著者

高神 信一

出版者

大阪産業大学学会

雑誌

大阪産業大学経済論集 = OSAKA SANGYO UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS

巻号頁・発行日

vol.20, no.3, pp.41-61, 2019-06-30

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The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, which was founded in 1967 to protest anti-Catholic discrimination in Northern Ireland, organised public demonstrations. They were severely suppressed by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The Irish Republican Army, whose members were Catholics, started to attack Protestant, the police and the British army. Protestants established the Ulster Defense Association, which targeted Catholics. This article analyses the background to the conflict in Northern Ireland using the report of the Cameron Commission which established by the British government to investigate the civil disorders of the late 1960s. I examines four areas of contention. First, electoral practices were favourable to Protestants. Catholics were over-represented among the disfranchised. In a number of areas a unionist (Protestant) council ruled over a population with a slight Catholic majority. Secondly, Protestants were disproportionately represented in the non-manual and skilled occupations. Some private firms discriminated against Catholics. Thirdly, there is evidence that certain local authorities discriminated in allocating public housing. In Fermanagh, where Catholics were a slight majority of the population, 568 post-war councils were let to Catholics and 1,021 to Protestants. Fourthly, the proportion of Catholics in the Royal Ulster Constabulary was well below the proportion of Catholics in the overall population.