Ireland and Society - Lecture 5 - Northern Ireland

5. Front cover of a programme
for a Unionist demonstration
What is unionism?
A belief in the constitutional
connection between Britain
and Ireland.
Unionism as an organised
movement dates from the
home rule crisis of 1885-6.
Formal Irish unionist organization
emerged in 1885-6 in the wake
of a revitalized Orangeism and
Conservatism which
represented a reaction to the
Land War.

6. Unionist response to Home Rule
• Third HR Bill (1912-14)
• Mass political
mobilisation
• Ulster Solemn League
and Covenant signed on
Ulster Day 1912
• UVF founded

7. The Government of Ireland Act
(1920)
Offered two Home Rule parliaments: one
parliament for the 6 counties and another for
the 26 counties
It made provision for ultimate Irish unity
Only local powers were granted
Ultimate power remained in London

9. Local Government (Emergency
Powers) Act
• Introduced to the Northern
parliament on 2 December 1921
• Enabled the government to dissolve
any local council which withheld
recognition and co-operation and to
replace it with a government
appointed commissioner

10. Electoral Arrangements
• Proportional Representation was abolished
by legislation on 11 Sept 1922
• It imposed a declaration of allegiance upon
members and officials of local authorities
• Enabled the reversion to old electoral areas
and in some cases the redrawing of new,
local electoral areas
• Meant that unionists would be able to
dominate local government
• The number of nationalist controlled
councils achieved in 1920 were reduced by
half

11. The Civil Authorities (Special
Powers) Act 1922
• Introduced on 15 March 1922
• Introduced draconian emergency powers to
search, arrest and detain without warrant,
impose stiff penalties and indeed to
suspend civil liberties when deemed
necessary.
• Initially passed for one year only, it was
renewed annually until 1928, was renewed
in that year for five years and in 1933
became permanent, until its abolition in
1972.

44. “People are living in poverty if their income
and resources (material, cultural and social)
are so inadequate as to preclude them from
having a standard of living that is regarded
as acceptable by Irish society generally.
As a result of inadequate income and
resources people may be excluded and
marginalised from participating in activities
that are considered the norm for other
people in society.”
(2007) National Action Plan for Social Inclusion
2007-2016

45. POVERTY LINE – 60% of median disposable
income

49. Food poverty is defined as
suffering from one of the
following deprivation
experiences:
• Missed a meal in the last two
weeks due to a lack of money
• Cannot afford a meal with
meat or vegetarian equivalent
every second day
• Cannot afford a roast or
vegetarian equivalent once a
week

51. ‘…no matter which
measurement of
poverty is used,
Ireland lies in the
worst third of the
EU 27 for its
performance in
tackling poverty and
for income
inequality.” p.95

52. …despite some progress since the 1990s, there is now a clear rise
in consistent poverty over 2008-9… The data for relative income
inequality show that the increasing equality often celebrated is
illusory; rather, income inequality is deeply embedded and the
Celtic Tiger did little to shift it.” p.98.

53. “Since the 1980s… the bottom decile’s share increased by a mere 0.11 per
cent, while that of the top decile increased by a very significant 1.34 per
cent. [Social Justice Ireland] conclude that ‘the gap between the top 10 per
cent of households and all the rest of society has widened over these years.”
p.99

54. “…while the crisis has hit all classes, Ó Riain (2009) observes a disastrous
collapse in working-class employment. There are growing differences
between the position of those with third-level education and those without.”
p.101

55. “Those for whom the principal economic status of the head of the
household is home duties (primarily female carers and lone parents),
unemployed and low paid workers, comprise almost three quarters of
poor households…
The Celtic Tiger period saw a significant redistribution of income from
workers to businesses… in the 2001-06 period it fell to 56.4 per cent of
GDP, from 78 per cent in the 1960-70 period.” p.102.

56. “…Unemployment leaves people stressful and unhappy… loss of self-esteem,
fatalism and loss of control over daily life.
[There are] huge implications of long-term unemployment, with people
working through a cycle of loss similar to bereavement (disbelief, anger,
depression, acceptance) eventually adjusting to a life cycle of
unemployment.” p.104

57. “…Unemployment leaves people stressful and unhappy… loss of self-esteem,
fatalism and loss of control over daily life.
[There are] huge implications of long-term unemployment, with people
working through a cycle of loss similar to bereavement (disbelief, anger,
depression, acceptance) eventually adjusting to a life cycle of
unemployment.” p.104
[Women] are the real losers [since 2008], bearing the brunt of cuts in public
services, on which they are more reliant.
“Women do 86 per cent of child supervision, 69 per cent of playing with and
reading to children, 82 per cent of care to adults, 80 per cent of cooking, 86
per cent of cleaning and 70 per cent of shopping.” p.105
Poverty compounds this inequality of care.

58. THE WINNERS
The average pay of CEOs in the largest
21 companies was €1.1 million in
2007, and actually rose to €2.1 million
in 2009 – a 46 per cent pay increase.
p.118
2007 Bank of Ireland wealth report:
5 per cent of the population owned
two-thirds of Irish wealth.
The gross wealth of the top 1 per cent
was €100 billion.
Excluding property – 1 per cent owned
34 per cent of Irish wealth. p.119