Some eggs were scrambled before Thatcher got there … and the solutions weren’t (i.e. aren’t easy).
I’d been hearing that the demographics are changing in “Northern Ireland” and that now the “Protestant” demographic (non-Catholic Christian denominations all combined) are now a minority at 41.6 % and falling, while the Catholic Population is now at 40.8% and rising.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Northern_Ireland
Religion in Northern Ireland (2011)[1]
Catholicism (40.8%)
Presbyterianism (19.1%)
Anglicanism (13.7%)
Non-religious (10.1%)
Not stated (6.8%)
Methodism (3.0%)
Other Christian (5.8%)
Other religions (0.8%)
As an American and far away from any of the troubles … things seem to have gotten better since we used to hear of Pastor Ian Paisley stirring up things, the IRA supposedly getting arms from Libya and Russia, and bombings taking place on each side.
Occasionally we hear of the provocative marches the Orange Order does through the Catholic neighborhoods, but nothing like the carnage of yesteryear (or is it just that our American media doesn’t report it)?
I was in Ireland (and Northern Ireland) in 1989. Near the border there were armed soldiers and we got our car stopped, but no real incident. In Dundalk at that time (we were there for a wedding) we heard stories of skirmishes in the hills … but we crossed the border and rented a car in Newry without much incident.
Most of the people pooh-poohed any danger or wouldn’t speak on the subject. Thatcher was PM at the time in the UK.
Our group of 8 (four men, four women) were temporarily shut out of a Dundalk dance hall but a local told the proprietors we were with Nor-Aid (he said later) and we were let in.
We weren’t happy with the fib for a variety of reasons (from what we heard Nor-Aid was involved in getting guns smuggled onto the island and we wanted NO trouble with anyone!) … but it was a reminder that there was “a war” of sorts being fought somewhere.
Hope things are better there now, and will improve. It did seem to be the hotspot during the Thatcher years – but had been such before she arrived.
With the given demographics, will the North ever vote to join the South in a united Ireland? Or is it more likely that the North will increasingly become Catholic and stay a part of the UK – but with better relations with the south than once existed? Like the US and Canada in most years.
I loved the beautiful country and the people we met in Ireland. As a person of Irish descent it was like coming home in a way.