5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT NORTHERN IRELAND

A WIN for pro-Irish nationalist party

Sinn Fein in elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly would be a first in the province’s history.

COLONISATION AND PARTITION

Ireland came under British rule through the 1801 Act for the Union of Great Britain. Republicans led by Sinn Fein declared independence in 1916 and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) mounted a guerilla campaign against the British between 1919 and 1921. The Anglo-Irish Treaty established the Irish Free State, and created Northern Ireland under British rule, with a Protestant-majority parliament in Belfast.

‘THE TROUBLES’

In 1968, a civil rights movement emerged in the north as the Catholic minority spoke out against inequality and discrimination by the Protestant establishment. Resentment spilled over into unrest and three decades of violence between pro-British and proIrish groups that left more than 3 500 people dead.

SINN FEIN’S RISE

Sinn Fein emerged as the largest party in Ireland by popular vote in the February 2020 election but was shut out of power due to a coalition deal.

CROSS-BORDER TRADE

Northern Ireland, home to some

1.9 million people, has a 500km border with EU member Ireland. A key plank of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement was keeping the border open between north and south.

CONSERVATIVE OUTLOOK

Northern Ireland has been socially and religiously conservative. Same-sex marriage was only made legal in 2020. Abortion laws were reformed in the same year, bringing the province in line with the rest of the country.