Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Northern Ireland

 
Dictionary: Northern Ireland
Home > Library > Travel > Dictionary - Places


A division of the United Kingdom in the northeast section of the island of Ireland. The province occupies much of the ancient Irish kingdom of Ulster and is often known by that name. It was colonized by the British in the 17th century and became a part of the United Kingdom in 1920. Civil strife between the Protestant majority and Catholic minority of Northern Ireland has erupted frequently since the late 1960s. A historic peace settlement was finally achieved in 1998. Belfast is the capital and the largest city. Population: 1,740,000.

Northern Irelander Northern Ire'land·er n.

 

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Northern Ireland
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland occupying the northeastern portion of the island of Ireland. Area: 5,461 sq mi (14,144 sq km). Population (2001): 1,685,267. Capital: Belfast. It is bounded by the republic of Ireland, the Irish Sea, the North Channel, and the Atlantic Ocean. Northern Ireland is often referred to as the province of Ulster. The people are descended from indigenous Irish and immigrants from England and Scotland. Language: English (official). Religions: Protestantism (the majority) and Roman Catholicism (a minority). Currency: pound sterling. Northern Ireland's industries include engineering, shipbuilding (which has been in severe decline), automobile manufacturing, textiles, food and beverage processing, and clothing. The service industry employs about three-fourths of the workforce, and manufacturing employs less than one-fifth of workers. Agriculture is important, with most farm income derived from livestock. Northern Ireland shares most of its history with the republic of Ireland, though Protestant English and Scots immigrating in the 16th – 17th centuries tended to settle in Ulster. In 1801 the Act of Union created the United Kingdom, which united Great Britain and Ireland. In response to mounting Irish sentiment in favour of Home Rule, the Government of Ireland Act was adopted in 1920, providing for two partially self-governing units in Ireland: the northern six counties constituting Northern Ireland and the southern counties now making up the republic of Ireland. In 1968 civil rights protests by Roman Catholics sparked violent conflicts with Protestants and led to the occupation of the province by British troops in the early 1970s. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) mounted a prolonged campaign of violence in an effort to force the withdrawal of British troops as a prelude to Northern Ireland's unification with Ireland. In 1972 Northern Ireland's constitution and parliament were suspended, bringing the province under direct rule by the British. Violence continued for three decades before dropping off in the mid-1990s. In 1998 talks between the British government and the IRA resulted in a peace agreement that provided for extensive Home Rule in the province. In 1999 power was devolved to an elected assembly, though the body was hampered by factional disagreements. Sporadic sectarian strife continued in the early 21st century, as the IRA gradually carried out decommissioning (disarming).

For more information on Northern Ireland, visit Britannica.com.

Political Dictionary: Northern Ireland
Top
Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > Political Dictionary

Northern Ireland's position within the United Kingdom is easily misunderstood. It appears full of paradox: a successful implementation of the Westminster model that went horribly wrong; ultraloyal territory prepared to demonstrate its loyalty through acts of disloyalty; and a deeply conservative polity which (since 1972) has become an adventure playground for constitutional tinkering. Insofar as we can speak of the ‘settlement’ of the historic British-Irish conflict (embodied in the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and the Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921), it was a British success. Lloyd George's genius had been to extricate Britain from the Irish imbroglio at minimum cost. By establishing two parliaments and governments in Ireland he had quarantined the issue from British politics; reduced Irish representation at Westminster to 13 Northern Ireland MPs; and security control was transferred to indigenous forces. But the settlement did not alter the fact that the same actors remained with their conceptual approaches fundamentally intact. Part of the ambiguity lay in the transitional status of Ireland. The 1920 Act was about political pacification and its designers settled for the fashionable post-war device of partition. The first elections for the Northern Ireland Parliament established the dominance of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) winning almost 70 per cent of all seats between 1921 and 1969. They set about shaping it in their own image, a policy that met no resistance from Westminster where a philosophy of ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ was adopted.

Consequently it was fashionable to examine Northern Ireland as a peculiar form of devolution within the UK until the mid-1960s: indeed it was like an autonomous state with a federal relationship to the United Kingdom. It did not enjoy full legitimation and stability was ensured by a security policy in which citizens became accustomed to the belief that the rule of law could always be suspended. Westminster's limited control meant that it was a reasonably successful example of administrative devolution. The result was the absence of an informed Whitehall view of the more controversial aspects of Northern Ireland politics. This situation encouraged unionist illusions of self-sufficiency and it created unspoken separatist tendencies. These tendencies were put to the test after the campaign for full civil rights for Catholics erupted 1968 and led to intercommunal violence. Both governments were caught unawares. There had been minimal contact between North and South since 1922. Dublin had claimed Northern Ireland's territory and wrote this irredentism into its 1937 Constitution. There was low-level functional cooperation on matters such as energy, fisheries, and railways. With scant knowledge of conditions on the ground Dublin was forced into acting as ‘second guarantor’ of a reform programme produced rapidly by the Wilson government (to respond to Catholic grievances). London reacted angrily by declaring that the Northern Ireland problem was purely an internal affair. Neither the reform programme nor a security response returned stability to the province and by March 1972 Stormont was prorogued and direct rule was imposed.

Increasingly London was reduced to using the instruments of war rather than those of civil administration. This set Northern Ireland apart from the rest of the UK. Violence was prevalent even before Northern Ireland had been established. Unionists had used it to resist the Home Rule threat in the period before the Great War. Nationalists retorted with the 1916 Rising. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) again mounted a violent campaign between 1956 and 1962 but it failed to win popular (Catholic) support. So when the ‘Troubles’ erupted both communities reverted to familiar tactics. It was the incident known as Bloody Sunday (30 January 1972) when the British Army killed thirteen unarmed Catholic protesters that meant that the decision was taken that London could not rule by proxy. Catholics had withdrawn compliance from the state and Westminster politicians in the person of the first Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw, soon appreciated that Northern Ireland did not fit into the usual parameters of British political practice. Direct rule was meant to be temporary but it was impossible to find political leaders who had the authority to speak unequivocally for their respective communities. In an attempt to build a ‘strong centre’ and weaken the Unionist monolith the government reintroduced proportional representation for Stormont elections—the Unionist government had abolished it in 1929. They succeeded in that the UUP held only about 23 per cent of the popular vote by 1998. A March 1973 White Paper added to unionism's humiliation. The Stormont Parliament was to be an ‘Assembly’, the Cabinet an ‘Executive’, the office of Governor was to be discontinued and no more Privy Councillors were to be appointed. But the strong centre remained illusory and the ‘politics of the last atrocity’ endured. Whitehall veered between a security response and institutional tinkering. Between 1972 and 1984 there were six successive sets of institutions, all of them based on an internal settlement. Only the 1974 power-sharing government that lasted five months, brought down by massive loyalist intimidation, began to address the fundamentals. The two communities were represented on it, it was answerable to London and it had an Irish dimension. So it encompassed the four contending parties and was a cautious attempt to probe their conceptual approaches. But it was ahead of its time because there was not sufficient trust between the governments; factionalism was rife in each community; and loyalist and republican paramilitaries were rampant.

By 1980, and under some international pressure, the governments began a series of summits that culminated in the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA) in November 1985. Although deeply unpopular with unionists it had the merit of placing the conflict in its proper British-Irish context. The AIA had three features of note: it gave the Irish government a strong role (that fell short of joint authority) in the politics of Northern Ireland; it increased considerably British-Irish security cooperation; and its structures were flexible enough to withstand any sustained popular (Protestant) opposition. The IRA noted the significance of security cooperation—Sinn Fein had decided 1986 to contest and take their seats in a Dublin parliament. This was hugely symbolic because, since partition, they had rejected Dublin rule as being illegitimate. Equally loyalist paramilitaries began to look for radical political alternatives to violence. The Agreement was a watershed. It received international endorsement particularly from the United States and it was registered at the UN under Article 102 of the Charter. The failure of the unionist community to bring down the Agreement represented a milestone in British-Unionist relations. It was the first occasion in the last century that London had withstood their pressure on a vital constitutional matter. The final realization that power resided in London (and Dublin) led to significant attitudinal change over time. It registered in two 1987 think-pieces, the Ulster Defence Association's Common Sense (1987) and a Democratic Unionist Party/Ulster Unionist Party joint report The Way Forward. Politics was moving from zero-sum to inclusion and process for the first time ever in Northern Ireland. Despite continuing violence historic talks occurred between Sinn Fein and the SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party) during 1988. They did not succeed but neither did they fail and they were to be resurrected in the 1990s in the Hume/Adams talks. Attempts to remove unionism from its internal exile (in protest against the AIA) began 1989 through the Secretary of State Peter Brooke and his successor from 1992. In the meantime the IRA held secret talks with an emissary of the British government between 1990 and 1993. The outcome was the December 1993 Downing Street Joint Declaration signed by the British and Irish prime ministers. It was a deliberate piece of tortuous syntax with one aim in mind—to persuade the IRA to a ceasefire. That happened on 31 August 1994 followed by a loyalist ceasefire on 13 October. But it was to be a hiatus. One of the flaws of the Joint Declaration was its ambiguity on decommissioning. During 1995 the British government made decommissioning of paramilitary weapons a precondition for entering all-party talks. The IRA reacted by planting a bomb in Canary Wharf in February 1996 and the ceasfire was at an end. During 1995 both governments had published the ‘Joint Framework Document’ to establish accountable government in Northern Ireland and to ‘assist discussion and negotiation involving the Northern Ireland parties’. In November they launched a ‘twin track’ process to make progress in parallel on decommissioning and all-party negotiations. An international decommissioning panel, chaired by former US Senator George Mitchell, was created. Despite the breakdown of the IRA ceasefire a constitutional architecture (for a new Northern Ireland and for relations within the archipelago) was in place with substantial international endorsement. The missing links for success were an IRA commitment to peace and the political will in Britain to push through an inclusive package. The latter became possible after Labour's overwhelming victory in the May 1997 general election: the former followed. Blair set the multi-party talks for one year later with George Mitchell chairing. The Belfast Agreement was finally reached on 10 April (Good Friday) and was endorsed by 71.1 per cent of the North's electorate and 94.39 per cent of the Republic's voters on 22 May 1998.

The 1998 Agreement revisited the problems identified 1920 with a stronger sense of realism. It was an acknowledgement that the problem was British-Irish and that the first version of Northern Ireland had not worked. It recognized the three strands to the solution: relations within Northern Ireland; those between North and South; and relations between Britain and Ireland—all of these playing alongside developments in British devolution and in the EU. It gave the people of Northern Ireland the right to determine their constitutional future through a more inclusive range of political opinion. And it placed proper emphasis on equity, diversity, and human rights issues. By the turn of the century Northern Ireland might still be a place apart within the UK but the agreement was being heralded as a model for other societies coming out of conflict.

— Paul Arthur

British History: Northern Ireland
Top
Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > British History

Northern Ireland was formed by the Government of Ireland Act 1920-1. It comprised the six counties of the north-east of the island: Antrim, Down, Armagh, Londonderry, Fermanagh, and Tyrone. To ensure a protestant majority, the nine counties of the historic province of Ulster were rejected as the boundary. Fermanagh and Tyrone, though possessing small catholic majorities, were included to provide a credible geographical entity.

The circumstances of the province's formation dictated its turbulent subsequent history. The catholic minority, always over 30 per cent of the population, never accepted partition and usually boycotted the Belfast Parliament. The emerging Free State refused to recognize Northern Ireland. The new province established itself along the lines of a protestant state for a protestant people, with a heavy emphasis on security considerations.

After 1925, the province's future seemed more assured. But economic development was retarded by over-dependence on the British Treasury and by over-reliance on declining traditional industries. The government was dominated by narrow landed and commercial interests; all were members of the Orange order. Sir James Craig was prime minister 1921-40, Lord Brooke 1943-63. Unionist confidence was increased by their contribution in supplying bases and ports for Atlantic convoys, contrasting with the Free State's neutrality.

The declaration of an Irish republic in 1948 caused the constitutional status of the province to be clarified in the Ireland Act of 1949. Terence O'Neill's attempts, as premier from 1963, to modernize the economy and reform the sectarian basis of the province highlighted all inherent tensions. Police and special constabulary's reaction to civil rights demonstrations resulted in major riots in Derry city and Belfast, and the belated intervention of British troops to restore order and ensure more fundamental reforms. The security situation deteriorated rapidly in 1969-72, resulting in the alienation of the catholic population from the British army, and the formation of the Provisional IRA. The British government's declaration of direct rule from Westminster in 1972 was followed by the establishment of a power-sharing executive in January 1974, which was brought down as a consequence of the loyalist strike within five months.

The 1970s and 1980s saw a continuous IRA offensive against both the security forces and the economy; the growth of loyalist paramilitary retaliation; spates of sectarian assassinations and bombings in the province, in Britain, and occasionally in the Republic. Demands for political status for republican prisoners in 1981 led to further catholic alienation and support for Sinn Fein.

By 1985 and the Anglo-Irish agreement, attention turned to co-operation between the Republic and the British government on security and political matters. A sense of exhaustion after 25 years of conflict, better Anglo-Irish government communications, European and American concern, and, finally, negotiations between the SDLP and Sinn Fein leaders, John Hume and Gerry Adams, all contributed to the Downing Street declaration of December 1993, the IRA cease-fire of August 1994, and the loyalist paramilitary one two months later. After a referendum, administration was handed back in 1998 to a Northern Ireland Assembly of 108 members, of which 24 represented SDLP and 18 Sinn Fein. But hopes for the peace process have been jeopardized by the refusal of the IRA to begin serious disarmament. Assembly was suspended and direct rule reimposed. In July 2005 the IRA declared the armed struggle to be over, but suspicion postponed the reinstatement of the Assembly.

Irish Literature Companion: Northern Ireland
Top
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Irish Literature Companion

Northern Ireland came into being shortly before the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 [see Anglo-Irish War], which established a sovereign Irish Free State [see Irish State] within the United Kingdom. The northern state owed its existence to the strongly-felt antipathy of Ulster Unionists to Home Rule legislation [see Irish Parliamentary Party], which they identified with rule by a preponderantly Roman Catholic and economically underdeveloped population that had traditionally been the religious and racial enemy of northern Protestants since the 17th-cent. Ulster plantation. On 28 September 1912, almost half a million Northern Protestant men and women signed an Ulster Covenant vowing resistance to Home Rule under the leadership of Edward Carson and the Unionist Council. Under the Better Government of Ireland Act of 1920 (with effect from 1 May 1921), Northern Ireland was equipped with a parliament at Stormont from 1932 on the outskirts of Belfast, constructed on the Westminster model and subject to the authority of the imperial parliament. Commonly—but erroneously—called Ulster or the Province, Northern Ireland had at the outset a clear two-thirds Protestant majority of which one-third was Church of Ireland and two-thirds Presbyterian. Together these dominated political life under a succession of conservative Unionist governments led by James Craig (Viscount Craigavon), 1921-40, J. M. Andrews, 1940-3, and Sir Basil Brooke (Lord Brookborough), 1943-63. Meanwhile Catholics found themselves systematically excluded from political office and discriminated against in matters of employment and housing. However, the extension of British post-war legislation in health and education began to bring the benefits of the Welfare State to all sections of the Northern population from 1947. This had the effect of creating the generation who formed the nationalist movements of the 1960s—notably the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, 1967; People's Democracy, 1968; and the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP). With the accession of Terence O'Neill to the premiership came the promise of liberalization in the North and friendly overtures towards the neighbouring Republic. An ultra-Protestant reaction in 1966 led to the formation of the new Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Revd Ian Paisley, Moderator of his own Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster and later founder of the Democratic Unionist Party in 1971, soon emerged as leader of the ultra-Protestants. Protestant violence at Burntollet during a Belfast-Derry march, abetted by the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary), led to the battle of the Bogside, and the introduction of the British army on 15 August 1969 at the request of the new premier, James Chichester-Clark (Lord Moyola). A reinvigorated IRA emerged to defend the nationalist community and quickly took the offensive in a campaign of shootings and bombings. Internment was implemented disastrously on 9 August 1971—the intelligence lists were out of date and UVF paramilitaries were exempted. Thirteen civilian marchers were shot dead by British paratroopers on ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Derry on 30 January 1972, and direct rule by secretary of state was introduced in March of that year. The Sunningdale Agreement between Britain and Ireland (1973) established a power-sharing executive which was brought down by the Ulster Workers' Council strike of May 1974. A concerted policy of criminalization was levelled against the IRA by the Tory government of Margaret Thatcher (who narrowly escaped becoming one of the IRA's assassination victims). In November 1985 the Hillsborough Agreement confirmed that neither government would support unity without the clear and formal consent of the Northern majority. Talks between John Hume of the SDLP and Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin in Autumn 1993, and a joint declaration by the Irish and British governments with the assent of the Official Unionists under James Molyneux, raised the possibility that peace might ‘break out’ in early 1994, confirmed by the IRA and Loyalist ceasefires later in the year. The IRA ended its ceasefire in 1996 with the bombing of Canary Wharf in London, and Sinn Féin were barred from the inter-party talks under the Chairman George Mitchell, a U.S. Senator. In 1997 Tony Blair was elected Prime Minister at Westminster and brought a fresh impetus to the process of peacemaking, along with Mo Mowlam, Secretary of State. In July 1997 the IRA renewed its ceasefire, Sinn Féin joined the talks, and signed up to the Mitchell principles, which were based on compromise and non-violence. In 1998 Mitchell, after exhausting and nail-biting negotiations involving both governments and all parties (apart from the Democratic Unionist Party) brokered the ‘Good Friday Agreement’, which put in place wide-ranging strategies of accommodation between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and between Ireland and Britain. In 1999 a devolved assembly was formed in Stormont, only to be revoked in 2000 when agreement could not be reached on the decommissioning of weapons.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Northern Ireland
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
Ireland, Northern, division of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1989 est. pop. 1,583,500), 5,462 sq mi (14,147 sq km), NE Ireland. Made up of six of the nine counties of the historic province of Ulster in NE Ireland, it is frequently called Ulster. The capital is Belfast.

Land, People, Economy, and Government

The land is mountainous and has few natural resources. It comprises 26 districts. English is the official language. The majority of the population is Protestant, and nearly 40% is Catholic. Farming (livestock, dairy products, cereals, potatoes) is the largest single occupation. Heavy industry is concentrated in and around Belfast, one of the chief ports of the British Isles. Machinery and equipment manufacturing, food processing, and textile and electronics manufacturing are the leading industries; papermaking, furniture manufacturing, and shipbuilding are also important. Northern Ireland's fine linens are famous.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has limited devolved powers from the British Parliament, and often has been suspended since its establishment in 1999. The government is based on a power-sharing arrangement that requires that its members include a minimum number of both Protestants and Catholics, and that those members have the support of the representatives elected by their respective communities. Northern Ireland has 18 representatives in the British Parliament.

History

A Troubled History

Northern Ireland's relatively distinct history began in the early 17th cent., when, after the suppression of an Irish rebellion, much land was confiscated by the British crown and "planted" with Scottish and English settlers. Ulster took on a Protestant character as compared with the rest of Ireland; but there was no question of political separation until the late 19th cent. when William Gladstone presented (1886) his first proposal for Home Rule for Ireland. The largely Protestant population of the north feared domination under Home Rule by the Catholic majority in the south. In addition, industrial Ulster was bound economically more to England than to the rest of Ireland.

Successive schemes for Home Rule widened the rift, so that by the outbreak of World War I civil war in Ireland was an immediate danger. The Government of Ireland Act of 1920 attempted to solve the problem by enacting Home Rule separately for the two parts of Ireland, thus creating the province of Northern Ireland. However, the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland (see Ireland, Republic of), which was established in 1922, refused to recognize the finality of the partition; and violence erupted frequently on both sides of the border.

The late 1960s marked a new stage in the region's troubled history. The Catholic minority, which suffered economic and political discrimination, had grown steadily through immigration from the Republic. In 1968 civil-rights protests by Catholics led to widespread violence. Prime Minister Terence O'Neill had sought to end anti-Catholic bias as part of his policy of fostering closer ties between Ulster and the Irish Republic, but opponents within his ruling Unionist party forced his resignation in Apr., 1969. His successor, James Chichester-Clark, was unable to restrain the growing unrest and in August called in British troops to help restore order.

The IRA and Sectarian Struggle

At the end of 1969 a split occurred in the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which is the illegal military arm of the Sinn Fein party; the new "provisional" wing of the IRA was made up of radical nationalists. Brian Faulkner became leader of the Unionist party and prime minister of Northern Ireland in Mar., 1971, and began a policy of imprisoning IRA and other militants. However, the IRA and the Ulster Defense Association, a Protestant terrorist group, continued and even intensified their activities.

On Mar. 30, 1972, the British prime minister, Edward Heath, suspended the government and appointed William Whitelaw secretary of state for Northern Ireland. Westminster's direct rule over the province was renewed in Mar., 1973. An assembly was formed in June, 1972, with the Unionist party, a moderate pro-British group, in the majority. In November the Unionist party formed a coalition with the Social Democratic Labour party (SDLP), the major Catholic group, and the nonsectarian Alliance party. A Northern Ireland Executive was formed to exercise day-to-day administration.

In late 1973, the British prime minister, the head of the Executive, and the Irish Republic's prime minister agreed to form a Council of Ireland to promote closer cooperation between Ulster and the Republic. However, both the IRA and Protestant extremists sought to destroy the Executive and the Council, as they found power-sharing between Protestants and Catholics unacceptable. In 1974, hard-line Ulster Protestants won 11 of the province's 12 seats in the British House of Commons and pledged to renegotiate Ulster's constitution in order to end the Protestant-Catholic coalition and progress toward a Council of Ireland.

In May, 1974, militant Protestants sponsored a general strike in the province, and the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed on May 28. The British government then took direct control of the province with the passage of the Northern Ireland Act of 1974. Meanwhile, bombings and other terrorist activities had spread to Dublin and London. In 1979 Lord Mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA, and in 1981 protests broke out in Belfast over the death by hunger strike of Bobby Sands, an IRA member of Parliament.

Throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s terrorist violence by the IRA and other groups remained a problem. An assembly formed in 1982 to propose plans for strengthening legislative and executive autonomy in Northern Ireland was dissolved in 1986 for its lack of progress. In 1985, an Anglo-Irish accord sought to lay the groundwork for talks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Dublin agreed not to contest Northern Ireland's allegiance to Great Britain in exchange for British acknowledgment of the Republic's interest in how Northern Ireland is run. A 1993 Anglo-Irish declaration offered to open negotiations to all parties willing to renounce violence, and in 1994 the IRA and, later, Protestant paramilitary groups declared a cease-fire. Formal talks began in 1995. A resumption of violence (1996) by the IRA threatened to derail the peace process, but negotiations to seek a political settlement went ahead.

In July, 1997, the IRA declared a new cease-fire, and talks begun in September of that year included Sinn Féin. The result was an accord reached in 1998 that provided for a new Northern Ireland Assembly as well as a North-South Ministerial Council to deal with issues of joint interest to the province and the Irish Republic. The Republic of Ireland also agreed to give up territorial claims on Northern Ireland. The formation of a new government was slowed, however, by disagreement over the disarmament of paramilitary groups, but in Dec., 1999, a multiparty government was formed after further negotiations, and Britain ended direct rule of the province. Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble became leader of the Northern Irish government.

In Feb., 2000, however, Britain suspended self-government after the IRA refused to agree to disarm, but subsequent concessions by the IRA led to the resumption of self-government in May. Continued resistance by the IRA to disarming has threatened self-government and led Trimble to resign on July 1, 2001. Subsequently, Britain twice suspended the Northern Irish government in an attempt to avoid its complete collapse. Negotiations on disarming the IRA and other paramilitary groups, however, were relatively fruitless until late 2001, when the IRA began disarming; Trimble subsequently returned to office.

The arrests in 2002 of Sinn Féin government members for intelligence gathering for the IRA threatened the power-sharing government once again, leading Britain to suspend home rule once more, but in 2005 charges against the alleged spies, one of whom was a long-time government informant, were dropped, raising questions about the entire affair. The May, 2003, elections that would have reestablished the assembly were suspended by the British government. The ostensible reason was the insufficient specificity of the IRA's commitment to the peace process, but Trimble and the moderate Unionists also seem likely to suffer losses if the elections were held. Disagreements over the way the IRA's disarming was being handled continued.

When the elections were held in Nov., 2003, the more extreme Protestant and Catholic parties, Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and the Sinn Féin, outpolled their more moderate counterparts. Home rule remained suspended, but in early 2004 Britain, the Irish Republic, and Northern Irish political parties began a "review" of the 1998 agreement in hopes of reestablishing a Northern Irish government. Subsequent accusations that the IRA was involved in criminal activities threatened any future participation of Sinn Féin in a government. In Apr., 2005, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams called on the IRA to abandon the use of arms and restrict its activities to politics, and an independent report affirmed in September that the IRA had decommissioned its weapons.

In Apr., 2006 the British and Irish governments called for the Northern Irish assembly to begin formation of an executive in May and complete the work before the end of November; if they failed to do so, the members of the assembly would no longer receive their salaries. The assembly reconvened in May, but there was no quick progress in forming an executive. However, talks in October produced some progress, and the November deadline was pushed back to Mar., 2007. In Jan., 2007, Sinn Féin agreed to back the Protestant-dominated Northern Irish police force.

In March, elections for the assembly led to strong showings by the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin, and later in the month the two parties agreed to form a power-sharing government in May. Ian Paisley became first minister. Also in May the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), the oldest Protestant paramilitary group, announced that it was renouncing violence; it did not plan then, however, to decommission its weapons, but by June, 2009, it had decommissioned its weapons. British troops ended their military mission in Northern Ireland, which began in 1969, in July, 2007.

UDA factional clashes during the summer of 2007 led to a demand that they decommission their arms or lose funding for a loyalist project associated with the UDA; the social development minister's insistence on the deadline and cutoff of funds led to tensions in the North Irish executive in Oct., 2007, with the DUP and Sinn Féin supporting a more lenient approach to the UDA. In November the UDA announced that its fighters' weapons were being put beyond use (but not decommissioned); in June, 2009, it announced its weapons were being decommissioned.

Paisley retired as first minister and was succeeded by Peter Robinson, the new DUP leader, in June, 2008. A dispute over the devolution of justice and policing powers subsequently deadlocked the executive, with the DUP demanding the complete disbanding of the IRA first, was resolved in Nov., 2008, by an agreement on the process leading to devolution.

Bibliography

See A. Blacam, The Black North (1938); M. Wallace, Northern Ireland: Fifty Years of Self-Government (1971); P. Arthur, Northern Ireland Since 1968 (1988); B. Rowthorn, Northern Ireland: The Political Economy of Conflict (1988); F. Gaffikin, Northern Ireland: The Thatcher Years (1990); E. Collins, Killing Rage (with M. McGovern, 1999); G. Mitchell, Making Peace (1999); P. Taylor, Loyalists (1999).

Geography: Northern Ireland
Top
Home > Library > Travel > Geography

Political division of the United Kingdom, located in northeastern Ireland. (See Ulster.)

  • Northern Ireland was created in 1920, when Britain established separate parliaments for the parts of Ireland dominated by Protestants and by Roman Catholics. The Protestant portion remained in union with Britain.
  • Demands for equal civil and economic rights by the Catholic minority, beginning in the late 1960s, led to a renewal of violence between Catholics and Protestants.
  • The Irish Republican Army (IRA), a nationalist organization dedicated to the unification of Ireland, has staged terrorist attacks on British troops in Northern Ireland, as well as other random terrorist attacks in Britain.
  • A peace accord reached on Good Friday, 1998, provided for the restoration of home rule, which Britain had suspended in 1972 when it assumed direct control of Northern Ireland. By the terms of this accord, both Britain and the Republic of Ireland agreed to give up their constitutional claims on Northern Ireland. Voters in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland approved the accord later in 1998. The failure of the IRA to disarm threw this accord into jeopardy until recently. There is now reasonable hope for a settlement.

Wikipedia: Northern Ireland
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
This article is about the country. For other uses, see Northern Ireland (disambiguation).
Northern Ireland
Tuaisceart Éireann
Norlin Airlann
Location of  Northern Ireland  (inset - orange)
in the United Kingdom (camel)

in the European continent  (white)
Capital
(and largest city)		 Belfast
54°35.456′N 5°50.4′W / 54.590933°N 5.84°W / 54.590933; -5.84
Official languages English (de facto)
Irish
Ulster Scots1
Ethnic groups  99.15% White (91.0% Northern Ireland born, 8.15% other white), 0.41% Asian, 0.10% Irish Traveller, 0.34% others.[1]
Demonym Irish[2]
Northern Irish2
Government Constitutional monarchy
Consociationalism
 -  Monarch Elizabeth II
 -  Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown MP
 -  First Minister Peter Robinson MLA MP
 -  deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA MP
 -  Secretary of State Shaun Woodward MP
Establishment
 -  Government of Ireland Act 3 May 1921 
Area
 -  Total 13,843 km2 
5,345 sq mi 
Population
 -  2009 estimate 1,775,000[3] 
 -  2001 census 1,685,267 
 -  Density 122/km2 
315/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2002 estimate
 -  Total £33.2 billion 
 -  Per capita £19,603 
Currency Pound sterling (GBP)
Time zone GMT (UTC+0)
 -  Summer (DST) BST (UTC+1)
Drives on the left
Internet TLD .uk3
Calling code +444
1 Officially recognised languages: Northern Ireland has no official language. The use of English has been established through precedent. Irish and Ulster Scots are officially recognised minority languages.
2 While Irish and Northern Irish are common demonyms for Northern Ireland, nationality is a complicated issue. See the Citizenship and identity section below for details.
3 .ie, in common with the Republic of Ireland, and also .eu, as part of the European Union. ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb is unused.
4 +44 is always followed by 28 when calling landlines. The code is 028 within the UK and 048 from the Republic of Ireland.

Northern Ireland (Irish: Tuaisceart Éireann, Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom.[4][5] Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. At the time of the 2001 UK Census, its population was 1,685,000, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the population of the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland consists of six of the traditional nine counties of the historic Irish province of Ulster. It was created as a distinct division of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920,[6] though its constitutional roots lie in the 1800 Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland. For over 50 years it had its own devolved government and parliament. These institutions were suspended in 1972 and abolished in 1973. Repeated attempts to restore self-government finally resulted in the establishment of the present-day Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly operates on consociational democracy principles requiring cross-community support.

Northern Ireland was for many years the site of a violent and bitter ethno-political conflict—The Troubles—between those claiming to represent nationalists, who are predominantly Roman Catholic, and those claiming to represent unionists, who are predominantly Protestant. Unionists want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom,[7] while nationalists wish it to be politically united with the rest of Ireland.[8][9] Since the signing of the "Good Friday Agreement" in 1998, most of the paramilitary groups involved in the Troubles have ceased their armed campaigns.

Due to its unique history, the issue of the symbolism, name and description of Northern Ireland is complex, and similarly the issue of citizenship and identity. In general, Unionists consider themselves British and Nationalists see themselves as Irish, though these identities are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Contents

History

Main articles: History of Northern Ireland and The Troubles

For events before 1922 see Ulster or History of Ireland.

Signing of the Ulster Covenant in 1912 in opposition to Home Rule.

The area that is now Northern Ireland has had a diverse history. From serving as the bedrock of Irish resistance in the era of the plantations of Queen Elizabeth and James I in other parts of Ireland, it became the subject of major planting of Scottish and English settlers after the Flight of the Earls in 1607 (when the Gaelic aristocracy fled to Catholic Europe).

The all-island Kingdom of Ireland (1541—1801) merged into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 under the terms of the Act of Union, under which the kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain merged under a government and parliament based in London. In the early 20th century, Unionists led by Sir Edward Carson opposed the introduction of Home Rule in Ireland. Unionists were in a minority on the island of Ireland as a whole, but were a majority in the northern province of Ulster, a very large majority in the counties of Antrim and Down, small majorities in the counties of Armagh and Londonderry, with substantial numbers also concentrated in the nationalist-majority counties of Fermanagh and Tyrone. These six counties, containing an overall unionist majority, would later form Northern Ireland.

The clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over the controversial budget of Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd-George produced the Parliament Act of 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. Given that the Lords had been the unionists' main guarantee that a home rule act would not be enacted, because of the majority of pro-unionist peers in the House, the Parliament Act made Home Rule a more likely prospect. Opponents to Home Rule, from Conservative Party leaders like Andrew Bonar Law to militant unionists in Ireland, threatened the use of violence, producing the Larne Gun Running incident in 1914, when they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for the Ulster Volunteers. The prospect of civil war in Ireland loomed.

Prime Ministers
of Northern Ireland
Lord Craigavon (1922–1940)
John Miller Andrews (1940–1943)
Lord Brookeborough (1943–1963)
Captain Terence O'Neill (1963–1969)
James Chichester-Clark (1969–1971)
Brian Faulkner (1971–1972)
Infantry of the Royal Irish Rifles during the Battle of the Somme.

In 1914, the Third Home Rule Act, which contained provision for a temporary partition, received the Royal Assent. Its implementation was suspended for the duration of the intervening First World War, which was expected to last only a few weeks, but, in fact, lasted four years.

By the end of the war, the Act was seen as dead in the water, with public opinion in the majority nationalist community having moved from a demand for home rule to independence. David Lloyd George in 1919 proposed a new bill which would divide Ireland into two Home Rule areas, twenty-six counties being ruled from Dublin, six being ruled from Belfast, with a shared Lord Lieutenant of Ireland appointing both executives and a Council of Ireland, which Lloyd George believed would evolve into an all-Ireland parliament.[10]

The island of Ireland was partitioned in 1921 under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act 1920.[11] Six of the nine Ulster counties in the north-east formed Northern Ireland and the remaining three counties (including County Donegal, despite it having a large Protestant minority as well as it being the most northern county in all of Ireland) joined those of Leinster, Munster and Connacht to form Southern Ireland. Whilst Southern Ireland had only a brief existence between 1921 and 1922, a period dominated by the Anglo-Irish War and its aftermath, Northern Ireland was to continue on.

Signature page of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Northern Ireland provisionally became an autonomous part of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922. However, as expected, the Parliament of Northern Ireland chose, under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, to opt out of the Irish Free State the following day.[12] Shortly after Northern Ireland had exercised its opt out of the Irish Free State, a Boundary Commission was established to decide on the territorial boundaries between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. Though leaders in Dublin expected a substantial reduction in the territory of Northern Ireland (with nationalist border areas moving to the Free State), the Boundary Commission decided against this; in fact the unpublished report had recommended that land should be ceded from Southern Ireland to Northern Ireland. To prevent argument, this report was suppressed, and the initial 6-county border was approved by the Dáil in Dublin on 10 December 1925 by a vote of 71 to 20.[13]

In June 1940, to encourage the Irish state to join with the Allies, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill indicated to the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera that the United Kingdom would push for Irish unity, but believing that Churchill could not deliver, de Valera declined the offer.[14] (The British did not inform the Northern Ireland government that they had made the offer to the Dublin government, and De Valera's rejection was not publicised until 1970).

The Ireland Act of 1949 gave the first legal guarantee to the Parliament and Government that Northern Ireland would not cease to be part of the United Kingdom without consent of the majority of its citizens.

The Troubles, starting in the late 1960s, consisted of about thirty years of recurring acts of intense violence between elements of Northern Ireland's nationalist community (principally Roman Catholic) and unionist community (principally Protestant) during which 3,254 people were killed.[15] The conflict was caused by the disputed status of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom and the discrimination against the nationalist minority by the dominant unionist majority.[citation needed] The violence was characterised by the armed campaigns of paramilitary groups, including the Provisional IRA campaign of 1969-1997 which was aimed at the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and the creation of a new "all-Ireland", "thirty-two county" Irish Republic, and the Ulster Volunteer Force, formed in 1966 in response to the perceived erosion of both the British character and unionist domination of Northern Ireland. The state security forces — the British Army and the police (the Royal Ulster Constabulary) - were also involved in the violence. The British government's point of view is that its forces were neutral in the conflict, trying to uphold law and order in Northern Ireland and the right of the people of Northern Ireland to democratic self-determination. Irish republicans regarded the state forces as "combatants" in the conflict, alleging collusion between the state forces and the loyalist paramilitaries as proof of this. The "Ballast" investigation by the Police Ombudsman has confirmed that British forces, and in particular the RUC, did collude with loyalist paramilitaries, were involved in murder, and did obstruct the course of justice when such claims had previously been investigated,[16] although the extent to which such collusion occurred is still hotly disputed.

As a consequence of the worsening security situation, autonomous regional government for Northern Ireland was suspended in 1972. Alongside the violence, there was a political deadlock between the major political parties in Northern Ireland, including those who condemned violence, over the future status of Northern Ireland and the form of government there should be within Northern Ireland. In 1973, Northern Ireland held a referendum to determine if it should remain in the United Kingdom, or be part of a united Ireland. The vote went heavily in favour (98.9%) of maintaining the status quo with approximately 57.5% of the total electorate voting in support, but only 1% of Catholics voted following a boycott organised by the SDLP.[17]

Recent history

Main article: Northern Ireland peace process
First Ministers Deputy First Minsters
David Trimble (1999-2001) Seamus Mallon (1999-2001)
Sir Reg Empey (acting) (2001) Mark Durkan (2001-2002)
David Trimble (2001-2002) Martin McGuinness (2007-)
Ian Paisley (2007-2008)
Peter Robinson (2008-)

The Troubles were brought to an uneasy end by a peace process which included the declaration of ceasefires by most paramilitary organisations and the complete decommissioning of their weapons, the reform of the police, and the corresponding withdrawal of army troops from the streets and from sensitive border areas such as South Armagh and Fermanagh, as agreed by the signatories to the Belfast Agreement (commonly known as the "Good Friday Agreement"). This reiterated the long-held British position, which had never before been fully acknowledged by successive Irish governments, that Northern Ireland will remain within the United Kingdom until a majority votes otherwise. Bunreacht na hÉireann, the constitution of the Irish state, was amended in 1999 to remove a claim of the "Irish nation" to sovereignty over the whole of Ireland (in Article 2), a claim qualified by an acknowledgement that Ireland could only exercise legal control over the territory formerly known as the Irish Free State. The new Articles 2 and 3, added to the Constitution to replace the earlier articles, implicitly acknowledge that the status of Northern Ireland, and its relationships within the rest of the United Kingdom and with Ireland, would only be changed with the agreement of a majority of voters in both jurisdictions (Ireland voting separately). This aspect was also central to the Belfast Agreement which was signed in 1998 and ratified by referenda held simultaneously in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. At the same time, the British Government recognised for the first time, as part of the prospective, the so-called "Irish dimension": the principle that the people of the island of Ireland as a whole have the right, without any outside interference, to solve the issues between North and South by mutual consent.[18] The latter statement was key to winning support for the agreement from nationalists and republicans. It also established a devolved power-sharing government within Northern Ireland where the government must consist of both unionist and nationalist parties.

These institutions were suspended by the British Government in 2002 after Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) allegations of spying by people working for Sinn Féin at the Assembly (Stormontgate). The resulting case against the accused Sinn Féin member collapsed.

On 28 July 2005, the Provisional IRA declared an end to its campaign and has since decommissioned what is thought to be all of its arsenal. This final act of decommissioning was performed in accordance with the Belfast Agreement of 1998, and under the watch of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning and two external church witnesses. Many unionists, however, remain sceptical. This IRA decommissioning is in contrast to Loyalist paramilitaries who have so far refused to decommission many weapons. It is not thought that this will have a major effect on further political progress as political parties linked to Loyalist paramilitaries do not attract significant support and will not be in a position to form part of a government in the near future. Sinn Féin, on the other hand, with their (real and perceived) links to militant republicanism, are the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland.

Politicians elected to the Assembly at the 2003 Assembly Election were called together on 15 May 2006 under the Northern Ireland Act 2006[19] for the purpose of electing a First Minister of Northern Ireland and a Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and choosing the members of an Executive (before 25 November 2006) as a preliminary step to the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland.

Following the election held on 7 March 2007, devolved government returned to Northern Ireland on 8 May 2007 with Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin deputy leader Martin McGuinness taking office as First Minister and Deputy First Minister, respectively.[20] The current First Minister is Peter Robinson, having taken over as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

Government and politics

Main articles: Elections in Northern Ireland and Politics of Northern Ireland
Parliament Buildings in Stormont, Belfast, seat of the assembly.

Northern Ireland has devolved government within the United Kingdom. There is a Northern Ireland Executive together with the 108 member Northern Ireland Assembly to deal with devolved matters with the UK Government and UK Parliament responsible for reserved matters. Elections to the Assembly are by single transferable vote with 6 representatives elected for each of the 18 Westminster constituencies. It is also an electoral region of the European Union.

Northern Ireland elects 18 Members of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons; only 13 take their seats, however, as the 5 Sinn Fein MPs refuse to take the oath to serve the Queen that is required of all MPs. The Northern Ireland Office represents the UK government in Northern Ireland on reserved matters and represents Northern Irish interests within the UK government. The Northern Ireland office is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who sits in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland is a distinct legal jurisdiction, separate from England, Wales and Scotland.[21]

Communities in Northern Ireland - 1991 census.
Northern Ireland

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Northern Ireland
Government
Legislative Assembly
Other Public Bodies
in the UK
in the EU
Political parties
Related bodies
Agreements
Other countries · Atlas
Politics portal
view • talk • edit

The main political divide in Northern Ireland is between Unionists or Loyalists who wish to see Northern Ireland continue as part of the United Kingdom and Nationalists or Republicans who wish to see Northern Ireland join the rest of Ireland, independent from the United Kingdom. These two opposing views are linked to deeper cultural divisions. Unionists are overwhelmingly Protestant, descendants of mainly Scottish, English, Welsh and Huguenot settlers as well as indigenous Irishmen who had converted to one of the Protestant denominations. Nationalists are predominantly Catholic and descend from the population predating the settlement, with a minority from Scottish Highlanders as well as some converts from Protestantism. Discrimination against nationalists under the Stormont government (1921–1972) gave rise to the nationalist civil rights movement in the 1960s.[22] Some Unionists argue that any discrimination was not just because of religious or political bigotry, but also the result of more complex socio-economic, socio-political and geographical factors.[23] Whatever the cause, the existence of discrimination, and the manner in which Nationalist anger at it was handled, was a major contributing factor which led to the long-running conflict known as the Troubles. The political unrest went through its most violent phase between 1968 and 1994.[24]

The population of Northern Ireland was estimated as being 1,759,000 on 10 December 2008.[3] In the 2001 census, 45.6% of the population identified as belonging to Protestant denominations (of which 20.7% Presbyterian, 15.3% Church of Ireland), 40.3% identified as Catholic, 0.3% identified with non-Christian religions and 13.9% identified with no religion.[25] In terms of community background, 53.1% of the Northern Irish population came from a Protestant background, 43.8% came from a Catholic background, 0.4% from non-Christian backgrounds and 2.7% non-religious backgrounds.[26][27] The population is forecast to pass the 1.8 million mark by 2011.[28]

36% of the present-day population define themselves as Unionist, 24% as Nationalist and 40% define themselves as neither.[29] According to a 2007 opinion poll, 66% express long term preference of the maintenance of Northern Ireland's membership of the United Kingdom (either directly ruled or with devolved government), while 23% express a preference for membership of a united Ireland.[30] This discrepancy can be explained by the overwhelming preference among Protestants to remain a part of the UK (89%), while Catholic preferences are spread across a number of solutions to the constitutional question including remaining a part of the UK (39%), a united Ireland (47%), Northern Ireland becoming an independent state (6%), and those who "don't know" (7%).[31] Official voting figures, which reflect views on the "national question" along with issues of candidate, geography, personal loyalty and historic voting patterns, show 54% of Northern Ireland voters vote for Pro-Unionist parties, 42% vote for Pro-Nationalist parties and 4% vote "other". Opinion polls consistently show that the election results are not necessarily an indication of the electorate's stance regarding the constitutional status of Northern Ireland.

Most of the population of Northern Ireland are at least nominally Christian. The ethno-political loyalties are allied, though not absolutely, to the Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations and these are the labels used to categorise the opposing views. This is, however, becoming increasingly irrelevant as the Irish Question is very complicated. Many voters (regardless of religious affiliation) are attracted to Unionism's conservative policies, while other voters are instead attracted to the traditionally leftist, nationalist Sinn Féin and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and their respective party platforms for Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy. For the most part, Protestants feel a strong connection with Great Britain and wish for Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. Many Catholics however, generally aspire to a United Ireland or are less certain about how to solve the constitutional question. In the 2007 survey by Northern Ireland Life and Times, 39% of Northern Irish Catholics supported Northern Ireland remaining a part of the United Kingdom, either by direct rule (4%) or devolved government (35%).[32]

Protestants have a slight majority in Northern Ireland, according to the latest Northern Ireland Census. The make-up of the Northern Ireland Assembly reflects the appeals of the various parties within the population. Of the 108 MLAs, 55 are Unionists and 44 are Nationalists (the remaining nine are classified as "other").

Citizenship and identity

Further information: British nationality law and Irish nationality law

As part of the United Kingdom, people from Northern Ireland are British citizens. They are also entitled to Irish citizenship by birth which is covered in the 1998 Belfast Agreement between the British and Irish governments, which, provides that: it is the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly [the two governments] confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland.

As a result of the Agreement, the Constitution of Ireland[33] was amended so that people born in Northern Ireland are entitled to be Irish citizens on the same basis as people from any other part of the island of Ireland.

Neither government, however, extends its citizenship to all persons born in Northern Ireland. Both governments exclude some people born in Northern Ireland (e.g. certain persons born in Northern Ireland neither of whose parents is a UK or Irish national). The Irish restriction was given effect by the Twenty-seventh amendment to the Constitution in 2004.

Several studies and surveys performed between 1971 and 2006 have indicated that, in general, Protestants in Northern Ireland see themselves primarily as 'British', whereas Roman Catholics regard themselves primarily as 'Irish'.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]

This does not however, account for the complex identities within Northern Ireland, given that many of the population regard themselves as "Ulster" or "Northern Irish", either primarily, or as a secondary identity. A 2008 survey found that 57% of Protestants described themselves as British, while 32% identified as Northern Irish, 6% as Ulster and 4% as Irish. Compared to the same survey carried out in 1998 this shows a fall in the percentage of Protestants identifying as British and Ulster, and a rise in those identifying as Northern Irish. The 2008 survey found that 61% of Catholics described themselves as Irish, with 25% identifying as Northern Irish, 8% as British and 1% as Ulster. These figures were largely unchanged from the 1998 results.[42][43]

Demography of Northern Ireland

Main article: Demography of Northern Ireland

The population of Northern Ireland has increased annually since 1978.

Ethnicity

Symbols used in Northern Ireland

See also: Northern Ireland flags issue
The Union Flag (also known as the Union Jack) represents the United Kingdom. This is the only flag with official status in Northern Ireland
Flag of Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland (also known as the Ulster Banner; no official status in Northern Ireland since 1972).
Flag of Ireland (also known as the Tricolour; no official status in Northern Ireland)
Former Governmental Coat of Arms of Northern Ireland 1925-72

Northern Ireland comprises a patchwork of communities whose national loyalties are represented in some areas by flags flown from lamp posts. The Union Flag and the former Northern Ireland Flag are flown in some loyalist areas, and the Tricolour, adopted by republicans as the flag of Ireland in 1848, is flown in some republican areas. Even kerbstones in some areas are painted red-white-blue or green-white-orange (or gold), depending on whether local people express unionist/loyalist or nationalist/republican sympathies.[44]

The official flag is the Union Flag.[45] The Northern Ireland flag was previously the former Governmental Northern Ireland banner (also known as the "Ulster Banner" or "Red Hand Flag"). It was based on the arms of the former Parliament of Northern Ireland, and was used officially by the Government of Northern Ireland and its agencies between 1953 and 1972. Since 1972, it has no official status. UK flags policy states that in Northern Ireland: The Ulster flag and the Cross of St. Patrick have no official status and, under the Flags Regulations, are not permitted to be flown from Government Buildings. [46]

The Union Flag and the Ulster Banner are mainly used by Unionists.[47]

The Irish Rugby Football Union and the Church of Ireland have used the Flag of St. Patrick. It was used to represent Ireland when the whole island was part of the UK and is used by some British army regiments. Foreign flags are also found, such as the Palestinian flags in some Nationalist areas and Israeli flags in some Unionist areas. This is also true during matches with Scottish teams.

The United Kingdom national anthem God Save the Queen is often played at state events in Northern Ireland. At some cross-community events, however, the Londonderry Air (also known as Danny Boy) may be played as a neutral substitute.[citation needed]

At the Commonwealth Games, the Northern Ireland team uses the Ulster Banner as its flag and Danny Boy / A Londonderry Air is used as its national anthem. The Northern Ireland football team also uses the Ulster Banner as its flag but uses God Save The Queen as its national anthem.[48] Major Gaelic Athletic Association matches are opened by the Ireland national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann (The Soldier's Song), which is also used by some other all-Ireland sporting organisations.[49] Since 1995, the Ireland rugby union team has used a specially commissioned song, Ireland's Call as the team's anthemn. The Ireland national anthem is also played at Dublin home matches as a courtesy to the host country.[50]

Northern Irish murals have become well-known features of Northern Ireland, depicting past and present divisions, both also documenting peace and cultural diversity. Almost 2,000 murals have been documented in Northern Ireland since the 1970s (see Conflict Archive on the Internet/Murals).

Geography and climate

Map of Northern Ireland
Main articles: Geography of Ireland and Geography of the United Kingdom

Northern Ireland was covered by an ice sheet for most of the last ice age and on numerous previous occasions, the legacy of which can be seen in the extensive coverage of drumlins in Counties Fermanagh, Armagh, Antrim and particularly Down. The centrepiece of Northern Ireland's geography is Lough Neagh, at 151 square miles (391 km2) the largest freshwater lake both on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. A second extensive lake system is centred on Lower and Upper Lough Erne in Fermanagh. The largest island of Northern Ireland is Rathlin, off the Antrim coast. Strangford Lough is the largest inlet in the British Isles, covering 150 km2 (58 sq mi).

There are substantial uplands in the Sperrin Mountains (an extension of the Caledonian fold mountains) with extensive gold deposits, granite Mourne Mountains and basalt Antrim Plateau, as well as smaller ranges in South Armagh and along the Fermanagh–Tyrone border. None of the hills are especially high, with Slieve Donard in the dramatic Mournes reaching 849 metres (2,785 ft), Northern Ireland's highest point. Belfast's most prominent peak is Cave Hill. The volcanic activity which created the Antrim Plateau also formed the eerily geometric pillars of the Giant's Causeway on the north Antrim coast. Also in north Antrim are the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Mussenden Temple and the Glens of Antrim.

The Giant's Causeway, County Antrim.

The Lower and Upper River Bann, River Foyle and River Blackwater form extensive fertile lowlands, with excellent arable land also found in North and East Down, although much of the hill country is marginal and suitable largely for animal husbandry.

The valley of the River Lagan is dominated by Belfast, whose metropolitan area includes over a third of the population of Northern Ireland, with heavy urbanisation and industrialisation along the Lagan Valley and both shores of Belfast Lough.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.

The whole of Northern Ireland has a temperate maritime climate, rather wetter in the west than the east, although cloud cover is persistent across the region. The weather is unpredictable at all times of the year, and although the seasons are distinct, they are considerably less pronounced than in interior Europe or the eastern seaboard of North America. Average daytime maximums in Belfast are 6.5 °C (43.7 °F) in January and 17.5 °C (63.5 °F) in July. The damp climate and extensive deforestation in the 16th and 17th centuries resulted in much of the region being covered in rich green grassland.

Highest maximum temperature: 30.8 °C (87.4 °F) at Knockarevan, near Garrison, County Fermanagh on 30 June 1976 and at Belfast on 12 July 1983.

Lowest minimum temperature: −17.5 °C (0.5 °F) at Magherally, near Banbridge, County Down on 1 January 1979.[51]


Weather data for Belfast
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 13
(55)		 14
(57)		 19
(66)		 21
(70)		 26
(79)		 28
(82)		 29
(84)		 28
(82)		 26
(79)		 21
(70)		 16
(61)		 14
(57)		 29
(84)
Average high °C (°F) 6
(43)		 7
(45)		 9
(48)		 12
(54)		 15
(59)		 18
(64)		 18
(64)		 18
(64)		 16
(61)		 13
(55)		 9
(48)		 7
(45)		 12
(54)
Average low °C (°F) 2
(36)		 2
(36)		 3
(37)		 4
(39)		 6
(43)		 9
(48)		 11
(52)		 11
(52)		 9
(48)		 7
(45)		 4
(39)		 3
(37)		 6
(43)
Record low °C (°F) -13
(9)		 -12
(10)		 -12
(10)		 -4
(25)		 -3
(27)		 -1
(30)		 4
(39)		 1
(34)		 -2
(28)		 -4
(25)		 -6
(21)		 -11
(12)		 -13
(9)
Precipitation mm (inches) 80
(3.15)		 52
(2.05)		 50
(1.97)		 48
(1.89)		 52
(2.05)		 68
(2.68)		 94
(3.7)		 77
(3.03)		 80
(3.15)		 83
(3.27)		 72
(2.83)		 90
(3.54)		 846
(33.31)
Source: [52] 2009-10-08

Counties

Main article: Counties of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland consists of six historic counties: County Antrim, County Armagh, County Down, County Fermanagh, County Londonderry,[53] County Tyrone

Silent Valley Reservoir, County Down.

These counties are no longer used for local government purposes; instead there are twenty-six districts of Northern Ireland which have different geographical extents, even in the case of those named after the counties from which they derive their name. Fermanagh District Council most closely follows the borders of the county from which it takes its name. Coleraine Borough Council, on the other hand, derives its name from the town of Coleraine in County Londonderry.

Lower Lough Erne, County Fermanagh

Although counties are no longer used for governmental purpose, they remain a popular means of describing where places are. They are officially used while applying for an Irish passport, which requires one to state one's county of birth. The name of county then appears in both Irish and English on the passport's information page, as opposed to the town or city of birth on the United Kingdom passport. The Gaelic Athletic Association still uses the counties as its primary means of organisation and fields representative teams of each GAA county.

The county boundaries still appear on Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland Maps and the Phillips Street Atlases, among others. With their decline in official use, there is often confusion surrounding towns and cities which lie near county boundaries, such as Belfast and Lisburn, which are split between counties Down and Antrim (the majorities of both cities, however, are in Antrim).

Belfast City Hall

Cities

There are 5 major settlements with city status in Northern Ireland:

Carrickfergus Castle - a Norman castle built in 1177

Towns and villages

Main articles: Towns in Northern Ireland and Villages in Northern Ireland
See also the list of places in Northern Ireland for all villages, towns and cities
Donaghadee Harbour and lighthouse

Law

Main article: Northern Ireland law

Northern Ireland's legal and administrative systems have evolved from those in place in the pre-partition United Kingdom, and were developed by its devolved government from 1921 until 1972. From 1972 until 1999 (except for a brief period in 1974), laws and administration relating to Northern Ireland were handled directly from Westminster. Between the years 1999 and 2002 (except during a brief suspension), and since May 2007, devolution has returned to Northern Ireland.

Economy

Cranes at Harland & Wolff shipyard, now diversified into heavy manufacturing for the renewable energy industry.
Main article: Economy of Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland economy is the smallest of the four economies making up the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland has traditionally had an industrial economy, most notably in shipbuilding, rope manufacture and textiles, but most heavy industry has since been replaced by services, primarily the public sector. Tourism also plays a big role in the local economy. More recently the economy has benefited from major investment by many large multi-national corporations into high tech industry. These large organisations are attracted by government subsidies and the skilled workforce in Northern Ireland.

Transport

Larne Harbour
Main article: Transport in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is served by three airports - Belfast International near Antrim, George Best Belfast City in East Belfast, and City of Derry in County Londonderry.

Major sea ports at Larne and Belfast carry passengers and freight between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Passenger railways are operated by Northern Ireland Railways. With Iarnrod Éireann (Irish Rail), Northern Ireland Railways co-operates in providing the joint Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast.

Main motorways are:

  • M1 connecting Belfast to the south and west, ending in Dungannon
  • M2 connecting Belfast to the north
  • M3 connecting the M1 and M2 in Belfast with the A2 dual carriageway to Bangor
  • M5 connecting Belfast to Newtownabbey

The cross-border European route E01 is a major EU-funded cross-border route that will eventually upgrade the road connecting the ports between Larne in Northern Ireland and Rosslare in the Republic of Ireland.

Culture

An Ulster fry, served in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Twelfth is a Bank & Public Holiday and an annual Protestant event, involving Orange parades.
Main article: Culture of Northern Ireland
See also: Culture of Ulster, Culture of Ireland, and Culture of the United Kingdom

With its improved international reputation, Northern Ireland has recently witnessed rising numbers of tourists. Attractions include cultural festivals, musical and artistic traditions, countryside and geographical sites of interest, public houses, welcoming hospitality and sports (especially golf and fishing). Since 1987 public houses have been allowed to open on Sundays, despite some opposition.

Main article: Ulster Cycle

The Ulster Cycle is a large body of prose and verse centring around the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster. This is one of the four major cycles of Irish Mythology. The cycle centres around the reign of Conchobar mac Nessa, who is said to have been king of Ulster around the time of Christ. He ruled from Emain Macha (now Navan Fort near Armagh), and had a fierce rivalry with queen Medb and king Ailill of Connacht and their ally, Fergus mac Róich, former king of Ulster. The foremost hero of the cycle is Conchobar's nephew Cúchulainn.

Languages

English

Main article: Mid Ulster English

The dialect of English spoken in Northern Ireland shows influence from Scotland, with the use of such Scots words as wee for 'little' and aye for 'yes'. Some jocularly call this dialect phonetically by the name Norn Iron. There are supposedly some minute differences in pronunciation between Protestants and Catholics, the best known of which is the name of the letter h, which Protestants tend to pronounce as "aitch", as in British English, and Catholics tend to pronounce as "haitch", as in Hiberno-English. However, geography is a much more important determinant of dialect than religious background. English is spoken as a first language by almost 100% of the Northern Irish population, though under the Good Friday Agreement, Irish and Ulster Scots (one of the dialects of the Scots language), sometimes known as Ullans, have recognition as "part of the cultural wealth of Northern Ireland".[54]

Multilingual sign in English, Irish, and Ulster Scots
Areas in Northern Ireland where more than one third of the population can speak Irish, according to the 2001 Census

Irish

Main article: Irish language in Northern Ireland

The Irish language (Gaeilge) is the native language of the whole island of Ireland.[55] It was spoken predominantly throughout what is now Northern Ireland before the settlement of Protestants from Great Britain in the 17th century. Most placenames throughout Northern Ireland are anglicised versions of their Gaelic originals. These Gaelic placenames include thousands of lanes, roads, townlands, towns, villages and all of its modern cities. Examples include Belfast- derived from Béal Feirste, Shankill- derived from Sean Cill and Lough Neagh- derived from Loch nEathach.

In Northern Ireland the Irish language has long been associated with Irish nationalism. The language was seen as a common heritage and indeed the object of affection by many prominent 19th century Protestant republicans and Protestant unionists. There are three main dialects in the island of Ireland—Ulster, Munster and Connacht. Speakers of each dialect often find others difficult to understand. Speakers in Northern Ireland speak the Ulster dialect.

In the early years of the 20th century, the language became a political football throughout Ireland as Republican activists became increasingly linked with it. In the 20th century, the language became in Unionist eyes increasingly polarised for political ends and many in that community would blame Sinn Féin in this regard. After Ireland was partitioned, the language was largely rejected in the education system of the new Northern Ireland. It is argued[56] that the predominant use of the English language may have served to exacerbate the Troubles.

The erection by some Local District Councils of legal bilingual street names (English/Irish),[57] invariably in predominantly Catholic/Nationalist/Republican districts, may be perceived as creating a 'chill factor' by Unionists and as such not conducive to fostering good cross community relationships. However other countries within the United Kingdom, such as Wales and Scotland, enjoy the use of Bilingual signs in Welsh and Scots Gaelic respectively. Because of this, nationalists in Northern Ireland argue for equality in this regard. In responses to the 2001 census in Northern Ireland 10% of the population claimed "some knowledge of Irish",[58] 4.7% to "speak, read, write and understand" Irish.[58] It was not asked as part of the census but in a poll, 1% of respondents said they speak it as their main language at home.[59] Following a public consultation, the decision was taken not to introduce specific legislation for the Irish language at this time, despite 75% of the (self-selecting) respondents stating that they were in favour of such legislation.[60]

Ulster Irish[61] or Donegal Irish,[61] is the dialect which is nearest to Scots Gaelic. Some words and phrases of the dialect are shared with Scots Gaelic. The dialects of East Ulster - those of Rathlin Island and the Glens of Antrim - were very similar to the Scottish Gaelic dialect formerly spoken in Argyll, the part of Scotland nearest to Rathlin Island. The Ulster Gaelic is the most central dialect of Gaelic, both geographically and linguistically, of the once vast Gaelic speaking world, stretching from the south of Ireland to the north of Scotland. At the beginning of the 20th century, Munster Irish was favoured by many revivalists, with a shift to Connacht Irish in the 1960s, which is now the preferred dialect by many in Ireland. Many younger speakers of Irish experience less confusion with dialects due to the expansion of Irish-language broadcasting (TG4) and the exposure to a variety of dialects. There are fewer problems regarding written Irish as there is a standardised spelling and grammar, created by the Irish Government, which was supposed to reflect a compromise between various dialect forms. However, Ulster Irish speakers find that Ulster forms are generally not favoured by the standard.

All learners of Irish in Northern Ireland use this form of the language. Self-instruction courses in Ulster Irish include Now You’re Talking and Tús maith. The writer Séamus Ó Searcaigh, once warned about the Irish Government's attempts at producing a Caighdeán or Standard for the Irish language in Ireland in 1953, when he wrote that what will emerge will be "Gaedhilg nach mbéidh suim againn inntí mar nár fhás sí go nádúrtha as an teangaidh a thug Gaedhil go hÉirinn" (A Gaelic which is of no interest to us, for it has not developed naturally from the language brought to Ireland by the Gaels). The Ulster Irish dialect is spoken throughout the area of the historical nine county Ulster, in particular the Gaeltacht region of County Donegal and the "Gaeltacht Quarter". Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20070807220934/http://www.visitnorthernireland.com/opencontent/default.asp?itemid=77&section=/. of West Belfast. Mayo Irish has strong ties with Donegal Irish.

Ulster Scots

Ulster Scots comprises varieties of the Scots language spoken in Northern Ireland. Aodán Mac Poilín[62] states that "While most argue that Ulster-Scots is a dialect or variant of Scots, some have argued or implied that Ulster-Scots is a separate language from Scots. The case for Ulster-Scots being a distinct language, made at a time when the status of Scots itself was insecure, is so bizarre that it is unlikely to have been a linguistic argument." Approximately 2% of the population claim to speak Ulster Scots,[63] however the number speaking it as their main language in their home is negligible.[59] Classes at colleges can now be taken[64] but for a native English speaker "[the language] is comparatively accessible, and even at its most intense can be understood fairly easily with the help of a glossary."[62] The St Andrews Agreement recognises the need to "enhance and develop the Ulster Scots language, heritage and culture".[65]

Other languages

There are an increasing number of ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland. Chinese and Urdu are spoken by Northern Ireland's Asian communities; though the Chinese community is often referred to as the "third largest" community in Northern Ireland, it is tiny by international standards. Since the accession of new member states to the European Union in 2004, Central and Eastern European languages, particularly Polish, are becoming increasingly common.

The most common sign language in Northern Ireland is British Sign Language (BSL), but as Catholics tended to send their deaf children to schools in Dublin (St Joseph's Institute for Deaf Boys and St. Mary's Institute for Deaf Girls), Irish Sign Language (ISL) is commonly used in the Nationalist community. The two languages are not related: BSL is in the British family (which also includes Auslan), and ISL is in the French family (which also includes American Sign Language).

Variations in geographic nomenclature

Alternative names for Northern Ireland

Main article: Alternative names for Northern Ireland

Many people inside and outside Northern Ireland use other names for Northern Ireland, depending on their point of view.

Free Derry mural.

Notwithstanding the ancient realm of Dál Riata which extended into Scotland, disagreement on names, and the reading of political symbolism into the use or non-use of a word, also attaches itself to some urban centres. The most famous example is whether Northern Ireland's second city should be called "Derry" or "Londonderry".

Choice of language and nomenclature in Northern Ireland often reveals the cultural, ethnic and religious identity of the speaker. The first Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Seamus Mallon, was criticised by unionist politicians for calling the region the "North of Ireland" while Sinn Féin has been criticised in some Irish newspapers for still referring to the "Six Counties".[66]

Those who do not belong to any group but lean towards one side often tend to use the language of that group. Supporters of unionism in the British media (notably the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express) regularly call Northern Ireland "Ulster".[67] Some nationalist and republican-leaning media outlets in Ireland almost always use "North of Ireland" or the "Six Counties".

Government and cultural organisations in Northern Ireland, particularly those pre-dating the 1980s[citation needed], often use the word "Ulster" in their title; for example, the University of Ulster, the Ulster Museum, the Ulster Orchestra, and BBC Radio Ulster.

Many news bulletins since the 1990s have opted to avoid all contentious terms and use the official name, Northern Ireland. The North is still used by some news bulletins in the Republic, to the annoyance of some Unionists.[citation needed] Bertie Ahern, the previous Taoiseach, now almost always refers to Northern Ireland in public, having previously only used The North. For Northern Ireland's second largest city, broadcasting outlets which are unaligned to either community and broadcast to both use both names interchangeably, often starting a report with "Londonderry" and then using "Derry" in the rest of the report. However, within Northern Ireland, print media which are aligned to either community (the News Letter is aligned to the unionist community while the Irish News is aligned to the nationalist community) generally use their community's preferred term. British newspapers with unionist leanings, such as the Daily Telegraph, usually use the language of the unionist community. In its style guide, The Guardian recommends using "Derry" and "Co Derry", and "not Londonderry".[68] The media in the Republic use the names preferred by nationalists.[69] Whether this is all an official editorial policy or a personal preference by the writers is unknown.

The division in nomenclature is seen particularly in sports and religions associated with one of the communities. Gaelic games use Derry, for example. Nor is there clear agreement on how to decide on a name. When the nationalist-controlled local council voted to re-name the city "Derry" unionists objected, stating that as it owed its city status to a Royal Charter, only a charter issued by the Queen could change the name. The Queen has not intervened on the matter and thus the council is now called "Derry City Council" while the city is still officially "Londonderry". Nevertheless, the council has printed two sets of stationery - one for each term - and their policy is to reply to correspondence using whichever term the original sender used.

At times of high communal tension, each side regularly complains of the use of the nomenclature associated with the other community by a third party such as a media organisation, claiming such usage indicates evident "bias" against their community.

Unionist/Loyalist

  • Ulster (Ulaidh) is strictly the historic province of Ulster, six of its nine counties are in Northern Ireland. The term "Ulster" is widely used by the Unionist community and the British press as shorthand for Northern Ireland.[70] In the past, calls were made for Northern Ireland's name to be changed to Ulster. This proposal was formally considered by the Government of Northern Ireland in 1937 and again in 1949 but no change was made.[71]
  • The Province (An Cúige) refers literally to the historic Irish province of Ulster but today is used widely, within this community, as shorthand for Northern Ireland.[72] The BBC, in its editorial guidance for Reporting the United Kingdom, states that "the province" is an appropriate secondary synonym for Northern Ireland, "Ulster" is not. It also deprecates the use of the term "British" in favour of "people of Northern Ireland", and the term "mainland" when referring to Great Britain in relation to Northern Ireland[73]

Nationalist/Republican

  • North of Ireland (Tuaisceart na hÉireann) or North-East Ireland (Oirthuaisceart Éireann)- to emphasize the link of Northern Ireland to the rest of the island, and so by implication playing down Northern Ireland's links with Great Britain. [74]

The Six Counties (na Sé Chontae) - language used by republicans e.g. Republican Sinn Féin, which avoids using the name given by the British-enacted Government of Ireland Act 1920. (the Republic is similarly described as the Twenty-Six Counties.)[75] Some of the users of these terms contend that using the official name of the region would imply acceptance of the legitimacy of the Government of Ireland Act.

  • The Occupied Six Counties. The state of Ireland, whose legitimacy is not recognised by republicans opposed to the Belfast Agreement, is described as "The Free State", referring to the Irish Free State, which gained independence (as a Dominion) in 1922.[76]
  • British-Occupied Ireland. Similar in tone to the Occupied Six Counties this term is used by more dogmatic anti-Good Friday Agreement republicans who still hold that the First Dáil was the last legitimate government of Ireland and that all governments since have been foreign imposed usurpations of Irish national self-determination.[77]

Other

  • The North (An Tuaisceart) - used to describe Northern Ireland in the same way that "The South" is used to describe the Republic.[citation needed]
  • Norn Iron (previously rendered "Norn Irn")[78][79] - is an informal and affectionate local nickname used by both nationalists and unionists to refer to Northern Ireland, derived from the pronunciation of the words "Northern Ireland" in an exaggerated Ulster accent (particularly one from the Greater Belfast area). The phrase is seen as a light-hearted way to refer to the province, based as it is on regional pronunciation. Often refers to the Northern Ireland national football team.

Descriptions for Northern Ireland

There is no generally accepted term to describe what Northern Ireland is: province, region, country or something else.[80][81][82] The choice of term can be controversial and can reveal the writer's political preferences.[81] This has been noted as a problem by several writers on Northern Ireland, with no generally recommended solution.[81][80][82]

Owing in part to the way in which the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland came into being, there is no legally defined term to describe what Northern Ireland 'is'. There is also no uniform or guiding way to refer to Northern Ireland amongst the agencies of the UK government. For example, the websites of the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom[5] and the UK Statistics Authority[4] describe the United Kingdom as being made up of four countries, one of these being Northern Ireland. Other pages[83] on the same websites refer to Northern Ireland specifically as a "province" as do publications of the UK Statistics Authority.[84] The website of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency also refers to Northern Ireland as being a province[85] as does the website of the Office of Public Sector Information[86] and other agencies within Northern Ireland.[87] Publications of HM Treasury[88] and the Department of Finance and Personnel of the Northern Ireland Executive,[89] on the other hand, describe Northern Ireland as being a "region of the UK".

Unlike England, Scotland and Wales, Northern Ireland has no history of being an independent country or of being a nation in its own right.[90] Some writers describe the United Kingdom as being made up of three countries and one province[91] or point out the difficulties with calling Northern Ireland a country.[92] Authors writing specifically about Northern Ireland dismiss the idea that Northern Ireland is a "country" in general terms,[82][80][93][94] and draw contrasts in this respect with England, Scotland and Wales.[95] Even for the period covering the first 50 years of Northern Ireland's existence, the term country is considered inappropriate by some political scientists on the basis that many decisions were still made in London.[90] The absence of a distinct nation of Northern Ireland, separate within the island of Ireland, is also pointed out as being a problem with using the term[96][97][82] and is in contrast to England, Scotland and Wales.[98]

Many commentators prefer to use the term "province", although that is also not without problems. It can arouse irritation, particularly among Nationalists, for whom the title province is properly reserved for the traditional province of Ulster, of which Northern Ireland occupies six out of nine counties.[81][92] The BBC style guide is to refer to Northern Ireland as a province, and use of the term is common in literature and newspaper reports on Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. Some authors have described the meaning of this term as being equivocal: referring to Northern Ireland as being a province both of the United Kingdom and of the traditional country of Ireland.[96]

"Region" is used by several UK government agencies and the European Union. Some authors choose this word but note that it is "unsatisfactory".[82][81] Northern Ireland can also be simply described as "part of the UK", including by UK government offices.[99]

Sport

Main article: Sport in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, sport is popular and important in the lives of many people. Sports tend to be organised on an all-Ireland basis including both Northern Ireland and the Republic, as in the case of Gaelic football, rugby, hockey, basketball, cricket and hurling.[100] The main exception is association football (soccer), which has separate governing bodies for each jurisdiction.[100]

Gaelic games

Gaelic games include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Of the four, football is the most popular in Northern Ireland. Players play for local clubs with the best being selected for their county teams: Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone. The Ulster GAA is the branch of the Gaelic Athletic Association that is responsible for all nine counties of Ulster, including the six that are in Northern Ireland. All nine field teams in the Ulster Senior Football Championship, Ulster Senior Hurling Championship, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Recent successes for Northern Ireland's teams include Armagh's 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship win and Tyrone's wins in 2003, 2005 and 2008.

Association football (soccer)

The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the organising body for association football in Northern Ireland. The highest level of competition within Northern Ireland is the IFA Premiership. There is also an all-island tournament, the Setanta Cup, which includes four IFA Premiership teams and four teams from the Republic's league. However, the best Northern Irish players tend to play for clubs in Great Britain in the English or Scottish leagues. Despite Northern Ireland's small population, its international team has had a number of notable successes, including World Cup quarter-final appearances in 1958 and 1982.

Rugby union

Northern Ireland's six counties are among the nine governed by the Ulster branch of the all-island governing body, the Irish Rugby Football Union. Ulster is one of the four professional provincial teams in the island of Ireland and competes in the Celtic League and European Cup. Ulster won the European Cup in 1999. In international competition, players from Northern Ireland represent the Ireland national rugby team, whose recent successes include four Triple Crowns between 2004 and 2009 and a Grand Slam in 2009.

Cricket

Cricket is the fastest growing sport in the country.[citation needed] The Ireland cricket team is an associate member of the International Cricket Council. It participated in 2007 Cricket World Cup and qualified for the Super 8s and did the same in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. Ireland are current champions of ICC Intercontinental Cup and the under-19 team is also performing very well.[citation needed] The regular international ground is Stormont in Belfast.

Education

Main article: Education in Northern Ireland
Queen's University Belfast

Education in Northern Ireland differs slightly from systems used elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Unlike most areas of the United Kingdom, in the last year of primary school children sit the eleven plus transfer test, and the results determine whether they attend grammar schools or secondary schools. This system was due to be changed in 2008 amidst some controversy, with the exception of north Armagh where the Dickson Plan is in effect.

Northern Ireland's state (controlled) schools are open to all children in Northern Ireland, although in practice are mainly attended by those from Protestant or non-religious backgrounds. There is a separate publicly funded school system provided for Roman Catholics, although Roman Catholics are free to attend state schools (and some non-Roman Catholics attend Roman Catholic schools). Integrated schools, which attempt to ensure a balance in enrolment between pupils of Protestant, Roman Catholic and other faiths (or none) are becoming increasingly popular, although Northern Ireland still has a primarily de facto religiously segregated education system. In the primary school sector, forty schools (8.9% of the total number) are Integrated Schools and thirty two (7.2% of the total number) are Gaelscoileanna.

See:

There are two main universities in Northern Ireland - The Queen's University of Belfast, and the University of Ulster.

See also

An outline map of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland portal
The Flag of the Four Provinces of Ireland Ireland portal
Main article: Outline of Northern Ireland

Lists

References

  1. ^ "Northern Ireland Census 2001 Commissioned Output". NISRA. 2001. http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census/Excel/commissioned_output/EXT20032908c.xls. Retrieved 2009-12-08. 
  2. ^ Paul, Dickson (1997). Labels for Locals: What to Call People from Abilene to Zimbabwe. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster. p. 138. ISBN 9780877796169. "Northern Ireland: Northern Irishman and Northern Irishwoman, or the collective Irish and Northern Irish." 
  3. ^ a b BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | NI's population passes 1.75m mark
  4. ^ a b "The Countries of the UK". www.statistics.gov.uk - geography - beginners' guide to UK geography. UK Statistics Authority. 2005-11-11. Archived from the original on 2009-11-11. http://www.webcitation.org/5lClXN00l. Retrieved 2009-11-11. "The top-level division of administrative geography in the UK is the 4 countries - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland." 
  5. ^ a b "countries within a country". www.number10.gov.uk. The Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 2003-01-10. Archived from the original on 2009-11-11. http://www.webcitation.org/5lClWk7P7. Retrieved 2009-11-11. "The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Its full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom with a devolved legislative Assembly and a power sharing Executive made up of ministers from four political parties representing different traditions." 
  6. ^ Statutory Rules & Orders published by authority, 1921 (No. 533); Additional source for 3 May 1921 date: Alvin Jackson, Home Rule - An Irish History, Oxford University Press, 2004, p198.
  7. ^ Standing up for Northern Ireland www.uup.org. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  8. ^ "Strategy Framework Document: Reunification through Planned Integration: Sinn Féin’s All Ireland Agenda". Archived from the original on 2006-07-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20060716075752/http://www.sinnfein.ie/policies/document/155.  www.sinnfein.ie. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  9. ^ Policy Summaries: Constitutional Issues www.sdlp.ie, accessed, 2 August 2008
  10. ^ Pilkington, Colin (2002). Devolution in Britain Today. Manchester University Press. p. 75. ISBN 0719060761. 
  11. ^ Northern Ireland became a distinct region of the United Kingdom, by Order in Council on 3 May 1921 (Statutory Rules & Orders published by authority (SR&O) 1921, No. 533). Its constitutional roots remain the Act of Union, two complementary Acts, one passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, the other by the Parliament of Ireland.
  12. ^ On 7 December 1922 (the day after the establishment of the Irish Free State) the Parliament resolved to make the following address to the King so as to opt out of the Irish Free State: ”Most Gracious Sovereign, We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Senators and Commons of Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, having learnt of the passing of the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922, being the Act of Parliament for the ratification of the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, do, by this humble Address, pray your Majesty that the powers of the Parliament and Government of the Irish Free State shall no longer extend to Northern Ireland". Source: Northern Ireland Parliamentary Report, 7 December 1922 and Anglo-Irish Treaty, sections 11, 12
  13. ^ Dáil Éireann - Volume 13 - 10 December 1925.
  14. ^ "Anglo-Irish Relations, 1939—41: A Study in Multilateral Diplomacy and Military Restraint" in Twentieth Century British History (Oxford Journals, 2005). ISSN 1477-4674.
  15. ^ Malcolm Sutton’s book, “Bear in Mind These Dead: An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland 1969 - 1993.
  16. ^ The Ballast report: "...the Police Ombudsman has concluded that this was collusion by certain police officers with identified UVF informants."
  17. ^ BBC ON THIS DAY | 9 | 1973: Northern Ireland votes for union
  18. ^ Parliamentary debate: "The British government agree that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish."
  19. ^ Northern Ireland Act 2006 (c. 17)
  20. ^ (BBC)
  21. ^ pdf filePDF (64.6 KB) "For the purposes of the English conflict of laws, every country in the world which is not part of England and Wales is a foreign country and its foreign laws. This means that not only totally foreign independent countries such as France or Russia... are foreign countries but also British Colonies such as the Falkland Islands. Moreover, the other parts of the United Kingdom—Scotland and Northern Ireland—are foreign countries for present purposes, as are the other British Islands, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey." Conflict of Laws, JG Collier, Fellow of Trinity Hall and lecturer in Law, University of Cambridge
  22. ^ Professor John H. Whyte paper on discrimination in Northern Ireland
  23. ^ CAIN website key issues discrimination summary
  24. ^ Lord Scarman, "Violence and Civil Disturbances in Northern Ireland in 1969: Report of Tribunal of Inquiry" Belfast: HMSO, Cmd 566. (known as the Scarman Report)
  25. ^ Northern Ireland Census 2001, Table KS07a: Religion
  26. ^ Northern Ireland Census 2001, Table KS07b: Community background: religion or religion brought up in
  27. ^ BBC News: Fascination of religion head count
  28. ^ Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency population projections
  29. ^ Ark survey, 2007. Answer to the question "Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a unionist, a nationalist or neither?"
  30. ^ Answers to the question "Do you think the long-term policy for Northern Ireland should be for it [one of the following"
  31. ^ Ark survey, 2007. Answers to the question "Do you think the long-term policy for Northern Ireland should be for it to [one of the following"
  32. ^ NI Life and Times Survey - 2007: NIRELND2
  33. ^ Department Of the Taoiseach
  34. ^ Breen, R., Devine, P. and Dowds, L. (editors), 1996. "Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The Fifth Report" ISBN 0-86281-593-2. Chapter 2 retrieved from http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/research/nisas/rep5c2.htm on 24 August 2006. Summary: In 1989—1994, 79% Protestants replied "British" or "Ulster", 60% of Catholics replied "Irish."
  35. ^ Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, 1999. Module:Community Relations. Variable:NINATID. Summary:72% of Protestants replied "British". 68% of Catholics replied "Irish".
  36. ^ Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey. Module:Community Relations. Variable:BRITISH. Summary: 78% of Protestants replied "Strongly British."
  37. ^ Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, 1999. Module:Community Relations. Variable:IRISH. Summary: 77% of Catholics replied "Strongly Irish."
  38. ^ Institute of Governance, 2006. "National identities in the UK: do they matter?" Briefing No. 16, January 2006. Retrieved from "IoG_Briefing". Archived from the original on 2006-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20060822152404/http://www.institute-of-governance.org/forum/Leverhulme/briefing_pdfs/IoG_Briefing_16.pdf. PDF (211 KB) on 24 August 2006. Extract:"Three-quarters of Northern Ireland’s Protestants regard themselves as British, but only 12 per cent of Northern Ireland’s Catholics do so. Conversely, a majority of Catholics (65%) regard themselves as Irish, whilst very few Protestants (5%) do likewise. Very few Catholics (1%) compared to Protestants (19%) claim an Ulster identity but a Northern Irish identity is shared in broadly equal measure across religious traditions."Details from attitude surveys are in Demographics and politics of Northern Ireland.
  39. ^ [1] University of York Research Project 2002-2003 L219252024 - Public Attitudes to Devolution and National Identity in Northern Ireland
  40. ^ Northern Ireland: Constitutional Proposals and the Problem of Identity, by J. R. Archer The Review of Politics, 1978
  41. ^ "Chapter 7 > A changed Irish nationalism? The significance of the Belfast Agreement of 1998". Archived from the original on 2007-05-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20070510015756/http://www.ucd.ie/spire/text+files/todd-achangedirishnationalism.pdf. PDF (131 KB) A changed Irish nationalism? The significance of the Belfast Agreement of 1998, by Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd
  42. ^ Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, 2008. Module:Community Relations. Variable:IRISH.
  43. ^ Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, 1998. Module:Community Relations. Variable:IRISH.
  44. ^ Vandals curbed by plastic edging BBC News, 25 November 2008
  45. ^ Statutory Rule 2000 No. 347
  46. ^ http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snpc-04474.pdf
  47. ^ Northern Irish flags from the World Flag Database
  48. ^ "FIFA.com: Northern Ireland, Latest News". Archived from the original on 2005-12-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20051210203557/http://www.fifa.com/en/organisation/confederations/associationdetails/0,1483,NIR,00.html?countrycode=NIR. 
  49. ^ John Sugden and Scott Harvie (1995). "Sport and Community Relations in Northern Ireland 3.2 Flags and anthems". http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/csc/reports/sugdenharvie/sugdenharvie95-3.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 
  50. ^ Peter Berlin (2004-12-29). "Long unsung teams live up to anthems: Rugby Union". International Herald Tribune via HighBeam Research. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-103809383.html. Retrieved 2008-05-26. "the band played Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika and Die Stem for the Springboks and Soldier's Song, the national anthem that is otherwise known as Amhran na bhFiann, and Ireland's Call, the team's official rugby anthem." 
  51. ^ "British Meteorological Office figures". Archived from the original on 2005-05-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20050519083553/http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/nireland/. 
  52. ^ "Belfast, Northern Ireland - Average Conditions". BBC Weather Centre. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/city.shtml?tt=TT003750. Retrieved 2009-10-08. 
  53. ^ Many Nationalists use the name County Derry.
    Wikipedia policy is to use Londonderry for the county and Derry for the city. The name usage does not indicate an endorsement for either community's opinions.
  54. ^ http://www.nio.gov.uk/agreement.pdfPDF (204 KB)
  55. ^ Ryan, James G. (1997). Irish Records: Sources for Family and Local History. Flyleaf Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0916489762. 
  56. ^ Protestants and the Irish Language: Historical Heritage and Current Attitudes in Northern Ireland Rosalind M.O. Pritchard University of Ulster at Coleraine, UK
  57. ^ The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (No. 759 (N.I. 5))[2]
  58. ^ a b Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency Census 2001 Output
  59. ^ a b Northern Ireland LIFE & TIMES Survey: What is the main language spoken in your own home?
  60. ^ A Statement by Edwin Poots MLA, Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, to the Northern Ireland Assembly on the proposal to introduce Irish Language legislation. 16 October 2007
  61. ^ a b Home Page
  62. ^ a b Aodan Mac Poilin, 1999, "Language, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland" in Ulster Folk Life Vol. 45, 1999
  63. ^ Northern Ireland LIFE & TIMES Survey: Do you yourself speak Ulster-Scots?
  64. ^ "Stranmillis University College - Ulster Scots Project". Stranmillis University College. http://www.stran.ac.uk/informationabout/research/ulsterscotsproject/. Retrieved 2008-07-16. 
  65. ^ "St Andrews Agreement". Archived from the original on 2006-11-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20061104144328/http://www.nio.gov.uk/st_andrews_agreement.pdf. PDF (131 KB)
  66. ^ Sunday Independent article on Mallon and the use of "Six Counties".
  67. ^ Example of Daily Telegraph use of "Ulster" in text of an article, having used "Northern Ireland" in the opening paragraph.
  68. ^ The Guardian style guide
  69. ^ RTÉ News usage
  70. ^ Examples of usage of this term include Radio Ulster, Ulster Orchestra and RUC; political parties like the Ulster Unionist Party; paramilitary organisations like Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force. Ulster was also used political campaigns such as "Ulster Says No" and Save Ulster from Sodomy.
  71. ^ Parliamentary Reports of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, Volume 20 (1937) and The Times, January 6, 1949 – See also Alternative names for Northern Ireland
  72. ^ DUP Press Release "Paisley reacts to Prime Minister's statement". Date unknown. Extract "The DUP will be to the fore in representing the vast majority of unionists in the Province."—example of Ian Paisley referring to Northern Ireland as The Province. Retrieved from on 11 October 2006.
  73. ^ "Editorial Policy, Guidance Note" (PDF). BBC. undated. http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/assets/advice/reporting_the_uk.pdf. Retrieved 2008-07-16. "The term “province” is often used synonymously with Northern Ireland and it is normally appropriate to make secondary references to “ the province”"
  74. ^ "Example of "North of Ireland"". Archived from the original on 2006-05-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20060518210934/http://www.larkspirit.com/history/ni.html. 
  75. ^ Sinn Féin usage of "Six Counties"
  76. ^ Examples of usage by the United States-based extreme republican "Irish Freedom Committee"
  77. ^ Usage on "Gaelmail.com", a republican website
  78. ^ "New Norn Irn manager named…". Slugger O'Toole. 2007-05-31. http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/new-norn-irn-manager-named/. Retrieved 26 September 2008. 
  79. ^ "norn irn v denmark". www.belfastforum.co.uk Belfast forum illustrating local usage. 2007-11-17. http://www.belfastforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=6217.0. Retrieved 26 September 2008. 
  80. ^ a b c S. Dunn and H. Dawson (2000), An Alphabetical Listing of Word, Name and Place in Northern Ireland and the Living Language of Conflict, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press 
  81. ^ a b c d e J. Whyte and G. FitzGerald (1991), Interpreting Northern Ireland, Oxford: Oxford University Press 
  82. ^ a b c d e D. Murphy (1979), A Place Apart, London: Penguin Books 
  83. ^ Example: "‘Normalisation’ plans for Northern Ireland unveiled". Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 1 August 2005. http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page8031. Retrieved 2009-11-11.  or "26 January 2006". Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 1 August 2005. http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page8031. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
  84. ^ Example: Office for National Statistics (1999), Britain 2000: the Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom, London: The Stationary Office  or Office for National Statistics (1999), UK electoral statistics 1999, London: Office for National Statistics 
  85. ^ "The Population of Northern Ireland". Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency. http://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/default.asp10.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
  86. ^ Example: "Background - Northern Ireland)". Office of Public Sector Information. http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/help/Background_Northern_Ireland.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-11.  or "Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly (and other primary legislation for Northern Ireland)". Office of Public Sector Information. http://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/default.asp10.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
  87. ^ Fortnight, 1992 
  88. ^ Sir David Varney December (2007), Review of Tax Policy in Northern Ireland, London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office 
  89. ^ Department of Finance and Personnel (2007), The European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland, Belfast: Northern Ireland Executive 
  90. ^ a b A Aughey and D Morrow (1996), Northern Ireland Politics, London: Longman 
  91. ^ P Close, D Askew, Xin X (2007), The Beijing Olympiad: the political economy of a sporting mega-event, Oxon: Routledge 
  92. ^ a b Global Encyclopedia of Political Geography, 2009 
  93. ^ M Crenshaw (1985), "An Organizational Approach to the Analysis of Political Terrorism", Orbis 29 (3) 
  94. ^ P Kurzer (2001), Markets and moral regulation: cultural change in the European Union, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 
  95. ^ J Morrill, ed. (2004), The promotion of knowledge: lectures to mark the Centenary of the British Academy 1992-2002, Oxford: Oxford University Press 
  96. ^ a b F. Cochrane (2001), Unionist politics and the politics of Unionism since the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Cork: Cork University Press 
  97. ^ W V Shannon (1984), K M. Cahill, ed., The American Irish revival: a decade of the Recorder, Associated Faculty Press 
  98. ^ R Beiner (1999), Theorizing Nationalism, Albany: State University of New York Press 
  99. ^ "countries within a country". 2003. http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page823. 
  100. ^ a b How do other sports in the island cope with the situation? The Herald, April 3, 2008

Further reading

  • Jonathan Bardon, A History of Ulster (Blackstaff Press, Belfast, 1992), ISBN 0-85640-476-4
  • Brian E. Barton, The Government of Northern Ireland, 1920—1923 (Athol Books, 1980).
  • Paul Bew, Peter Gibbon and Henry Patterson The State in Northern Ireland, 1921—72: Political Forces and Social Classes, Manchester (Manchester University Press, 1979)
  • Tony Geraghty (2000). The Irish War. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-7117-4. 
  • Robert Kee, The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism (Penguin, 1972–2000), ISBN 0-14-029165-2
  • Osborne Morton, 1994. Marine Algae of Northern Ireland Ulster Museum, Belfast.
  • Henry Patterson, "Ireland Since 1939: The Persistence of Conflict" (Penguin, 2006), ISBN 978-1-844-88104-8
  • Hackney, P. (Ed).1992. Stewart's and Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland. Third edition. Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast. ISBN 0 85389 446 9(HB)
  • Betts, N.L. in Hackney, P. 1992. Stewart & Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland. Third Edition. Institute of Irish Studies. The Queen's University of Belfast. ISBN 0 85389 446 9 (HB)

External links

Find more about Northern Ireland on Wikipedia's sister projects:

Search Wiktionary Definitions from Wiktionary
Search Wikibooks Textbooks from Wikibooks
Search Wikiquote Quotations from Wikiquote
Search Wikisource Source texts from Wikisource
Search Commons Images and media from Commons
Search Wikinews News stories from Wikinews
Search Wikiversity Learning resources from Wikiversity


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Political Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Irish Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature. Copyright © 1996, 2000, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Geography. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Northern Ireland".  Read more

Related answers
» More
 
Answer these
» More

Mentioned in

» More» More