Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Geography The Northern Ireland Conflict The Northern Ireland Conflict Esteemed members of the Board, in this report I intend to convincingly show you that the borders in question absolutely need to be redrawn. The borders I speak of are those of the British oppression of Northern Ireland. For years upon years the British have possessed political control over the people of Northern Ireland. I will make it obvious to you that the strong Catholic religion throughout Northern Ireland has forced the people to oppose British control. As most of you know, the official and majority religion of Great Britain is that of Protestantism. And the deeply faithful Irish have always felt that they were looked down upon by the British for refusing to practice their form of Christianity. But, we will discuss this later as the current issue is that of the culture of the people of Ireland. My argument is that the Irish culture is the same throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is currently under British control. Because the Irish people share the same culture and the same geographic area, being located on the small island, they deserve and are justly due to have their entire country reunited. I feel that the British must cede Northern Ireland back to the Irish people to reunite the full country. To prove my point that the Irish people share the same language I will explain the unique qualities that the Irish culture possesses. Many of these qualities are unique to the people of this region. The first is the Irish language. It is often referred to as Gaelic, but I have found that it is just called the Irish language now. This language is one of the oldest in Europe and it boasts one of the earliest written literatures in the entire world. A study was conducted by the British government in 1991 that found 142,000 people in Northern Ireland speak the Irish language. This is a decent proportion of the population in Northern Ireland. It is significant enough for the British government to recognize that the language still serves a special purpose in the Irish culture. The language is so important that to give the British government a better name, they have set up government funded classes for Irish of all ages to learn it. The British government has also funded Irish language festivals, adult education classes, and research into Irish place names in Northern Ireland. So it is obvious that the language of Ireland is extremely important to the culture and to the people of the land. The Gaelic language has survived for so long because of the strong family ties the Irish hold. These strong family ties are how many of the customs of the culture are passed down from generation to generation. The family serves a key role in the society of the country. The bonds of family do not only apply to the nuclear family, but instead the entire extended family usually lives close to each other and often meet together for religious holidays. This strong family bond is how many of the Irish people have been able to survive the many travesties that have been bestowed upon them throughout the years. One of the qualities that are not unique to the Irish people is that of the clothing styles. The styles found in Ireland are the styles that are found throughout Europe and the rest of the Western World. Clothing for men is the same as found throughout the Western world. Men of high class were found to wear suits and ties very often, while the working class man will wear pants and a button down shirt very often. I found the women also where typical western clothing. One of the mainstays of Irish cultures calls for everyone to wear their nicest clothes on Sunday when they go to church. If someone does not wear nice clothing to church they are looked down upon and do not hold much respect within the community. The traditional foods of Ireland are famed to be some of the finest in the world. One of the chief ingredients in an Irish meal includes the potato. One Irish dish, known as colcannon, consists of just mashed potatoes, butter and onions. While boxty, which is basically a potato cake, is a grated potato fried in bacon fat. These potato cakes are traditionally served during breakfast, but can be found to be eaten throughout the day. But bacon fat is not the only use that the Irish have for bacon. Traditional Irish bacon is known as rashers and is known to be just excellent. Another of the mainstays of Irish cuisine is bread. The Irish have all sorts of bread products that they incorporate in every meal. All of these items are what make the Irish traditional food what it is. The landscape of Ireland is claimed to be some of the most beautiful in the world. With its rolling hills and plush, green vegetation the landscape is breathtaking. The reason for this plush landscape is the amount of rainfall Ireland receives each year. With rain year round it is very easy for vegetation to grow abundant. These rolling hill are also the reason why the potato is the most prevalent agricultural product in Ireland. The hills limit the types of plants the farmers of Ireland are able to grow. This makes the potato, which grows as a root underground, their main agricultural cash crop. The country is also filled with many peninsulas along the coastline. Along with these peninsulas comes the rocky terrain of the coast. The shores of Ireland do not contain very many sandy beaches. Most are filled with treacherous rocks that do not allow the beaches to be used in recreational purposes Although Northern Ireland has been made out to be somewhat of a useless piece of land it does combines within its small, easily accessible area a wealth of sights and experiences. The coastline makes for a breathtaking sight. Along with its tremendous coastline it also has many lakes, glens, mountains and forest parks which greatly enhance it's already overpowering beauty. With it's rolling hills, coastline, and wonderful lakes it is hard not to be charmed by the overall beauty of the entire country. Although all countries are unique in their own way they often share many characteristics with other countries in different parts of the world. For example rather than having a government or judicial system like that of the United States of America, Northern Ireland's government and judicial system are more closely related to countries such as England and Canada. Rather than a President and Vice President, Northern Ireland has a First Minister and a Deputy First Minister. These two positions play the role of the President and Vice President of the country. The main responsibilities of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister are Economic Policy, Public Appointments Policy, Equality, Civic Forum, Freedom of information and European Affairs. Northern Ireland has six government departments: 2. Department of Economic Development 5. Department of Finance and Personnel 6. Department of Health and Social Services And with the help of The New Northern Ireland Assembly, now commonly referred to as the 'Good Friday Agreement', all of these departments are controlled by Lord Alderdice. Who was appointed as the initial Presiding Officer of the New Northern Ireland Assembly by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Dr. Marjorie Mowlam, MP. One of the most important institutions in Northern Ireland is that of education. With a growing economy and business market the people of Northern Ireland hold a quality education in high esteem. The government established the Department of Education and gave it several responsibilities. These responsibilities include the development of primary, secondary and further education. This includes higher education, community and adult education, special education, oversight 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 attention of audiences outside of the region. It was the lack of jobs and houses in Derry, a region in Northern Ireland, and the allegations of discrimination and mismanagement by the Unionist Corporation. The Unionist Corporation encouraged support for the Derry march on 5 October 1968. The reaction of the Unionist government and the Royal Ulster Constabulary to this event, and to the civil rights movement in general, was to lead to 30 years of conflict. Some of the matters about which there were allegations of discrimination were the subject of reform in the late 1960s and early 1970s. For example changes to the law governing local government elections. These reforms ended the potential for mispractice. In a number of other areas reforms were to be more difficult and expensive to implement. Millions of pounds had to be spent to improve and increase particular public sector housing before this issue was to almost entirely disappear from the political agenda. A debate about the nature and extent of discrimination has been going on for many years. There are many in the Unionist community who maintain that there was no systematic apparent discrimination against Catholics. They also claim that any observed differences between the two communities, Catholics and Protestants, were the result of structural factors such as geographical concentration. It is obvious to me that the people of Northern Ireland have been forced to deal with discrimination in their own land for too long. This discrimination has lead to many of the violent acts the Irish have taken against the ruling British government. One such incident became known as "Bloody Sunday". "Bloody Sunday" refers to the events that took place in Derry on the afternoon of January 30, 1972. A Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) march had been organized to protest against the continuation of imprisonment without trial in Northern Ireland. An estimated 20,000 men, women and children took part in the march in what was described as a carnival atmosphere. Members of the British Army prevented the march from entering the city center. The main body of the march then moved to the Free Derry Corner to attend a rally, but some young men began throwing stones at soldiers in William Street. Soldiers of the Parachute Regiment, an elite regiment of the British Army, moved into the Bogside in an attempt to arrest certain protesters. During the next 30 minutes these soldiers shot and killed 13 men, while injuring 13 more people, mainly by single shots to the head and torso. The soldiers responsible for the deaths and injuries that day insisted that Irishmen had fired them upon first with guns and bombs. They claimed the attack was by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and that they only fired at people in possession of weapons. Those involved in the march, and those who witnessed the events, all provided evidence that was contrary to the evidence given by the soldiers. According to these testimonies none of those killed or injured had any guns or bombs. The events of 'Bloody Sunday' caused a lot of shock and revulsion at an international level. Within Ireland the killings resulted in a dramatic increase in support for Republicanism in general and the IRA in particular. The appeal for a new investigation into events on that day was a main demand of the relatives of the incident, and the events of "Bloody Sunday" remain an emotional issue to this day. This is in contrast to a number of other major incidents involving paramilitary groups that do not attract the same level of media attention. Part of the reason for this difference is the fact that the Widgery Report into "Bloody Sunday" left doubts about the innocence of those killed. Members of various paramilitary groups killed those who died in other major incidents. However, in Derry it was government forces, in the form of the British Army, the very people who were meant to protect life and uphold law, order and justice, who carried out the killings. So my proposition is for the British government to withdraw all military forces from Northern Ireland. Next, the British government needs to cede Northern Ireland back to the Ireland, reuniting the country. It seems obvious that this is the most rational solution to the problem. The people of Northern Ireland have been discriminated against in their own country for too long and deserve their freedom. Although certain groups of people located in the country have taken military action against the British government I do not in any way condone these actions as just. With a new peace treaty signed between the British and the IRA peace would once again come to this beautiful land. As you will see in my map the British will completely vacate all of Northern Ireland and allow the country with such national pride to be reunited. I beg you to give these wonderful people their own land back. Thank you. Bibliography: Works Cited 1. http://www.nics.gov.uk/ 2. http://www.ni-tourism.com/index.asp 3. www.nio.gov.uk/ 4. www.angelfire.com/me2/NorthernIreland/ 5. www.ireland.com/special/peace/troubles 6. www.infosites.net/ 7. www.thenisite.com/index.html 8. encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=04DFA000 9. www.agora.stm.it/politic/n-ireland.htm Word Count: 2463
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