Week 1 (Introduction to Irish studies)

Geographical concepts

 British Isles: everything (all of it together)

 British Islands: everything minus the island of Ireland
 United Kingdom: Northern Ireland + Scotland + Wales +
England
 Great Britain: Scotland + Wales + England
 The four provinces of Ireland: Ulster + Munster + Leinster +
Connacht
 Ulster = Nowadays Northern Ireland, used to contain
counties of Donegal, Monahan & Cavan (Now part of the
republic of Ireland).
 Number of counties (32 in total): 26 in RI, 6 in NI.

Football

 Irish Football Association (IFA): founded in 1880 in Belfast

representing all of Ireland
 Football Association of Ireland (FAI): founded in 1921 in
Dublin representing the Irish Free state
 Now the IRA (Irish Football Association) represents Northern
Ireland

Ireland & UK relations

 President Michael D. Higgins made historic state visit to

Britain in April 8 2014 (must deal with the pain of the past)
 Queen Elizabeth made state visit to Ireland in 17-20 May
 2011, and Laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance
 Frank McGuinness: the warring relationship between England
and Ireland. It’s like a desperately unhappy marriage which is
either going to go on being desperately unhappy or something
is going to happen and heal it.
 Queen Elizabeth: the “regrettable pain” felt by many in Ireland
and the United Kingdom at our chequered history could be
overcome for the mutual benefit of both countries.

Croke Park

 Stadium only for GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) games

(e.g: Gaelic Football, Hurling)
 Bloody Sunday (1920): British forces opened fire on a crowd
at a Gaelic football match in Dublin, killing 14 people and
injuring many others. This attack was in retaliation for IRA
assassinations of British spies earlier that day.
 Soldier’s Song: National anthem of Ireland

The Garden of Remembrance

 The Garden of Remembrance is located in Dublin, Ireland. It

is a public park and memorial dedicated to those who fought for
Irish independence,
 Opened in 1966

Religion

 According to the 2021 census, Northern Ireland’s

protestant population has decreased compared to the 1926
 census (66.3% -> 37.3%)
 On the other hand, the catholic population went up (33.5% -
> 45.7%)
 Some say the result was due to the prohibition of Abortion
in Catholicism which caused the population to go up
(Protestants allow).
 The questions of the census also changed, and which could
be a factor that affected the result (do you belong to ->
brought up in)

Week 2 (Culture & Irish identity)

Different definitions of culture

 Dictionary definition of culture: consists of activities, such

as the arts and philosophy, which are considered to be
important for the development of civilization and of people’s
minds.
 E.B. Tylor, Primitive Cultures: a complex whole which
includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
 Margaret Mead: the learned behavior of a society or a
subgroup.
 Raymond Williams: includes the organization of production,
the structure of the family, the structure of institutions which
express or govern social relationships, the characteristic forms
through which members of the society communicate.
 Clifford Geerts: simply the ensemble of stories we tell
ourselves about ourselves.
Cultural studies

 Cultural studies is a small section included in the studies of

culture.
 Emerged in 1950s Britain (working class culture)
 Focuses on the study of culture of nondominant groups.
(minorities, forgotten/neglected, etc.)
 Believes that cultural politics* (politics=the ways power is
affected by personal relationships between people who work
together) is as important as realistic politics.
 Examines the matters in terms of cultural practice and their
relation to power.
 Aims to expose power relationships.
 Examines how relationships (power) influence and shape
cultural practices.
 BCE/CE: before the common era, common era.
 BC/AD: Before Christ/Anno Domini (the year of the Lord)

Edward Said

 Palestinian American scholar, the author of Orientalism

(1978).
 Orientalism has been described as the ‘grandest of all
narratives’ connecting western knowledge and imperialism.
 Orientalism is a western style for dominating, restructuring,
and having authority over the Orient.

Irish identity & Irishness

 ‘Rural, nationalist and Catholic’ --- the hidden Ireland

(1924)
 Conor Cruise O’Brien: Irishness is the condition of being
involved in the Irish situation, and usually of being mauled by it.
 Luke Gibbons: Ireland is a first world country, but with a third
 world (countries that don’t have much power, not considered to
be highly developed) memory.
 The cartoon ‘two forces’ published by Punch demonstrates
Britain’s ‘simianization’ of the Irish people.
 ‘Setting down in malice’ (1881): the cartoon of how British
demonize Irish people (倫敦派畫師去醜化愛爾蘭人)

Week 3 (The Celts and Ireland: Who are the

Celts?)

the notion of ‘Celts’

 Newgrange: a Neolithic monument located in County Meath,

Ireland which was constructed 5200 years ago. (But not
constructed by the Celts.)
 Trinity College Dublin: no substantial evidence of the celts
were found in Irish DNA / They never settled in Ireland in Large
group.
 Κελτοι: a word used by the ancient Greeks to refer to a group
of Barbarians in the North. (Share the common Celtic language.)
 The Celts first appeared 1200 BC and dominated much of
central & western Europe, until Roman and Germanic expansion
in the 1st century BC pushed them to the west of the continent.
 ‘Celtic’ is primarily a cultural classification rather than a
racial one.
 Celtic: a name for one of the great branches of the Aryan family
of languages
 Celt: anyone who speaks (or is descended from those who
spoke) any Celtic language.
Celts/Celtic in history

 The ancient Celts are non-literate.

 Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul: his work commentaries on
the Gallic War mentioned the Celts as barbarians.
 During the renaissance, there was a revival of the notions of
the Celts being Barbarians.
 Edward Lhwyd: conducted the first serious comparative study
of Celtic languages. (related languages: Breton/ Cornish, Welsh,
Irish, Manx, Scottish, Gaelic.) He also combined the two
notions of the Celts (ethnography 民族誌 & language.)
 the 2 main archaeological discoveries of the Celts:
Hallstatt (Austria)&La Tène (Switzerland).
 Hallstatt(1200~275BC): prehistoric cemetery.
 La Tène(500~15BC): wooden wheels & iron swords.

The Celts & Ireland

 Around 500/300 BC: the first Celts in Ireland. They assimilated

with Ireland’s pre-Celtic tribes.
 the Roman occupation in Britain (43 AD), let to a loss of
Celtic language & culture. (Ireland was never invaded, so the
culture and language was preserved)
 after Christianity arrived in Ireland in 5th century, Celtic
culture adapted Christianity. (e.g. the book of Kells)

Mathew Arnold & On the Study of Celtic

Literature

 Background: during the 19th century, the rise of national

literatures was occurring in Europe.
 Matthew Arnold: wrote On the Study of Celtic Literature
 His view of the Irish: the Celt are our brothers in the great
Indo-European family, has had a share, an appreciable share, in
producing this changed state of feeling.
 His standpoint: Praise the Celts and their literature, but also
thinks their culture is inferior than the Anglo-Saxon one. (And
balance, measure and patience are just what the Celt has never
had...the Celtic genius, with its chafing against the despotism of
fact…has accomplished nothing.)
 Arnold said the Celts are female race, something feminine in
them. (the spell of the feminine idiosyncrasy=unusual habits)
 His influence: helped revive Celtic literary nationalism.
 Mary Colum: Irish literary critic, commented on ‘the craze of
Celtic things.’

‘Invention of Tradition’

 a paper written by Eric Hobsbawm & Terence Ranger.

 Basic idea: many believed ‘long standing traditions’ are actually
originated recently & sometimes invented.
 拿一個已經存在的傳統加上一些東西創新（一般和過去有關讓人很難察覺）
 invented traditions may look like they are rooted in an ancient,
unbroken historical continuity, but in reality, they are modern
responses to new needs or circumstances.
 Some examples: Kilts(invented by an Englishman in 1730)
 The point is that the idea of the Cels as an ethnic entity could
be seen as a invention of tradition in the 19th century.

Week 4 (Ireland and Catholicism 1 )

Ireland today in religious terms

 Mass in the Catholic Church: Live reenactment of the last

supper (priest=Jesus, the attendants=disciples)
 Papal Mass attendance in Phoenix Park: 1979 John Paul
II(1,250,000), 2018 Francis (130,000)

Religious History of Ireland (1. Early Christian

Period)

 Christianity reached Ireland in the 5th century.

 Palladius: the first bishop sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine I in
431.
 St. Patrick: the patron saint of Ireland (432?)
 the newly converted Irish Christians recycled (continued using)
the words of their older beliefs into their Christian vocabulary.
(e.g. Dia-> God)
 Druids: priests of pre-Christian beliefs, they are the follower of
Pagan Kings, and are prophets who has special knowledges
(knows god, universe, fate of the soul etc.)
 600-900 years are considered the golden age of Irish
Christianity (Numerous monasteries & Irish monks going abroad
etc.)
 The Normans conquered England in 1066 (King William I)
 1171: Henry II became the lord of Ireland (marking the
start of English involvement in Irish affairs)
 The Anglo-Normans are considered more Irish than the Irish
themselves.
 The statutes of Kilkenny: laws that forbid English settlers to
marry the Irish, their children to play with Irish, use Irish laws,
etc.
 Purgatory: the place where Roman Catholics believe the spirits
 of dead people are sent to suffer for their sins before going to
Heaven.
 The reformation of Christianity: people protested against
the catholic church’s corruption.
 Henry VIII: The English King who wanted a divorce with his wife
but got rejected by the Catholic Church, Therefore, he enacted
the act of Supremacy, and became the supreme head of the
Church of England. He also closed monasteries in England,
but he had been a devout catholic and kept most of the other
customs.
 Edward VI: the son of Henry VIII, protestant, The Book of
Common Prayer (services in English rather than Latin) was
published during his reign.
 Mary I: also known as the ‘Bloody Mary’, the queen of England
and she was known for her restoration of Catholicism (executed
lots of Protestants) in England.
 Elizabeth I: protestant, and the supreme Governor of the
church of England.

Religious History of Ireland (2.Ireland since

the Protestant Reformation)

 1536: Irish Parliament recognized Henry VIII as the head of

‘Church of Ireland (the Anglican Church)’. Most Irish maintained
allegiance to the pope, and most old English lords remained
Catholics.
 1594-1603: Nine years’ war (O’Neills & O’Donnells) is the
conflict between Gaelic landlords and Queen Elizabeth. (major
battles: The battle of Kinsale)
 1609: following the defeat of the Gaelic, Protestant Planters
from England and Scotland came to settle in Ulster and built
 plantations(像開拓滿洲一樣)
 1641: Catholics rebelled against the Protestants settlers in
Ulster, killed thousands of Protestant settlers.
 The priest’s even blessed the rebels before the go to rob
and murder (if they got killed they still go to heaven)
 Oliver Cromwell: the military Leader who executed King
Charles I, and founded the commonwealth of England. (報仇了 1641
年的反叛)
 Act of Settlement(1652): Cromwell’s campaign, forced many
Irish landowners to resettle in Connaught.
 The Battle of the Boyne: James II (Catholic king) vs William
III (Protestant King), William won, and Protestant Ascendancy
was established.
 Protestant Ascendancy: The domination of the Anglo-Irish
Protestant minority in Ireland.
 Anti-Catholic Penal Laws(1695~): Catholics could not buy
land, become teachers, etc.
 United Irishmen’s rebellion (1798): Wolfe Tone was the
founder of it, he was born in an Anglican Barrister(privileged)
family.
 The act of Union (1800): the act that united Great Britain and
Ireland.
 The repeal movement of the act of Union: led by Daniel
O’Connell, wanted Ireland out from the UK.
 Danial O’Connell: AKA ‘the Liberator’, Catholic, campaigned
for Catholic Emancipation (eventually succeeded).

Week 5 (Secular Transformation &

Contemporary Ireland)
From the Act of Union(1800) to the

Partition(1921)

 the 1801 Act of Union abolished the parliament in Dublin.

 the repeal movement: led by Daniel O’Connell, wanted
Ireland out of the UK
 the catholic emancipation act (1829): the act that granted
Catholics in the UK significant civil rights & political freedom.
 Home rule movement: the movement that allowed the set-up
of an Irish parliament in Dublin which allows the Irish to govern
local affairs.
 Easter Rising (1916): a significant rebellion that took place
during easter week, it was an armed insurrection against British
rule, aimed to establish a Independent Irish republic.
 Irish war of Independence(1919-21): eventually succeeded,
and established the Irish free state.
 1920: Two home rule states (south & North)
 1921: King George V opened the first parliament in NI.

The south & the role of the Catholic Church

 the 1922 Irish free state was still within the British
commonwealth.
 The 1937 republic of Ireland became an independent
sovereign country.
 Even though, as stated in the 1922 constitution, that no law
may be made either directly or indirectly to endow any religion.
A series of actions (censorship of films & publication arts etc.)
contradicts it.
 The whole Irish society is highly related to the catholic church
and people who doesn’t attend masses would been excluded
from social circles.
Abortion Issues

 The second Vatican council: shows a trend towards

modernization, acknowledged ecumenism (unity among the
world’s Christian churches)
 The pope’s (John Paul II) visit to Ireland (1979):
considered a failure, if his intention was to stem and reinforce
traditional catholic beliefs, he failed.
 Pro-Life campaign (1981-1983): the absolute right to life of
every unborn child, against abortion. Which eventually
succeeded by making abortion illegal.
 Abortion has been legal in England, Wales, and Scotland since
1967, but not the Island of Ireland.
 Eighth amendment of the constitution of Ireland: ‘the
state acknowledges the right of the unborn, …..’ which is a
constitutional ban on Abortion.
 The death of Ann Lovett: Ann was a 15-year old schoolgirl
who died after giving birth alone to her baby because she
couldn’t have an abortion.
 Hush-a-bye baby: a 1990 movie that talks about the Ann
Lovett case.
 X case: a 1991 case that a 14-year-old girl is raped by a man
known to her and her family, who becomes pregnant.
 After 1992: after the X case, women in Ireland have the rights
to travel to other countries and abortion services’ information in
foreign countries are provided.
 The death of Savita Halappanavar (2012): Halappanavar
was an Indian dentist who died from septicemia (the hospital
rejected to perform an abortion because the fetus’ heart is still
beating). Which later caused social movements.
Clerical Sex scandals

 Brendan Smyth: an Irish Catholic priest and a serial child

molester.
 Eamonn Casey: an Irish Catholic bishop whose career became
embroiled in scandal in the 1990s when it was revealed that he
had fathered a child.
 Michael Cleary: an Irish Catholic priest and singer whose
career and reputation were tarnished by revelations that he
secretly fathered two children.
 Michael Ledwith: an Irish theologian and former Catholic
priest who served as the President of St. Patrick’s College, his
career became mired in controversy due to allegations of sexual
misconduct and departure from the priesthood.
 The murphy report: the report of the commission of
investigation into the catholic archdiocese of Dublin, published
in 2009.

Institutional abuse

 Magdalene asylum/laundry: an institution that operated in

Ireland, the original purpose of these laundries are charitable
homes for ‘fallen women’. Which means providing short-term
refuge for prostitutes. (後來很多時候是被騙過去，或者莫名其妙弄進去)

Social change in Ireland

 Same-sex sexual activity became legal in Ireland in 1993.

 Same-sex marriage (2015).

Week 6 the great famine

Folk Memories of the famine

 There was no actual famine back in Ireland, that using the

word Famine is a misnomer, that food was plenty but it was
exported to England.
 Potato blight: a plant disease caused by fungus-like organism
which can destroy entire crops in a short period.

Background (19th century Ireland)

 Landlords: protestant descendants of English planters,

(wealthy class, lived in Big houses) 把地都租給了 tenant farmers.
 Absentee landlords: same as the landlords, but often live
outside of Ireland and hire middlemen to lend their land to
tenant farmers.
 Tenant farmers: hired laborers, the large ones usually has over
30 acres of land and the small ones had 5-15 acres.
 Landless laborers: cottiers(住小屋的農夫) who rent 0.5 ~ 1.5 acres
of land from farmers, also called spaleens in Irish.
 One acre of land= produces enough potatoes for a family &
seed potatoes for next year, and the rest will be paid to landlord
as rent.

Background (causes of the famine)

 1: the rise in population is considered one of the reasons that

caused the famine, the causes of the population growth can be
related to early marriages & high birth rate.
 2: dependence on the potato: the Irish depended too much
on the potatoes.
 3: the rent of the land was 4 times higher, (分完繳完租金就不剩多少了).
The course of the famine

 Black ’47: the worst year of the famine.

 Substitutes for the potato: turnips, cabbages, roots of
dandelion, nuts, cow blood, seaweeds, anything.
 Indian corn: Sir Robert Peel (the British Prime Minister),
imported Indian corn from America. But the Maize was sold to
the people instead of given due to the faissez-faire policy.
 Public works: people switched to road/bridge building, which
they get paid and get the money to buy food. (but the wage is
low)
 Famine roads: the roads built during the famine.
 Workhouse/poorhouse: places that provided basic shelter,
food, and work for those in extreme poverty. It was overcrowded
and most people couldn’t get in.
 Soup kitchens: free soups by protestant churches, over 3
million people gets free food every day, but the quality of the
soups are poor.
 The consequences of the famine: the population declined, a
decline of the Irish language, emigrations and political effects.
 Change in marriage patterns: after the famine only the
eldest son could inherit the farm (no more subdivision), but he
also needed to wait till his father dies, and people started
marrying later which caused a decline in birthrate.
 Decline of the Irish language: the west & south-west of
Ireland were largely affected by the famine (which are major
Irish speaking regions).
 Grosse île: a quarantine station at Quebec which Mary
Robinson visited. Thousands Irish people died during the
quarantine which a memorial was later set up there.
 Political effects: the famine caused a resentment towards
 Britain.

Week 7 ‘Drunken, Violent’ Irish: Irish

representations in Victorian Cartoons

 Gerald of Wales: the royal clerk to Henry II of England. Hated

the Irish and used a lot of derogatory terms to describe them.
 Edmund Spenser: an influential English poet during the late
16th century Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Also used a lot of
derogatory terms to describe the Irish.
 The Victorian’s obsession with their ape-relatives
coincided with the rise of the revolutionary Fenian movement.
The Fenians means of revolution by launching raids on police
stations and Bombing in Britain, inspired the British cartoonists
like Sir John Tenniel, to depict them as ape-like monsters
threatening Hibernia and Britannia trying to protect her.
 Charles Kingsley depicted the Irish as white chimpanzees.
 ‘the missing link’: the punch cartoon in 1862 described Irish
people as the missing link between gorilla and human beings.
(gorilla – missing link –human beings)
 Anglo-Saxonism: during Victorian England, the idea of Anglo-
Saxons being more superior than the Irish and that the Irish are
uncapable of governing themselves and they need the Anglo-
Saxons. (ethnocentrism)
 John Stuart Mill: the British philosopher who stated that the
Fenian movement was the product of British rule instead of Irish
irrationality.
 John Bull: the national personification of England.
 English Laborer’s burden: the cartoon published by Punch
that depicts an Irish carrying a money sac of 50000 pounds,
which is a relief grant given to Ireland and an English worker is
 carrying the Irish.
 Cornucopia: horn of plenty.
 Grades of Intelligence: 臉越平越智慧，越凸越原始.
 Fenians depicted in Punch: as barbarians, violent, carring
weapons and has low levels of IQ
 Irish in America: the Irish arrived in America during and after
the Famine, which also aroused fear in America, which is an
Anglo-Saxon culture society. The Americans were Xenophobic
and nativist.
 NINA: ‘No Irish Need Apply’, a discriminatory phrase used
during the large Irish immigration in the U.S, to exclude Irish
immigrants from employment opportunities.
 Irish also was once characterized as colored in terms of
race, although they’re white.

Week 8 ‘The Troubles in Northern

Ireland’(1969~1998)
 Allocation of jobs: Protestants usually had better chance of
finding jobs. And Catholics are more likely to be unemployed.
(few Catholics got government jobs)
 Discrimination of Jobs: there were 60% Catholics in Derry,
and only 30% worked in administrative, clerical, and technical
jobs, (23/319 civil servants) (6/68 senior judges)
 For the local election, a rich protestant can get up to 6 votes,
while 6 Catholics living in a house only get 1 vote.
 Ratepayers: a person who owned or rented property and
therefore had to pay local taxes called rate. (only ratepayers are
allowed to vote)
 Multiple voting: the right of property owners with large
retable values to have up to six votes.
 Civil rights march: in 1968, marched for jobs, houses and the
right to vote (slogan: ‘One man, One vote’), and the policy got
 reformed in 1969.
 Bogside: an area of land which is very wet and muddy.
 The Battle of the Bogside: a major three-day riot
(1969/8/12~14), in the Bogside area of Derry (Londonderry),
Northern Ireland. A key event that marked the beginning of the
period of ‘The Troubles’, (conflict between the predominantly
Catholic/nationalist and Protestant/unionist communities)
 B special: a member of a part-time largely protestant police
force functioning in Northern Ireland
 Derry/Londonderry: built during 1609 the plantation of Ulster
campaign. (Catholics2 : Protestants1), also known as the stroke
city due to the ‘/’
 ‘siege mentality’: Protestants’ discrimination against Catholics
based on their fear & insecurity.
 Unionists: those who support the ‘union’ with the UK.
 Loyalists: more extreme type of unionists who are ready to use
violence
 Nationalists: those who support for a ‘united Ireland’ or 32-
county Ireland.
 Republicans: those who are ready to use violence.
 1921/6/21: George V opened the first NI parliament.
 Before 1969: almost every member of the NI cabinet are
protestants.
 Stormont: the location of the NI parliament & government.
 Gerrymandering refers to the manipulation of electoral district
boundaries to gain a political advantage for a particular party,
group, or individual.
 1956-1962: IRA’s new campaign of violence (ordinary Catholics
didn’t support them)
 The two turning points in the troubles: Bloody Sunday
(1972 殺了兩個無辜的平民天主教徒示威者) & hunger strikes (1981, caused the
rise of Sinn Fein ‘the political wing of the IRA’)
 Internment: policy of putting up people suspected of violence
 in prison without trial in order to restore peace.
 Whitewash: deliberately attempt to conceal unpleasant or
incriminating facts about a person or organization

Week 9 ‘The Trouble in Northern Ireland’ part

II

 Free Derry Corner: in the Bogside area of Derry, which was a

self-governed area where British forces were kept out.
 Young Derry Hooligans: a term used during the early stages
of the troubles in Northern Ireland (Derry), to describe groups of
young, working-class nationalist boys and teenagers. These
youths played a key role in protests and clashes against the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army during the
civil rights movement and the rise of sectarian violence.
 Bloody Sunday in Derry: 30 Jan 1972, an organized march
against Internment(亂抓人), some YDH threw stones at the army.
The army replied with water cannon and rubber bullets. Soldiers
opened fire and killed 13.
 Internment: Policy of putting up people suspected of violence
in prison without trial in order to restore peace.
 First Widgery Inquiry: the first investigation into Bloody
Sunday but failed to satisfy calls for justice due to its perceived
bias.
 British Embassy in Dublin Burnt down: 2 Feb. 1972
 The fall of Stormont refers to the end of the home rule
government in NI, which after the bloody Sunday incident,
London started directly ruling NI.
 The unionists’ reaction towards the fall of Stormont: their
power was robbed, and they suspected that Ireland would
reunify.
 2nd (Saville) Inquiry: final report (15 June 2010), cost about
 200m euros. ‘what happened on Bloody Sunday was Both
unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong.’ ‘The government is
ultimately responsible for the conduct of the armed forces and
for that, on behalf of the government, indeed, on behalf of our
country, I am deeply sorry.’ – David Cameron.
 The Maze Prison: also known as H blocks due to the shape,
was a high security prison near Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
 IRA prisoners: 1972~special category status (the right to wear
their own clothes, No prison work, Freedom of association with
other prisoners.) 1976 the British government made
criminalization of IRA prisoners.
 Blanket/dirty protest: prisoners wore only blankets and
smeared shit on walls.
 Hunger strikes: the long-standing method of protest.
 Bobby Sands: died on 1 may 1981, was the leader of IRA.
 Margaret Thatcher: said ‘crime is crime, it is not political’
 Ballot or Armalite: political participation & armed struggle to
achieve Irish unification.

Week 10 ‘peace process in the north’

 Seamus Heaney: a poet who was born as the oldest of nine

children in a Catholic family in Co. Derry. Studied at Queens
University, Belfast. He was awarded Nobel prize for literature in
1995 ‘for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt
everyday miracles and the living past’
 Seamus Heaney’s Nobel lecture(1995): talked about the
period of 1968-74, the IRA’s campaign of bombings and killings,
and the Bloody Sunday in Derry and the Ulster Workers council
strike.
 Killings of 10 protestant workers: 1 catholic and 10
protestants in a minibus was caught by masked men, the
catholic was left unharmed and the protestants got killed.
 The three phases of the NI government: Majority
rule(1921~1972), Direct rule (1972~73, 74~99),
devolved/power-sharing(1974, 1999~)
 Majority rule (1921~1972): the Unionist party had a majority
in the Stormont parliament and ruled alone.
 Direct rule from London: a secretary of state for NI was
appointed by the British government to rule NI directly from
London. NI politicians had little influence on the policies.
 Devolved/ power-sharing: a political arrangement in which
nationalists and unionists work in government together.
 First minister + deputy first minister: from different parties
but have equal authority and cannot work in isolation from each
other. They lead an executive committee of ministers.
 Devolution: allows regions within the UK to govern themselves
in specific areas while the UK Parliament retains control over
matters not devolved (e.g., foreign policy, defense, and
monetary policy).
 Back-channel negotiations(1970~): the secret
communication between the leaders of opposing groups,
sometimes conducted by a third party. (mutual trust & solidarity
between parties/personal relationships, information sharing)
 The white paper (NI constitutional proposals 1973): NI will
be part of the UK as long as the majority wanted that. Assembly
and Northern Ireland Executive was also proposed.
 Sunningdale agreement: 6-9 December 1973, the first
attempt for a political settlement after 1972 between British and
Irish governments.
 Power-sharing executive: a new system of government for
NI, which both Catholics and Protestants shared power. (offered
the catholic minority a permanent role in the government of NI)
 A council of Ireland: cooperation between NI and RI
 General strike: 14-28 May 1974, the Ulster workers’ council
wanted to bring the whole of NI to a standstill and ‘break’ the
 power-sharing executive.
 The British government treated the Troubles as primarily a
security problem with the IRA.
 Anglo-Irish Agreement(1985): (1)the status of NI would only
change with the consent of the majority of its people (the
principle of consent).
(2) NI would remain part of the UK , an Inter-governmental
conference (NI secretary + Irish foreign minister) would meet
regularly.
(3) Civil servants from London and Dublin in Maryfield to support
the Intergovernmental conference. The agreement laid the
ground for peace but the Protestant/Unionist community in NI
felt left out.
 Sinn Féin: an Irish political party historically associated with
Irish republicism, advocating for reunification of Ireland.
 Downing Street Declaration: Britain would protect the will of
the majority in NI.
 Ceasefires (1994): IRA ceasefire (31 August 1994~9 February
1996), Loyalist paramilitaries’ ceasefire (13 October), which
symbols the beginning of the end for the troubles.
 Decommissioning: hand-over of weapons by paramilitary
groups. Unionists (IRA should decommission illegally held
weapons), IRA (No decommissioning before a political
settlement to the conflict)
 IRA’S second ceasefire: 9 February 1996, IRA bomb attacked
Canary Wharf since the last ceasefire in 1994. The second
ceasefire happened in 19 July 1997.
 Mo Mowlam: (1949–2005) was a British politician, known for
her pivotal role as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1997–
1999) during the Northern Ireland Peace Process. She played a
key part in securing the Good Friday Agreement (1998), which
helped bring an end to decades of sectarian conflict in Northern
Ireland known as The Troubles.
 Good Friday agreement: 1998, also known as the Belfast
agreement, where Unionists & republicans agreed on a program
for running NI. The establishment of RUC (Police service of
Northern Ireland) was also during this period. The republic of
Ireland also amended the constitution to remove its territorial
claim to NI.
 The Omagh bombing was a devastating terrorist attack that
occurred on August 15, 1998, in the town of Omagh, Northern
Ireland. It was carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army
(Real IRA), a dissident republican group opposed to the Good
Friday Agreement (1998). The bombing is considered one of the
worst atrocities of The Troubles, killing 29 people and injuring
over 200.

Week 11 ‘Ireland and the EU’

 Being a member of the EU, Ireland receives numerous benefits

such as Irish people are allowed to live and work freely in any
member state. Ireland has also received over 40 billion euros of
funds from the EU.
 An estimated 700,000 jobs have been created in Ireland since
1973, and trade has increased 90-fold.
 Key terms: single market
foreign direct investment (FDI)
common agricultural policy (CAP)
Erasmus+
European Qualifications framework
 2013, David Cameron announced the intention to hold a
referendum (公投). The referendum was eventually conducted on
23 June, 2016.
 Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK to share a land border
with another EU member state.
 The Northern Ireland Protocol is an agreement between the
 United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) that was
established as part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. Its
primary purpose is to manage the movement of goods between
Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK) and the Republic of
Ireland (an EU member), while avoiding a hard border on the
island of Ireland.
 As a result of the protocol, Northern Ireland remained in the EU’s
single market for goods. This allows goods to flow to and from NI
to the ROI and the rest of the EU as they did while the UK was a
member of the EU, without customs checks, tariffs or new
paperwork.
 Common travel area (CTA) agreement: the agreement between
Ireland and the UK (no passport controls, cooperate on
immigration issues) during the troubles (frequent road closures
and check points)