By: Patrick Rich 8E English J8 Summit 2012

The car exploded. 29 were killed and hundreds more injured in the Omagh bombing of 1998 (Connolly). Behind the attack was the Irish Republican Army, otherwise known as the IRA, a group of freedom fighters originally from Northern Ireland. The conflict began when the British government, at that time governing over all of Ireland, split Ireland into two parts, the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland stayed under the Queen, with a Catholic minority severely outnumbered by a Protestant majority. The Irish Catholics of this region were unsatisfied with this compromise, and thus the IRA was born. The reactions of the Northern Irish Catholic minority were comprehensible because they were fiercely patriotic, they felt that they were being treated unfairly by the Protestant majority of their country, and they thought that the government was not respecting their human rights. One reason that the IRA took such dramatic action against the British and the Protestants was that the Protestants discriminated against the Irish Catholics of Northern Ireland. First of all, employment was a problem for Catholics in Northern Ireland, chiefly because protestant shopkeepers were reluctant to hire Catholics to work for them (The Conflict). This caused poverty for many Catholics seeking work, and stoked their already simmering anger. Secondly, police harassment was a form of discrimination experienced often by Catholics in Northern Irish cities (Northern Ireland: The Troubles). One survey showed that 37% of Catholics in Northern Ireland had little or no confidence in the police force (Patten). Lastly, because of the Protestant majority in official government positions, Catholics in general did not have access to the same voting rights as Protestants in Northern Ireland. Voting was determined by the number of properties owned, with those holding or renting properties in more than one ward receiving more than one vote, up to a maximum of six (Northern Ireland: The Troubles). Obviously, the rich and employed Protestants benefitted from this much more than the poor and unemployed Catholics. Counterarguments for this reasoning include that the IRA acted wrongly because not all of the Protestants mistreated Irish Catholics. This is not relevant, though, because the Protestants so outnumbered the Catholics of this region that the percentage of Protestants that did treat Catholics unfairly was high enough compared to the number of Catholics to cause the Catholics serious discomfort. In conclusion, the IRA felt that the Protestants were treating them unfairly because of low employment rates, police mistreatment, and fewer voting rights than the majority of Protestants. The Irish Republican Army committed drastic acts of calculated violence because they wanted an end to the suppression of their national pride. Firstly, the IRA wanted

Northern Ireland to join together with the Irish Free State. For example, the 1969 Battle of the Bogside was a riot staged by Northern Irish citizens asking for their national identity back (Chronology). Second of all, would be members of the IRA did not want to be ruled by another country, Great Britain. For citizens with such a strong sense of patriotism, becoming just another British colony was intolerable. Finally, the IRA went even farther than wanting to rule Northern Ireland themselves; they longed for the entire English presence expelled from Northern Ireland. For instance, during World War II they went so far as to request help from Adolf Hitler himself (IRA). Some people may reason that the IRA overreacted because they were still in their home country, but thats not how the IRA members felt. To have the British governing over them was as bad as being abducted and taken away from their home country. Overall, the IRA operated so destructively because they felt that their sense of patriotism was not being respected. Irish Catholics responded with ferocity because they felt that the government of England was not respecting their human rights. Firstly, there was a four year British internment period from 1971-1975. During this period, over 2000 terrorist suspects were imprisoned unfairly and without trial (Chronology). Secondly, members of the British army shot dead 13 innocent Catholic protestors during a momentous event known as Bloody Sunday. Broken bottles under childrens feet- Bodies strewn across the dead end street (U2s Sunday Bloody Sunday). The British government even tried to absolve the soldiers, stating that they were just performing duties (The Conflict). Thirdly, the British government unjustly killed three IRA members in 1988, including a beautiful young woman; they were shot and killed immediately on the grounds that the SAS soldiers were suspicious that they were going to plant a bomb, even though it later turned out that the three were unarmed (The Conflict). The obvious counter-argument is that the IRA committed violent and unforgivable acts as well, but this is because they were provoked by the actions listed above. Their ultimate goal was an end to events such as Bloody Sunday and the 1988 killings. To sum up, the disrespect of the government of England towards Northern Irish Catholics made many people angry, and motivated the IRA to violence. Even though the IRA responded with vehemence in turn, in the end they were just trying to show that England could not mistreat them and get away with it. In the words of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, For over 30 years, the IRA showed that the British government could not rule Ireland on its own terms (Brainy Quote).

To summarize, the unbridled fury of the actions of the Irish Republican Army was fathomable because they were being mistreated by the Protestant population of their country, they were having their national identity suppressed, and they were not being respected the ruling government of England. The problems faced by these Northern Irish Catholics have not simply disappeared, and Northern Ireland is still under British control. The IRA remains in the form of Sinn Fein, a purely political and non-violent republican branch of government. The Real IRA, the section of the IRA responsible for bombings and shootings, was disarmed and has since disbanded. There is still hope, however, for the Northern Irish dream of a unified republic. In the words of Northern Irish Nobel Literature Prize winner Seamus Heaney, Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained (Brainy Quote).

Works Cited
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