Northern-Ireland Travel Guide
Technically, the province of Ulster comprises the six counties of Northern Ireland and Donegal. But the terms Ulster, Northern Ireland, "the Six Counties," and "the North" are used interchangeably by everyone in Ireland. And each is a byword for a historically troubled land. John Hume, one of Northern Ireland's most distinguished statesmen and a Nobel-winning peacemaker, once said, "Anyone who isn't confused in Northern Ireland doesn't really understand what is going on." These are sobering words for anyone about to sketch, in a few paragraphs, this unique place, its remarkable people, and fraught history. But here it is in a nutshell.
The strife in Northern Ireland can be traced back to a point over 800 years ago when Britain decided to take control of its neighboring island. Over the past 8 centuries there have been various unsuccessful attempts by the Irish to eject the British. And in that same time period, the British have made concerted efforts to make Ireland, and the Irish, more British. Tactics have included outlawing the Gaelic language, banning the practice of Catholicism, barring Catholics from land ownership, and relocating Britons to Ireland -- often enticing them with land. The descendants of these British settlers, generally speaking, make up the modern-day Protestant population of Ireland.
Ireland finally won its independence from Britain in 1921, in the aftermath of the 1916 rebellion. During negotiations, in which the Irish government was represented by Michael Collins, it was decided that the border would be drawn to divide the island in two. Twenty-six Irish counties would form an independent, free state (later the Republic of Ireland), while six counties in the Ulster province would become Northern Ireland and remain a part of the United Kingdom. Why these six counties? Because their populations were mainly Protestant -- and as such were presumably more loyal to Britain -- while the vast majority of the island's other 26 counties was, and still is, Catholic. A provision in the agreement stated that Northern Ireland could later join the other 26 counties if it was the will of the people -- that is, if the Northern Irish people voted for reunification in a referendum.
When the Six Counties were detached from the rest of the island, two conflicting ideological bodies emerged in the North: Unionists, associated with the Protestant majority, who want to remain a part of the United Kingdom, and Nationalists, associated with the Catholic minority, who want the whole of Ireland united as one independent nation. It's important to realize that being a Unionist or a Nationalist doesn't by itself imply the approval of violence as a means to an end. In fact, the overwhelming majority of Northern Irish people, regardless of whether they want British rule or Irish rule, don't belong to any paramilitary group.
By all accounts, there was considerable unfairness in how Catholics were treated by the police and British government in Northern Ireland. Things came to a head in the late 1960s, when the minority Catholic population began a civil rights campaign to protest their treatment as second-class citizens. When their demonstrations and marches were squelched forcefully by the police, the stage was set for the Irish Republican Army, a violent paramilitary Nationalist group, to emerge. The break-out of the so-called "Troubles" in 1969 was the beginning of violence as an everyday fact of life for the people of Northern Ireland. This isn't to say that every Northern Irishman has encountered violence in his lifetime, but it certainly has been a pervasively stressful environment in which to live. Since 1969 the North has seen the emergence of a half-dozen other paramilitary groups on both sides of the fence.
To many outsiders, the "Troubles" are as incomprehensible and distant as the Middle East conflict. Other people's prejudices and quarrels usually are. Yet from a visitor's perspective, the violence has been remarkably contained. Like diplomats, foreigners have enjoyed a certain immunity. Derry and Belfast at their worst have been as safe for visitors as almost any comparable American city, and the Ulster countryside has been as idyllic and serene as Vermont. For the outsider, driving through Northern Ireland was and is no more cause for fear than driving to work. Not so for the people of Northern Ireland, whose wounds and grief run deep.
Fortunately, their resilience and resolve for peace run even deeper. On May 22, 1998, Northerners and their fellow islanders in the Republic voted for a fresh future, one that would not be rutted or wrecked by the past. The Belfast Agreement, aka the "Good Friday Agreement," dismantled the claims of both Ireland and Britain to the North and acknowledged the sovereign right of the people of Northern Ireland to take charge of their political destiny. As a consequence, the government was devolved from London to Belfast. Yes, there have been teething pains. But the people of Northern Ireland, it is to be hoped, will unite to nurture their fascinatingly diverse island, unique in its history, which they all have made and shared. Even the Troubles have been shared, and held painfully in common, and will make their own contribution to the future.
As this book goes to press, the mood is cautiously optimistic. For the past 6 years (1998-2004) since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, the new government of the North has had a turbulent time. After finally appointing its legislative body, the new Northern Ireland Assembly encountered obstacle after hurdle after stumbling block as all sides began finger-pointing and failed to reach an agreement on how and when the peace process should proceed. A most crucial breakthrough came, in August 2001, when the Irish Republic Army finally put forward a plan to decommission its weapons. Decommissioning had been a prickly point since negotiations began.
For many visitors to Ireland, the North offers a new, uncharted, and exciting destination. While tourism to the Republic has soared, the North has been less visited. Even the majority of the Irish people in the Republic have never set foot in the North. All of this is bound to change, and none too soon. The truth is that Northern Ireland is as welcoming and gracious as the Republic, and surely as beautiful. Furthermore, because tourism has taken much shorter and more careful steps in the North, the countryside is all the more unspoiled. Much of Northern Ireland is just waiting to be discovered.
The first thing that strikes you once you cross the border and take your bearings is how small Northern Ireland is. The next thing is how much there is to see and do. As the Tourist Board puts it, Northern Ireland is a nation that only pretends to be small. This said, there are really only two cities in the North likely to serve as major destinations in themselves and bases for exploration: Belfast and Derry City, and their environs. After these, the major destinations in the North lie in its magnificent countryside, in regions officially designated as areas of outstanding natural beauty: the Causeway Coast and the Glens of Antrim, the Mourne Mountains, the Sperrin Mountains, and the Fermanagh Lakelands.
One other selling point for spending time up North in 2005: Prices in Northern Ireland have barely risen at all since we went to press last year, compared to the high inflation we have witnessed in the Irish Republic over the same period. Blame the fact that your dollar goes less far in Northern Ireland nowadays on the worsened dollar/pound exchange rate, rather than on hiked prices.
Keeping Your Irish Up
If you want to brush up on your knowledge of Northern Ireland, Newshound (www.nuzhound.com) is an indispensable resource. Run by American expat John Fay, this is an extremely well organized catalog of news articles culled from international newspapers, covering everything from a history of "the Troubles" to stories on dining and shopping in Belfast. The vast array of articles about the Republic (click "News of the Irish") includes culture, travel, and even dining reviews from Dublin to Donegal. The site is intelligent, user-friendly, and searchable.
