Segregation in Northern Ireland is a long-running issue in the political and social history of Northern Ireland. It often been regarded as both a cause and effect of
The TroublesThe Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
between the
Roman CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
and Protestant populations of
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
.
A combination of political, religious and social differences plus the threat of intercommunal tensions and violence has led to widespread self-segregation of the two communities. Catholics and Protestants lead largely separate lives in a situation that some have dubbed "self-imposed apartheid". The academic John Whyte argued that "the two factors which do most to divide Protestants as a whole from Catholics as a whole are
endogamyEndogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class or social group, rejecting others on such bases as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships...
and separate education".
Historical background
Soon after they had conquered England, the
Normans invaded IrelandThe Norman invasion of Ireland was a Norman military expedition to Ireland that took place on 1 May 1169 at the behest of Dermot MacMurrough , the King of Leinster. It was partially consolidated by Henry II on 18 October 1171 and led to the eventual entry of the Lordship of Ireland into the Angevin...
.
GaelicThe Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages – Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx...
lords gradually regained control of the island, until the English Crown's influence was limited to
the PaleThe Pale or the English Pale , was the part of Ireland that was directly under the control of the English government in the late Middle Ages. It had reduced by the late 1400s to an area along the east coast stretching from Dalkey, south of Dublin, to the garrison town of Dundalk north of Drogheda...
by the 15th century. The
ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
marked a watershed in the history of the British Isles as the Irish remained Roman Catholic and Henry VIII initiated the Tudor Reconquest of Ireland.
A final part of that century-long struggle was the Nine Years War (1594-1603), after which the defeated earls' lands were confiscated and given to settlers, in the
Plantation of UlsterThe Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of Ulster by people from Britain. Private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while official plantation controlled by the monarchy began in 1609. All land owned by Irish chieftains the Ó Neills and Ó Donnells were confiscated...
. Most of the planters came from south-west
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and became the Scots-Irish.
Several others were to followPlantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were established throughout the country by the confiscation of lands occupied by Gaelic clans and Hiberno-Norman dynasties, but principally in the provinces of Munster and Ulster. The lands were then granted by Crown authority to colonists from Britain...
as attempts to convert the Irish failed, but the plantation of
UlsterUlster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island.Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone are part of Northern Ireland; while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.-Terminology:The...
was to be the largest.
The Plantations had a profound impact on Ireland in several ways. The first was the destruction of the native ruling classes and their replacement by the
Protestant AscendancyThe Protestant Ascendancy is a phrase used when referring to the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland by a minority of great landowners, establishment clergy, and professionals, all members of the Established Church during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries...
, of British (mostly English)
Anglican ProtestantAnglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures...
landowners. Their position was buttressed by the
Penal LawsThe Penal Laws in Ireland refers to a series of laws imposed under British rule that removed power from the native Roman Catholic majority.-Background:...
, which denied political and land-owning rights to Catholics and to some extent to Presbyterians. The dominance of this class in Irish life persisted until the late 19th century and cemented the British control over the country.
During the 17th and 18th century, it was troubled by revolts and civil wars, such as the Rebellions
of 1641The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, but developed into inter communal violence between native Irish and English and Scottish Protestant settlers, starting a conflict known as the Irish Confederate Wars....
and
of 1798The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in the Kingdom of Ireland...
. In 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom through the Act of Union.
The following century saw an ever-increasing
Irish nationalismIrish nationalism comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and a sense of pride in Ireland and the Irish people...
, which in turn lead to a resurgence of interest in the
Irish languageIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
, literature, history, and folklore; by that time Gaelic had died out as a spoken tongue except in isolated rural areas.
As a result of the
Anglo-Irish TreatyThe Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the de facto Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence...
ending the
Irish War of IndependenceThe Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army . It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence, and ended with a truce in July 1921...
, six of
UlsterUlster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island.Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone are part of Northern Ireland; while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.-Terminology:The...
's nine counties were formed into Northern Ireland with a Protestant majority.
Political discrimination
Unionist political parties, supported largely by Protestants, governed Northern Ireland from its creation in 1921 through to the imposition of direct rule in the 1970s. The large Catholic minority - about 30-40% of the population during that period - faced widespread
discriminationDiscrimination is a sociological term refering to treatment taken toward or against a person of a certain group that is taken in consideration based on class or category. The United Nations explains: "Discriminatory behaviours take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or...
and political marginalisation.
Under successive Unionist Prime Ministers from Sir
James CraigJames Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon PC was a prominent Irish unionist politician, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland...
(later Lord Craigavon) onwards, the unionist establishment practised what is generally considered a policy of discrimination against the nationalist/Catholic minority.
A pattern of discrimination was established in the case of local government, where gerrymandered ward boundaries rigged local government elections to ensure unionist control of some local councils with nationalist majorities. In a number of cases, most prominently those of the Corporation of Londonderry,
OmaghOmagh is the county town of County Tyrone in Ireland, it is on the outskirts of the largest city in Tyrone,Gortin. situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The town, which is the largest in the county, has an estimated population of 22,182...
Urban District, and Fermanagh County Council, ward boundaries were drawn to place as many Catholics as possible into wards with overwhelming nationalist majorities while other wards were created where unionists had small but secure majorities, maximising unionist representation. This process was greatly facilitated by the use of bloc voting to elect local councillors in most areas outside Belfast.
Voting arrangements which gave commercial companies votes and restricted the vote to property owners, primary tenants and their spouses also helped achieve similar ends. Disputes over local government gerrymandering were a central issue for the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights AssociationThe Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was an organisation which campaigned for civil rights for the Roman Catholic minority in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. -Origins:...
in the 1960s.
Education
Education in Northern Ireland is heavily segregated. Most state schools in Northern Ireland are predominantly Protestant, while the majority of Catholic children attend schools maintained by the Catholic Church. In all, 90 per cent of children in Northern Ireland still go to separate faith schools. The consequence is, as one commentator has put it, that "the overwhelming majority of Ulster's children can go from four to 18 without having a serious conversation with a member of a rival creed." The prevalence of segregated education has been cited as a major factor in maintaining
endogamyEndogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class or social group, rejecting others on such bases as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships...
(marriage within one's own group) However, the
Integrated EducationThe Integrated education movement in Northern Ireland is an attempt to bring together children, parents and teachers from both Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions: the aim being to provide a balanced education, while allowing the opportunity to understand and respect all cultural and religious...
movement has sought to reverse this trend by establishing non-denominational schools such as the
Portadown Integrated PrimaryPortadown Integrated Primary is a primary school which opened in Portadown, Northern Ireland in 1990.When first opened the school was housed in portable cabins in Chambers Park, home of Portadown RFC. Initially it had a small number of pupils, around 20-30, and lunch was held in the rugby changing...
. Such schools are, however, still the exception to the general trend of segregated education. Integrated schools in Northern Ireland have been established through the voluntary efforts of parents. The churches have not been involved in the development of integrated education.
Employment
Historically, employment in the
Northern Irish economyThe economy of Northern Ireland is the smallest of the four home nations' economies of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland has traditionally had an industrial economy, most notably in shipbuilding, rope manufacture and textiles, but most heavy industry has since been replaced by services...
was highly segregated, particularly at senior levels of the public sector and in certain sectors of the economy, such as shipbuilding and heavy engineering . Emigration to seek employment was significantly more prevalent among the Catholic population. As a result, Northern Ireland's demography shifted further in favour of Protestants leaving their ascendancy seemingly impregnable by the late 1950s.
A 1987 survey found that 80 per cent of the workforces surveyed were described by respondents as consisting of a majority of one denomination; 20 per cent were overwhelmingly unidenominational, with 95-100 per cent Catholic or Protestant employees. However, large organisations were much less likely to be segregated, and the level of segregation has decreased over the years.
The British government has introduced numerous laws and regulations since the mid-1990s to prohibit discrimination on religious grounds, with the Fair Employment Commission (originally the Fair Employment Agency) exercising statutory powers to investigate allegations of discriminatory practices in Northern Ireland business and organisations. This has had a significant impact on the level of segregation in the workplace; John Whyte concludes that the result is that "segregation at work is one of the least acute forms of segregation in Northern Ireland."
Housing
Public housing is overwhelmingly segregated between the two communities. Intercommunal tensions have forced substantial numbers of people to move from mixed areas into areas inhabited exclusively by one denomination, thus increasing the degree of polarisation and segregation. The extent of self-segregation grew very rapidly with the outbreak of
the TroublesThe Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
. In 1969, 69 per cent of Protestants and 56 per cent of Catholics lived in streets where they were in their own majority; as the result of large-scale flight from mixed areas between 1969 and 1971 following outbreaks of violence, the respective proportions had by 1972 increased to 99 per cent of Protestants and 75 per cent of Catholics. In Belfast, the 1970s were a time of rising residential segregation. It was estimated in 2004 that 92.5% of public housing in Northern Ireland was divided along religious lines, with the figure rising to 98% in
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and the largest city in Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is the seat of devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. It is the largest urban area in the province of Ulster, and the second largest city on the island of...
. Self-segregation is a continuing process, despite the
Northern Ireland peace processThe peace process, when discussing the history of Northern Ireland, is often considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Belfast Agreement, and subsequent political developments.-Towards a...
. It was estimated in 2005 that more than 1,400 people a year were being forced to move as a consequence of
intimidationIntimidation is intentional behavior "which would cause a person of ordinary sensibilities" fear of injury or harm. It's not necessary to prove that the behavior was so violent as to cause terror or that the victim was actually frightened...
.
In response to intercommunal violence, the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
constructed a number of high walls euphemistically called "
peace linesThe Peace Lines are a series of separation barriers ranging in length from a few hundred yards to over three miles , separating Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods in Belfast, Derry and elsewhere in Northern Ireland...
" to separate rival neighbourhoods. These have multiplied over the years and now number forty separate barriers, mostly located in Belfast. Despite the moves towards peace between Northern Ireland's political parties and most of its paramilitary groups, the construction of "peace lines" has actually increased during the ongoing peace process; the number of "peace lines" doubled in the ten years between 1995 and 2005. In 2008 a process was proposed for the removal of the peace walls.
The effective segregation of the two communities significantly affects the usage of local services in "
interface areaInterface area is the name given to areas where segregated Protestant and Catholic residential areas meet in Northern Ireland. They have been defined as "the intersection of segregated and polarised working class residential zones, in areas with a strong link betweenterritory and ethno-political...
s" where sectarian neighbourhoods adjoin. Surveys in 2005 of 9,000 residents of interface areas found that 75% refused to use the closest facilities because of location, while 82% routinely travelled to "safer" areas to access facilities even if the journey time was longer. 60% refused to shop in areas dominated by the other community, with many fearing
ostracismOstracism was a procedure under the Athenian democracy in which a prominent citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at the victim, ostracism was often used pre-emptively...
by their own community if they violated an unofficial
de facto boycott of their sectarian opposite numbers.
Intermarriage
In contrast with both the Republic of Ireland and most parts of Great Britain, where intermarriage between Protestants and Catholics is common, intermarriage in Northern Ireland is rare. From 1970 through to the 1990s, only 5 per cent of marriages were recorded as crossing community divides. This figure remained largely constant throughout the Troubles, though it has risen to between 8 and 12 per cent according to the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Younger people are also more likely to be married to someone of a different religion to themselves than older people. However, the data hide considerable regional variation across Northern Ireland.
Anti-discrimination legislation
From 1970 onwards, the British government took repeated action to legislate against discrimination in Northern Ireland. It passed a series of statutes aimed at prohibiting discrimination in the workplace on the grounds of religion. This resulted in the curious anomaly of people in Northern Ireland being protected against religious discrimination, while people in the mainland had no such protection.
The main pieces of equality legislation in Northern Ireland are:
* As amended.