ght of the five area Education and Library Boards, teacher training, teachers' salaries, examinations, the arts and libraries, youth services, sport and recreation, community services and facilities, and the improvement of community relations. So as you can see the Department of Education has many responsibilities. This shows to me how seriously this culture deems the value of education.As I stated before this need for education was spurned by the increases in the economy of Northern Ireland in the past several years. In 1995 the average weekly earnings in Northern Ireland was 300.2 pounds. In just three short years the average raised over 10% to 332.6 pounds per week. This could be due in part to the substantial decrease in unemployment throughout the region. Between 1995 and 1998 the unemployment rate dropped from 11.0% to 7.3%. The country also saw a sharp increase in the Gross Domestic Product per head between this time period. It raised from 8,434 pounds per head in 1995 to 9,235 pounds per head in 1998. So as you can see the economy of Northern Ireland is doing very well and is expected keep improving. But no matter how well the economy does it won't change the fact the injustices against humanity are taking place in Northern Ireland. I feel that discrimination against Catholics is one of the chief causes of the conflict. Allegations about discrimination against Catholics, and the Catholic community as a whole, were the key driving force of the Civil Rights movement in Northern Ireland. Throughout the whole period of Unionist rule at Stormont there had been complaints that Catholics were being discriminated against in relation to electoral practices, public and private employment, public housing, regional policy, and policing. However, the issue of discrimination was to receive sustained attention when the Campaign for Social Justice began to systematically document the allegations and tried to bring them to the attent...
