Irish band U2 publicized the Irish plight with its song “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and the conflict reaches back centuries and still continues to exist. Ireland is part of the British Isles and is situated northwest of England. England had its hand in Irish affairs from the 16th century until Ireland gained its independence in 1921
On this day February 11th, in 2000, Great Britain suspends self-rule of Northern Ireland when it does not disarm as England had demanded of them. The agreement between Northern Ireland is known as the Good Friday Agreement or the Belfast Agreement. Ireland has been plagued with violence between the factions of Ireland since the late 60’s between the Republic of Ireland and North Ireland.
This separation and division of Ireland stems from theological differences when England abandoned the Catholic Church and formed its own Church of England. The Republic of Ireland, which has the larger population of Ireland with over 4.5 million people, is primarily protestant. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, refused to ever give up its Catholicism and instead made a stand against England – which has yet to be resolved. Northern Ireland has a population of over 1.6 Million, and has its own army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, or IRA for short.