• Policing: The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was an almost exclusively Protestant armed police force. It had part-time special constabulary units, such as the ‘B-Specials’, who became notorious for their violence against Catholics.
• Housing: Catholics were passed over in favour of Protestants when public housing was being allocated.
• Education: Catholic schools received less funding from the government.
World War II and the welfare state As a part of the UK, Northern Ireland was fully involved in World War II. Belfast was heavily bombed during the ‘Belfast Blitz’, but overall the North’s economy benefi ted from the war, with demand high for food and machinery produced in the province. After the war, the British Labour government under Clement Attlee included Northern Ireland in its new welfare state. This was a new programme of social spending by the government that made education and health care free to everyone, built more public housing and increased social welfare payments.
One of the most important effects of the welfare state on Northern Ireland was that it greatly expanded the funding available to Catholic schools. Many children who would have left school at 12 now went on to complete their secondary education and go to university. This fi rst well- educated generation of Northern Irish Catholics would emerge in the 1960s to challenge the discrimination their community faced.
CHECKPOINT!
1. What did the Government of Ireland Act 1920 do to Ireland? 2. What was the population make-up of Northern Ireland? 3. How did the Unionists use the police to help them retain control? 4. How were Catholics discriminated against in (a) education; (b) housing; and (c) employment? 5. Name one important impact on Northern Ireland of (a) World War II and (b) the welfare state.
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I understand how Northern Ireland was set up as a sectarian state.
