Exploring the Disadvantages Catholics Faced in Northern Ireland in the

Exploring the Disadvantages Catholics Faced in northern Ireland in the Mid 60s In Northern Ireland during the 60s Catholics faced a lot of disadvantages, in areas of Employment, Education, Housing, and Politics there is evidence that level the Police Force was biased in kick upstairs of the Protestant community. Employment was a major area in which Catholics faced discrimination. Protestants held most of the civil service, government and local government posts in Northern Ireland and even if a catholic did get employment, many would simply feel too uncomfortable in the midst of all the Protestants. The main companies were privately owned and although anti-catholic injustice was often suspected among foremen or personal managers, it was a hard thing to prove. One fact that can be confirmed however is that, of 10,000 workers in a Belfast shipyard (the biggest single source of employment in the city), just 400 were Catholic. A similar pattern of employm ent can be seen in Fermanagh County Council where 322 of 370 employees were Protestant, including most of those in the top positions. Within the Education Authority, the most sought after jobs in Fermanagh were for school bus drivers because of the long rest and holidays all but seven-spot of these places out of 75 were given to Protestants. Such facts are made all the more astounding considering more than half of the population of Fermanagh County were actually Catholic. Education was some other area where Catholics faced discrimination. Dr McChuckeys description of the results in Dungannon in 1964states there were two secondary schools St.Patricks, the Catholic institution, and ... ...alled in by the Unionists, to act analogous a police force/army. Catholic marches were banned. Student demonstrations ended up in violence. They treated Catholic civilians harshly which increased hatred among the two religious groups. Only 14.5% of Catholics were in the police force but they formed 40% of Northern Irelands population. In conclusion there were many differences between Catholics and Protestants in the 1960s. Most of these differences were in opinion and in Politics. Nationalist politicians were always out numbered by Unionist politicians in large Nationalist areas. Therefore, Catholics could not hold up their views expressed and always lost out if it came to a majority vote. This unfair treatment halted progress to achieve peace in Northern Ireland and they are console trying to achieve peace to this day.