Ireland essays

Ireland essays Northern Ireland is an administrative division of the United Kingdom, which is situated, in the northeastern portion of the island of Ireland. The remaining portion of the island is part of the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland constitutes about 17 percent of the land area of Ireland and has 31 percent of the island's population. The capital of Northern Ireland is Belfast. Northern Ireland's population is deeply divided along religious and political lines. The split between the Protestant majority and the Catholic minority extends deep into Northern Ireland's past and has strongly influenced the region's culture, settlement patterns, and politics. Northern Ireland came into existence as a result of a campaign for Irish Home Rule, which began in the 1870s. At that time the whole island of Ireland was governed by Britain and sent MPs to Westminster, which is the home of the British Government in London. Home Rulers wanted a separate Irish parliament but their campaign was defeated by a number of groups, including Irish unionists, who wanted to remain under British rule. A bill granting Home Rule was passed through its parliamentary stages but was postponed because of the outbreak of the First World War. The pressure for Home Rule took a violent turn with the Easter Rising of 1916, when a small group of Irish rebels took control of parts of Dublin and declared a provisional republic government. The following execution of most of the leaders hardened Irish opinion and led to the emergence of Sinn Fein, a republican party led by Eamonn DeValera, one of the main participants in the Rising who had escaped execution because of his American citizenship. At the same time the Irish Republican Army was formed and began a terror campaign attacking police and army bases in Ireland. The violence was so widespread that British irregulars, called the Black and Tans, were shipped to Ireland to combat the virtual civil war. But the fer...