20th Century Ideas in Ireland

Ulster Unionism
1. A significant event that has shaped the idea: The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of Ulster by people from Great Britain during the reign of King James I. Most of the colonists came from Scotland and England. The legacy of the Plantation remains disputed. It created a society segregated between native Catholics and settler Protestants in Ulster and created a Protestant and British concentration in north east Ireland. This argument therefore sees the Plantation as one of the long-term causes of the Partition of Ireland in 1921, as the north-east remained as part of the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland.
2. A historical figure that has shaped the ideas: Sir Edward Carson, was an Irish unionist politician, barrister and judge. He was leader of the Irish Unionist Alliance and Ulster Unionist Party between 1910 and 1921, held numerous positions in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. n September 1911 a huge crowd of over 50,000 people gathered to rally near Belfast to hear Carson speaking to urge his party take on the governance of Ulster. With the passage of the Parliament Act 1911, the Unionists faced the loss of the House of Lords' ability to thwart the passage of the new Home Rule Bill. Carson campaigned against Home Rule. He spoke against the Bill in the House of Commons and organised rallies in Ireland promoting a provisional government for "the Protestant province of Ulster" should be ready, should a third Home Rule Bill come into law.
3. Political, religious and ethnic beliefs: In Ireland, unionism is an ideology which favours the continuation of some form of political union between Ireland and Great Britain. Since the partition of Ireland, unionism in Ireland has focused primarily on maintaining and preserving the place of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom. Historically, most Unionists in Ireland have been Protestants. Unionism and Loyalism are often used interchangeably, but Unionism tends to use far less violence.
4. POLITICAL PARTIES: Conservative and Unionist Party, Liberal Unionist Party, Irish Unionist Alliance, Ulster Unionist Party, Communist Party of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Labour Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party, Volunteer Political Party, Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, United Ulster Unionist Party, Progressive Unionist Party, Ulster Popular Unionist Party, Ulster, Democratic Party, UK Independence Party, UK Unionist Party, United Unionist Coalition, Northern Ireland Unionist Party, Traditional Unionist Voice,
5. Flags and symbols
Irish Nationalism
1. A significant event that has shaped the idea: The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule. The coup failed and the rebellion developed into an ethnic conflict between native Irish Catholics on one side, and English and Scottish Protestant settlers on the other. This began a conflict known as the Irish Confederate Wars. The roots of the 1641 rebellion lay in the failure of the English State in Ireland to assimilate the native Irish elite in the wake of the Elizabethan conquest and plantation of the country.
2. The Irish statesman Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) created modern Irish nationalism and served as the most successful champion of democracy in the Europe of his day. During the early 1830s O'Connell led an Irish nationalist party in the House of Commons. He also spoke for United Kingdom Benthamism. His efforts made possible the 1832 Reform Bill. In 1843 O'Connell exploited the mistakes of British politicians, Irish grievances (mainly the poor law and the existence of a large and well-organized temperance movement initiated by Father Mathew), and the journalistic talent of Young Ireland and its paper, the Nation, to build an agitation equal to the Catholic movement of the 1820s. Again the priests rallied the people, and shillings flowed to Dublin. In a series of monster meetings O'Connell promised freedom before the year was out.
3. POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND ETHNIC BELIEFS: Irish nationalism asserts that the Irish people are a nation. Since the partition of Ireland, the term generally refers to support for a united Ireland. Irish nationalists assert that rule from London has been to the detriment of Irish interests. An important feature of Irish nationalism from the late 19th century onwards was a commitment to Gaelic Irish culture. A broad intellectual movement, the Celtic Revival, grew up in the late 19th century.
4. POLITICAL PARTIES AND PARAMILITARY ORGANISATIONS: Irish Confederation, Irish Independence Party, Irish National Invincibles, Clann na Poblachta, Saor Eire, Saor Uladh, Republican Congress, People's Democracy, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Official Irish Republican Army, Social Democratic and Labour Party Workers' Party of Ireland, Irish Republican Socialist Party, Irish National Liberation Army, Continuity Irish Republican Army, Real Irish Republican Army, 32 County Sovereignty Movement, Irish National group
5. Flags and symbols
Ulster Loyalism
1. A historical figure that has shaped the idea: Augustus Andrew "Gusty" Spence (28 June 1933 – 25 September 2011) was a leader of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and a leading loyalist politician in Northern Ireland. One of the first UVF members to be convicted of murder, Spence was a senior figure in the organisation for over a decade. During his time in prison Spence renounced violence and helped to convince a number of fellow inmates that the future of the UVF lay in a more political approach. Spence joined the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), becoming a leading figure in the group. As a PUP representative he took a principal role in delivering the loyalist ceasefires of 1994.
2. POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC BELIEFS: Ulster loyalists are overwhelmingly part of the Protestant working class, and many are descended from British colonists. Young Protestant men from Ulster ’s most downtrodden neighborhoods make up the core membership of loyalist paramilitary groups, which are effectively pro-state terrorist organisations. Loyalists are attached to the British monarchy, support the preservation of Northern Ireland, and oppose a united Ireland. It is strongly associated with paramilitarism. They are the adversaries of the Irish Republican Army, and others who seek a united Ireland , in the violent decades-long struggle that the Irish call “the Troubles." The term 'loyalist' is usually used to describe those who are willing to use, or tacitly support, paramilitary violence to keep Ulster under British rule.
  1. Some loyalist paramilitaries have had links with far-right and Neo-Nazi groups in Britain, including Combat 18, the British National Socialist Movement, and the British National Front. Since the 1990s, loyalist paramilitaries have been responsible for numerous racist attacks in loyalist areas. A 2006 report revealed that of all reported racist attacks in the previous two years, 90% occurred in loyalist areas.
3. A significant event that has shaped the idea: The partition of Ireland (1921) was the division of the island of Ireland into two distinct territories: Northern Ireland, which immediately opted to remain part of the United Kingdom, and Southern Ireland, which soon became independent as the Irish Free State and is now the Republic of Ireland. Since partition, a key aspiration of Irish nationalists has been to bring about a United Ireland, with the whole island forming one independent state. This goal conflicts with that of the Unionists and Loyalists in Northern Ireland, who want the region to remain part of the United Kingdom.
4. POLITICAL PARTIES: Active parties include the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), which is linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando (RHC), Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) and the Protestant Coalition. Past political parties include the Ulster Democratic Party (1981–2001), Ulster Vanguard (1972–1978), Volunteer Political Party (1974), Ulster Protestant League (1930s).
  1. PARAMILITARY ORGANIZATIONS Ulster Protestant Association, Ulster Protestant Volunteers, Ulster Volunteer Force, Red Hand Commando Young Citizen Volunteers, Ulster Defence Association, Ulster Freedom Fighters, Ulster Young Militants, Ulster Resistance Volunteer Force, Red Hand Defenders, Real Ulster Freedom Fighters
5. Flags and symbols
Irish Republicanism
1. A significant event that has shaped the idea: The Irish Rebellion of 1798, also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion, was an uprising against British rule in Ireland lasting from May to September 1798. The United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced by the ideas of the American and French revolutions, were the main organising force behind the rebellion. Small fragments of the great rebel armies of the Summer of 1798 survived for a number of years and waged a form of guerrilla or "fugitive" warfare in several counties. The post-rebellion repression meant few spoke or wrote of the events from rebel viewpoints, and as a result almost all initial accounts of the rebellion were written from the loyalist perspective.
2. A historical figure that has shaped the ideas: Michael Collins (16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance, Director of Information, and Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Adjutant General, Director of Intelligence, and Director of Organisation and Arms Procurement for the IRA, President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood from November 1920 until his death, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-chief of the National Army. Collins was shot and killed in an ambush in August 1922 during the Irish Civil War.
3. Political, religious and ethnic beliefs: Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic. The development of nationalist and democratic sentiment throughout Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was reflected in Ireland in the emergence of republicanism, in opposition to British rule. This followed hundreds of years of British conquest and Irish resistance through rebellion. Discrimination against Catholics and Non-comformists, attempts by the British administration to suppress Irish culture, and the belief that Ireland was economically disadvantaged as a result of the Act of Union were among the specific factors leading to such opposition.
4. PARAMILITARY ORGANISATIONS: Irish Republican Army, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Irish National Liberation Army, Official Irish Republican Army, Continuity Irish Republican Army, Real Irish Republican Army, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann, Sinn Féin, Ógra Shinn Féin, Republican Sinn Féin, 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
  1. POLITICAL PARTIES: Sinn Féin, Republican Sinn Féin, Irish Republican Socialist Party, Éirígí
5. Flags and symbols

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20th Century Ideas in Ireland

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