...version of the language is still used. It is no called Irish and taught in most Catholic schools. Christianity as brought to Ireland by St. Patrick. In the 5th century the Gaels became Christians and religion has been a poerful influence on Irish life ever since. Today Irish nationalists are very proud of their Gaelic past because they feel it clearly sets them apart from the British.The golden age came to a sudden end ith to ne invasions. From around 800 AD groups of Vikings began to arrive in Ireland. They ere folloed in 1167 by the Normans in their conquest of Britain. These necomers made very fe changes. Ireland remained divided into a number of small kingdoms but its people shared the same language Gaelic and the same religion Catholic.In the l6th century English rulers began to take a closer interest in Ireland. They feared Ireland could become a . threat to their on poer. Edard the 6th and Elisabeth the 1st encouraged English settlers to live in Ireland. They also began introducing Protestant bishops, bibles and prayer books. But most Irish people refused to accept the English religion or the English rule. The provinces of Ulster and Munster rose in rebellion. Elisabeth sent her armies to defeat the rebels. In the l7th century English rulers decided that military force as not the best ay to gain control in Ireland. So the English kings ould plant colonies of loyal Protestants and give land to them.From 1610 onards, thousand of Protestants came over to Ulster and settled on land taken from local Irish Catholics. In 1641 they took part in a great rebellion against the ne settlers. Large numbers of Protestants ere killed and the rebellion continued until the arrival of the English leader, Oliver Cromell, in 1649. He as determined to teach the Irish a lesson. He did this by slaughtering the Catholic inhabitants of to tons. The rebellion has never been forgotten.Three centuries of oppression and misery folloed. Among the most difficult phases for the Irish ere periods of starvation -The Great Hunger 1845 to 1849 here the potato crop as destroyed by a disease. During that period one third of Irelands population starved or emigrated to the USA, Canada and Britain. In order to understand the situation in Ireland it is important to kno that the conflict today is the result of nearly 800 years of hatred.In 1996 political life in Ireland as dominated by efforts to sustain the faltering peace process in Northern Ireland. This progress made during the previous years as abruptly terminated in February 1997 by the ending of the Provisional Irish Republican Army IRA cease-fire and by the detonation of a bomb in Londons Docklands. In a struggle to reinstate the process, Irish Prime Minister Burton and the British Prime Minister Major tried to set dates for all-party talks. The majority Unionist parties hich favoured the continued unification of Northern Ireland and Great Britain objected to the talks, hoever, and interminable meetings failed to break a deadlock. Further violence folloed.In October 1997 an IRA bomb attack on the British army-base in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, restored the full cycle of violence. This left the Irish government ith their overall peace strategy in ruins. There as all-party consent in the Republic that Sinn Fein, the political ing of the IRA, ould be excluded from talks hile IRA violence continued. In spite of a orking agreement on talks beteen the Ulster Unionists and Northern Irelands Social Democratic and Labour Party hich sought reunification ith Ireland all political parties in the Republic remained convinced that talks ithout Sinn Fein ould make only limited progress and that the only route forard depended on a permanent IRA cease-fire.Finally, in April 1998, on Good Friday a Northern Ireland peace agreement as reached. Copies of the proposed plan ere mailed to every household in Northern Ireland, and on May 22nd voters in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic voted in a referendum on the agreement package. A number of parties are squarely behind the agreement. But there is vociferous opposition, especially among Unionists. Paisley leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, ho has made a long and colourful career out of saying NO, is leading the attack. And Trimble head of the Ulster Unionist Party, too, must reckon ith a serious split ithin his U.U.P., the largest and most important of the Unionist parties. The agreement has some poerful backing the governments in London and Dublin, hich ere busily reassuring doubters on all sides. Despite Sinn Feins hesitancy about firmly backing it, the agreement has solid support among Catholics.The document provides significant gains for Nationalists- guaranteeing their political representation in the ne Northern Ireland Assembly and increased cross-boarder links ith the Irish Republic.- The Irish language ill get an official standing. - A committee ill be set up to reform the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Northern Irish police force, hated by the Catholic community.LANDSLIDE YES VOTE FOR PEACEOn Friday the 22nd in 1228 polling stations 71 percent of the voters said YES to an agreement that ill transform the politics of Northern Ireland and redefine the historically contentious relations beteen London, Dublin and Belfast. It as an ending of 30 years bloodshed ith nearly 3000 deaths and 80 years of constitutional instability. It took nearly to years of peace talks to yield the formidably complex document that on the voters approval in last eeks referendum the so - called GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT. This result ill change the face of unionism forever and open the ay to a sharing of government beteen Unionists and Nationalists.The result may also give the IRA the confidence it needs to declare its ar is over and start decommissioning eapons, the precondition of building Unionist trust in Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. Endorsement of the agreement in the Republic, including the abandonment of the historic territorial claim on the North, came in an avalanche ignoring both geographical and class barriers. There as no significant difference beteen the vote in border constituencies and other areas often considered to be Republican and urban areas.The Good Friday agreement sets out carefully ordered steps to bring ne political institutions and a ne political consensus to Northern Ireland. But analysts say the agreement may stumble over ho it resolves issues left over from decades of guerrilla arfare.That means that poer ill no longer be gained by bullets and bombs. hat there is no is peace! This vote said that people anted to try a ne kind of politics. The ar that has dominated Northern Ireland for three decades is over.Around the orld, leaders have sent their congratulations to Ireland and said they hoped for a lasting peace. President Clinton said the Irish people had voted for a brighter future and he ould no encourage investment in the region. The Palestinian Authority said it hoped the vote ould set the stage for ...
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