History of Ireland

History of Ireland

The area now known as Northern Ireland has a very diverse history. From the cradle of Irish nationalism, at the time in other parts of spreading settlements taken by Elizabeth I and James I of England, it became the main area of settlement of settlers from Scotland. Today, Northern Ireland is a kaleidoscope of rivalries, represented in Belfast by whole communities that fly the flag of the Republic of Ireland or the Union Flag, symbolizing the British identity, but also in the less populated, even guardrail are painted white with green and orange or red white and blue, depending on whether the local community is nationalist / republican or unionist / loyalist.
With the granting of self-government in 1920 (although it was never searched and some, like Sir Edward Carson were decidedly against), the government of Northern Ireland under a series of prime ministers, from Sir James Craig, practiced a policy of complete discrimination against the minority nationalist / Catholic. Using the words of David Trimble (Unionist leader, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the first minister of Northern Ireland), Northern Ireland became, "A cold place for Catholics." The electoral districts were shaped in such a way that (gerrymandering) that the control of councils citizens were assured Protestants. To this end, agreements were also close election that gave some relief to businesses in exchange for votes.
In the sixties, the moderate unionist Prime Minister Terence O'Neill sought to reform the system but met opposition leaders Protestant extremists as the Reverend Ian Paisley. The growing pressure for reform by the nationalists and the total closure by extremists unionists, led to the birth of a movement for civil rights led by figures such as John Hume, Austin Currie and others. The clashes between demonstrators and police forces UK (Royal Ulster Constabulary) raised the level of dispute. The British army was originally sent in the Ulster by British defense secretary Jim Callaghan, to protect nationalists from attack, and was warmly welcomed.

However, the assassination of thirteen unarmed civilians in Derry by British paratroopers of January 30, 1972 (past slaughter in history as blood or Sunday Bloody Sunday), finally the situation and the nationalist revolt against the British army. The emergence of the Provisional IRA (a group of escapees from the Official IRA), and the campaign of violence carried out by terrorist groups such as the loyalist Ulster Defense Association and others, brought Northern Ireland to the brink of civil war. Throughout all the years seventies and eighties, the extremists of both sides, brought forward a series of brutal mass murders, often of innocent civilians. Among the most famous include the attack at Le Mon and the bombings in Enniskillen and Omagh, run by Republicans, in an attempt to force political change through the civil war.

Some British politicians, especially former Labor minister Tony Benn were supporters of the withdrawal of Britain from Ireland, but this policy was opposed by several Irish governments, which foreshadow an apocalyptic scenario, if this had happened, with a spread of clashes followed mass exoduses from nationalists in the western counties and loyalist to the eastern counties. The fear was stronger than that of a civil war that would involve the neighbouring Republic of Ireland and Scotland, which had strong ties to both communities in Northern Ireland. Following the violent fragmentation of Yugoslavia, feared the possible impact of British withdrawal, was called "balkanisation of Northern Ireland."

In the early seventies, the Northern Ireland parliament was suspended when the Unionist government led by Brian Faulkner refused to accede to the request of the British Government to do him powers relating to justice and public order, and Direct Rule was introduced by London from 24 March 1972. Having tried unsuccessfully new systems of government, you get to the nineties, during which, the failure of IRI's campaign to obtain the support of the masses or the British withdrawal, and in particular, the disaster in terms of relations public following the massacre of Enniskillen and the change in the Republicans between Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Gerry Adams, saw a move away from armed conflict in favor of political commitment.

These changes were followed by the emergence of new leaders in Dublin Albert Reynolds, London John Major and the Unionist David Trimble deployment. The contacts initially established between Adams and John Hume, leader of the Social Democratic Labor Party, led in negotiations involving all parties concerned and produced the Good Friday Agreement, which was approved by a majority from both communities in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, where the constitution was amended to replace the claim of territories in Northern Ireland with the recognition of the right to exist in Northern Ireland, subject to nationalist desire for a united Ireland.
With the Good Friday Agreement, properly known as' Belfast Agreement ', a new Northern Irish parliament was elected. Any party that reaches a certain level of support, is entitled to appoint its own member in the government and demanding a ministry. The Unionist leader David Trimble became First Minister of Northern Ireland.

The Assembly and the Executive are currently suspended because of the threat unionist about the alleged delay on the part of IRI to implement the dismantling of its arsenal and the discovery of an espionage network of IRI operating within the institutions. Once again the government is led by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain and a British ministerial committee that responds to it.

Climate change was represented by the visit of Elizabeth II to the seat of Parliament at Stormont, where he met representatives unionists as well as nationalists, and spoke of the right of citizens who feel Northern Ireland to be treated with equal rights to those who feel UK. Similarly, the Irish President Mary McAleese, in his visit, met with ministers to unionists with local representatives of the crown of each county.

8 May 2007:From that date took the new Parliament to Stormont. The prime minister is the Unionist leader Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party, while the vice minister Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein.

The elections that led to this result occurred on March 7 and have seen the victory of the two major parties of the Province. The Democratic Unionist Party of Ian Paisley certificates were above 30% of votes, gaining 36 seats. Behind the Sinn Fein with 26% of the votes and 28 seats. The Ulster Unionist Party has fallen to 14% of the conquest of 18 parliamentarians. For the Social Democrats Mark Durkan was 15% of the votes and 17 elected members. Growth dell'Alliance Party with 7 seats and the election of the first parliamentary foreign in the province. It is Ann Lo, of Chinese origin.

The Democratic Unionist Party of Ian Paisley, the absolute winner of the elections, chose their ministries in order to manage the key decisions of the future government of Northern Ireland. The choice of the unionist leader has fallen on the Ministry of Finance, entrusted to Peter Robinson, on the Development, Trade and Investment led by Nigel Dodds, the Ministry of the Environment directed by Arlene Foster and Edwin POOTS will head the Ministry of Culture and the Arts. Also Ian Paisley will be at the helm of the Northern Irish parliament, and his son Ian Junior pool at the office of presidency. Other key roles entrusted to the faithful of Paisley will be the presidencies of the various committees of the Stormont, which will supervise many issues relating to the operation of the provincial government.

The Sinn Fein, the second party in the province, will provide the new assembly's deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, and then occupy the ministries of Education - for the second time, that of Regional Development and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The people chosen by Gerry Adams to pursue these roles are: Michelle Gildernew, Conor Murphy and Caitriona Ruane. In the Bureau will aggregate the former spokesman of the security sector Gerry Kelly.

The Ulster Unionist Party has chosen to lead the important Ministry of Health - which takes almost 46% of the budget for the Nordirland - entrusted to Michael McGimpsey while the leader, Sir Reg Empey, will guide the Ministry for Employment and l ' Learning. This is a department at risk because they could be incorporated into the Ministry of Education.

The only available of the Ministry of Mark Durkan is that for Social Development, where the Social Democrats have Margareth Ritchie who, in the words of the leader: "It is one of the best members of our party, with a reputation for being a great woman . Then the woman. There is no doubt that it will be an excellent minister and lead the efforts for change of the Sdlp in social development. "