AN IRISH MATTER OF RIGHTS

Is the conflict in Northern Ireland only a matter of religion?

Diplomacy is not something that happens overnight, and the tale of Northern Irelands
conflict is a proof of that. Domestic disagreements has dominated the daily lives of Irish people for
several centuries. At first glance, it seems like the Northern Irish conflict pitted Catholics against
Protestants. Protestant Ulster wished to be a part of the United Kingdom, while the Catholic Irish
wanted to unite it with the rest of Ireland. It is noticeable how the two religions stood against each
other, and that it played a major role in this conflict. However, given the division between
Protestants and Catholics, and the idea that a conflict is religious needs careful consideration. I
believe that this conflict is a matter of civil rights, social rights and political rights. The unbalanced
power gave the basis to a dispute between two irish identities, the Catholics and Protestants.

First of all, the unfair distribution of civil rights and the unwritten feudal system was the
foundation of this conflict, and it is definitely plays a matter in the conflict.
Religion was, indeed, in the picture, but I believe the human itself was more in focus as violation of
human rights came more and more in to the picture. The Penal Laws which were a series of laws set
in action to force Irish Catholics to accept the reformed denomination. The Penal Laws included
exclusion of Catholics from most public offices, ban on intermarriage with Protestants, banned from
membership in the Parliament of Ireland, or the Parliament of England, exclusion from voting,
exclusion from judicial matters, ban on foreign education, ban on converting from Protestantism to
Catholicism, no allowance to but land or inheriting Protestant land ect. My point is, this conflict
developed from a territorial affair to questioning the religious identity of the citizens. Religion in
this case was the identity you bare, and on
Second of all, the Protestant superiority shadowed the Irish social rights, such as welfare
and decent housing.
Traditionally, being a Protestant, or a member of Protestant minority, in Ireland has carried with its
presumption of British identity and loyalty, and of a distinction from Catholics not simply in terms
of belief but a virtue of a different ethic origin.
1610, England enacted the Articles of Plantation, which resulted in the confiscation of the Irish
land. Ownership of the land was transferred to planters who belonged to the Church of England,

better known as Protestants. As an imperialistic state, one can imagine England biggest reason for
this might be the hunger for more land.
Protestant ascendency and superiority was already on the rise, and the Protestant identity was, by
society, seen as a more worthy identity. This did contribute to the separation of the two identities,
the Catholic and the Protestant. This eventually became an issue as Catholics started to experience
oppression in their own country as a result of the more and more involvement of the English state.

Third of all, there was no equal participation in the political system. Protestants had more
power in the political system, and by this they ignored the political rights of Catholics.
Religion did in fact differentiate people and their identity, but did also play a major role in politics.
There was a period where Catholics were not even allowed in the English and Irish parliament, but
when they were, it eventually
My point is, this conflict is based upon the unbalanced distribution of civil rights, political rights,
and social rights. The conflict in Northern Ireland is heavily focused on the religious part, however,
the civil, political and social plays a bigger role. This is not only a matter of religion, but actually a
matter of rights and the biggest failure in this country was to allowed unfair and uneven distribution
of rights, and superiority. Identity is only what defined the people, as of which side they were on.
The different rights make up the building blocks which are central in this conflict.
Another major factor playing in this conflict was ethnicity, in the very beginning this was a
purely conflict between the British and Irish. It is important to notice how this conflict developed
to ethnic intolerance. One group got significantly more power than the other.
I believe that one of the major factors in the Northern Irish conflict lies in identity based
territorial superiority, which sparked a fire in the hatred between Catholics and Protestants. In
Along with the territorial superiority came also the violation of human rights and utter
oppression of the Catholics.
The major issue was the political inheritance the Catholics faced, even religion and identity does
not matter as much as their political power did. In this case, the Catholics did not have any
power and in the ensuing years they faced the English majority.