Introduction

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Melanie Swiatloch
quite a number of Gaelic leaders left Ireland in 1607, which became known as the
Flight of the Earls. After their leave their lands were obtained by James I and the
plantation of Ulster was decided in 1609. Other than in the case of the South,
however, the North was settled by Scots and Englishmen from the north of England.
Hickey thus argues that “due to the Scottish and English background of
these immigrants the division of Ireland came to be as much linguistic as political
and confessional” (Hickey 87). Nevertheless some areas remained in which Irish
was still spoken into the early twentieth century 13.
In the region of Belfast there has been a strong coming back of the Irish language
recently. In 1969 eleven West Belfast families established their own Gaeltacht
Community. Having learned Irish themselves as a second language their
children should be brought up similar to native Irish speakers. Thus, Irish should
become the language of home, neighbourhood and school. Therefore these families
founded their own Bunscoil Ghaelach, an Irish-medium Primary School
(Maguire 72ff). The main reason for this undertaking was that they wanted to
“give their children something of value which they had missed” (ibid. 74). Undoubtedly,
also many people in the North still count the Irish language to their
cultural background. The phenomenon of a native Irish speaking community is
one that remains connected mainly to the South, though.
2.2. Constructing a Community – Northern Ireland: One Nation, Two National
Identities
By taking a closer look on Northern Ireland we find a society that is deeply divided
on various grounds, which this paper will investigate. Among other things
this is reflected in the many political parties that stand for diverse and opposing
opinions and beliefs like the two best known Sinn Féin14 and the Ulster Unionist
Party15, the latter one supporting the union with Great Britain while Sinn Féin still
promotes a united Ireland. Generally speaking one will find two larger religious
communities – Catholics and Protestants – that have been living together in the
same place for almost four hundred years and that have been struggling with each
rebellion in 1601 by sending an army of over 3000. In the battle of Kinsale (1601) both armies
were defeated (Hickey 87).
13 (1) West Ulster in Co. Fermanagh, (2) South-east Ulster in north Co. Louth, (3) Mid Ulster in
north Co. Tyrone, (4) North-east Ulster on Rathlin Island (Hickey 94).
14 Sinn Féin (Irish for “We Ourselves”) is a nationalist party and the political wing of the IRA. The
two are frequently referred to as “the republican movement”. Its aim has always been the end of
the union with Great Britain and instead an Irish Republic containing all thirty-two counties
(Mitchel xii).
15 The Ulster Unionist Party was the major unionist party in Northern Ireland up until 2003 before
it was outrun by the Democratic Unionist Party (now Northern Ireland’s largest Unionist party,
founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson). It governed the land from 1921 to
1972 (“Northern Ireland Political Parties”, Whyte).