabitants belonged to a conquered population.

There was strong resemblance between these penal codes and apartheid; another conquering minority codifying its rule over a conquered majority in South Africa.. There were important differences in the analogy; of course, religion is much less discernible than the caste of color.

The French Huguenots fled to Ulster in the late 17th and 18th centuries, bringing commercial and industrial skills. Finally there was some relaxation of the penal codes due in part to a response to the American and French revolutions. When the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, the hope form Catholic emancipation was not realized. For the next century, England continued to execute an inconsistent Irish policy of repression and conciliation.

The great potato famine occurred between 1845 and 1849 with successive crop failures due to blight. Britain's efforts to relieve the famine were inadequate. Reliance on Irish resources and the free market was disaster. Care for starving peasants was left to local landowners and local relief. With rents unpaid, even well­ intentioned landowners could not support the suffering Irish. Many Irish farms continued to export high quality foods to Britain because locals lacked the money to purchase. Britain's grudging and ineffective measures to relieve famine distress cemented resentment of British rule among the Irish.

The famine was a watershed in demographics. The population of 8.4 million fell to 6.6 million.‑.one out of every 4 people. In 3 years. 1.1 million died of starvation or famine related disease. Emigration and reduced childbirth meant that by the time Ireland achieved independence in 1921, its population was barely % of what it had been before the famine, 70 years before. Many consider the famine as "man‑made", in that England was glad to be rid of the Irish and did little to mitigate suffering. Historians now believe the famine was inevitable, but also believe that the scale of the tragedy could have been significantly reduced by more determined governmental support.

The famine is the great dividing line of modern Irish history. Before, Ireland was a country of early marriages. After, later marriages were the rule, applying birth control in a Catholic world. Before the famine, Irish was spoken; after, English was predominant. There was also a change in the Irish character. After the famine there was a grimmer and tougher Irishman in the survivors and their children. Children of the famine reached maturity in Ireland and America. The great new . factor in Irish politics became the growth of this Irish community in the States. Supportive of any movement for Irish independence, the American Irish factor has brought a great weakening of England's control over Ireland.

There was the formation of the Land League. The goal to make life difficult for the

land grabbers and evictors. Intimidation, concentrated public attention, social

ostracism and refusal of services rendered life as difficult as possible for the landlord

or agent. The word Boycott came to the vernacular because of the application of these

methods in 1880 to a Cg Mayo estate for which a certain Captain Boycott was agent.

The Land league was an effective but slow engine of land reform.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a Catholic movement called Home Rule gathered force. To Protestants, Home Rule meant "Rome Rule". The anti‑Catholic Orange Order was revitalized, the Ulster Volunteer force was formed. Protestants didn't want to separate from England. They saw dependence on England as the best guarantee for their own lives and liberties. Home Rule bills were modified to allow Ulster counties to opt out of any united Ireland agreement. Meanwhile Catholic Ireland was experiencing militancy and revolutionary nationalism. Lenin endorsed their efforts.

WWI interrupted the quest for Home Rule. Irish Catholics and Protestants postponed differences to join British forces. However, the Irish Republican Brotherhood believed that England's difficulty was Ireland's opportunity. Help was sought from Germany, but not forthcoming. Various Catholic and Protestant militias were formed. The Easter Rising of 1916 was a botched insurrection, a failed proclamation of an independent Ireland. All leaders were shot. There is some thought that had reprisals been less harsh; Ireland could have evolved into a Canadian or Australian type of commonwealth member. Britain clearly underestimated Irish nationalism.

Ulster resistance to Home Rule forced the British to commit to partition of the island. The area to be excluded from the Republic was the maximum area that the Protestant Unionists could securely hold. This settlement was not satisfactory to the Catholics. “Sein Fein” declared all of Ireland an independent republic and convened its own parliament in Dublin.

A 2 1/2‑year guerrilla war commenced in 1918. The Guerrillas were the Irish Republican Army. The IRA had the sympathy of the population into which they could disappear. British counter‑terrorism was met with international shock and Britain's support in Canada, Australia and America was seriously damaged. The guerrilla war was not as awful as many in the world, but it was set on a bright stage, on home territory and before a world audience. The crushing of the guerrilla rebellion was protracted, costly and visible... politically unrewarding to Britain.

Although most of Ireland rejected separate states and most of Ulster rejected everything else, the Anglo‑Irish treaty of 1921‑1922 was forced into place. The Catholic majority of 26 counties were in one self‑governing unit and 6 of 9 Ulster counties (Northern Ireland) in the other.

The separate states gave no relief to the several hundred thousand Protestant unionists elsewhere in Ireland, many of whom emigrated. It also did not provide n protection for the half million Catholic nationalists who resided within these six counties.

From 1921 to1940, a Protestant majority dominated Northern Ireland. In distain, Northern Catholics withdrew from the political arena, making Protestant control of government, jobs, housing and education easier.

Meanwhile, the industrial economy of the north grew, with no parallel in the south. Linen manufacturing, aircraft and shipbuilding flourished. Belfast expanded the industrial resources of the entire United Kingdom.

Belfast became a large city, with population of 350,000. Skilled jobs were reserved for Protestants, but the economic magnet drew Catholics from the impoverished countryside. British social welfare extended to all Northern Irish after WWII war exceeding benefits available in the socially conservative south. The Republic of Ireland remained neutral during WWII. There was an understanding that Ireland would not be used as operations cover for Germany against England. This was not always true.

After WWII, Ireland became a Republic, but was isolated and unpopular in a postwar world. Censorship of literature and the press, laws against divorce and contraception prevailed. Public health was significantly worse than elsewhere in Western Europe. Half hearted good neighbor policy efforts with Northern Ireland went awry.

By the mid 60s, the fragile stability of Northern Ireland began to erode. Liberals questioned Protestant domination. Northern Catholics reentered politics. The US civil rights struggle sent a message. Catholic protests in 1968 caused violence, rekindling sectarian conflicts between the 2 communities, especially in Belfast and Londonderry.

Northern Catholics themselves had changed. They were bitter, outnumbered in the north and felt abandoned by the south. This generation was born after NMI and had benefited some from the welfare state of the UK. This generation was better educated, more self‑confident and less Dublin oriented than earlier groups.

In August 69, the Catholic quarter of Derry, the Bog side, resisted a police forced entry. Fights broke out with Catholics outnumbered 3‑1. The British army intervened. Repercussions reverberated through the island. Initially welcomed as defenders, the British weren't trusted and Catholics looked to the Republic for support. Arms from the US and the Republic found their way to breakaway groups, including the Provisional IRA.

The Provisionals were guerillas who called for two things: Britain out and the end of Protestant domination. Protestants responded with increased paramilitary brigades of their own.

The constitution and parliament of Northern Ireland was suspended in 1972 because of Bloody Sunday, when British troops shot 13 dead in Derry. The suspension continued until 1999. The‑stt . Efforts to power share made in the earl? 70s failed. Provisionals fought by using a combination of violence and mobilized public opinion against the army. By the mid 1990s, 3100 were dead and thousands injured as a result of the conflict.

The Republic was given a consultative role in affairs of the province in the 80s.

Britain agreed to recognition of a united Ireland if there were consent by a majority

in the Northern Province. In the 90x, talks again began between majority parties

(excluding Sinn Fein;‑Considered terrorists).

In 1994, the IRA and Unionist paramilitary groups announced an end to violence, although sporadic conflicts continued. After the ceasefire, the alternatives for the future of N. Ireland remained daunting.

One unwanted option was continued direct rule from Britain, which would bring continued resistance. The second option was British disengagement without an alternative governmental structure in place. It was believed that unstructured disengagement would result in civil war. The Protestant majority would impose its own law and order on Catholics who would resist. The Republic would be drawn in and a protracted conflict would ensue. With this specter, the third alternative was shared power-a process evolving today.

Among many issues facing shared power are two: First, the intractability of the Ulsters. They believe if they give an inch, they will lose it all. They desperately fear losing their power base, their majority, and if they left, where would they go? These people are no longer Scots, English or Welsh. They arrived 400 years ago and they're going to hang on. A second major stumbling block to shared power is disarmament. In 1997, the IRA declared a ceasefire to the bombing campaign. In 1998, The Northern Ireland Assembly, established under the Good Friday Agreement, accepted wide powers of self‑government, bringing to an end 27 years of direct rule by Britain. The obstacle of decommissioning weapons held by paramilitary groups remained. Ulster Unionists, led by David Trimble, refused to work with “Sinn Fein” until the IRA began decommissions. The IRA made it clear it would not hand in weapons until a proper administrative executive body was established.

Deadlines.... Brinkmanship .... Ultimately a new government has been established with 4 main parties, two unionists, and two nationalists on an executive committee. The new Northern Ireland assembly has raised hopes of a more peaceful and stable future for both unionist and nationalist groups resulting in a shared power process. These recent steps toward peace indicate recognition by both peoples of Northern Ireland that they can no longer continue living apart. A lasting peace could mean a flourishing future for all new generations. This hope is no guarantee. Much distrust remains, and a long past allows few safe predictions.