Religion a Tool to Divide and Rule

The current division between catholics and protestants in Northern Ireland has its roots in that strategy. The British sought to establish the protestants in a privileged position in the Irish community and then pit them against, and use them to quell, the underprivileged catholics.

It is a classic case of the divide and rule tactic - here religion was used, in other colonies it is skin colour. Irish land continued to be massively confiscated and sold to absentee English landlords, who shipped back produce for the home market while the Irish population starved in the Great Potato Famine of 1845-7. During this time Ireland's population fell by half as people starved or were forced to emigrate.

Catholics were openly discriminated against and bore the brunt of British imperialism. Catholics were forbidden to hold public office and were forced, until 1869, to pay tithes to the protestant church. Catholic workers were denied jobs while the best jobs were reserved for protestants. In 1911 only 518 out of 6,809 shipbuilders and shipwrights in Belfast were catholics.

By the beginning of the 20th century Ireland had developed in its importance to the British empire, providing a market for finished British goods, a significant food source, and a supply of cheap labour.