Conflict In The Troubles

30 years of trouble

“The Troubles” was a 30 year long lasting conflict, between the unionistic protestants and the Irish nationalistic population groups. Radical representatives of the Unionism were called loyalists and radical nationalists were called republics. The conflict originated from previous conflicts and the segregation of two major population groups, based on ethnicity and confession throughout history. The terms “catholic” and “protestant” serve as distinguishing features between two social groups in Northern-Ireland, which feature opposing social, political, economic and religious minds. These cultures were build out of the contrast of the old-fashioned Irish, who were poor, rural and catholic and the protestant colonizing Scottish

Osborne and R.J. Cormack from the University of Ulster and the Queens University of Belfast, includes various data collections and gives a view on the unemployment rate between 1971 and 1981. 13.9 percent of the catholic population were unemployed, while only 5.6 percent of the protestants had no work. In 1981 the unemployment rate nearly doubled and rose to 25.5 percent, while only 11.4 percent protestant workers were unemployed. The major difference is that, throughout the years the unemployment rate was double as high for the catholic population than it was for the protestant population. In 1961 the Protestants controlled most governmental positions and dominated all important positions. Only 14 employees of the police also called RUC were catholic, which lead to mistrust and ethnic discrimination by the RUC forces since most of the RUC officers where protestant. Because of various historic events throughout the years the tension between those two groups was high

It led to mass arrest and internment. (the arrests and imprisonment of suspects without charges being brought). The operation was launched to imprisoning high members of the IRA or PIRA (Provisional Irish Republican Army) which was a paramilitary organization that tried to remove Northern-Ireland from the United Kingdom and establish an independent republic encompassing all over Ireland. The interrogation techniques used on the internees were described by the European Commission of Human Rights in 1976 as torture, but the ECHR ruled on appeal in 1978 that while the techniques were "inhuman and degrading", they did not constitute torture. The launch of the internment led to protests and battles between the RUC and the catholic inhabitants. Which then led to one of the most famous incidents of in Irish history, The bloody