Were the unionists justified in discriminating against nationalists in Ulster? In some ways the unionists were justified in discriminating against the Catholics because if the protestants gave the Catholics council positions in the Stormont government the Catholics would try to get the home rule for all of Ireland including Ulster, and this meant the protestants not having control of Ulster which meant them not controlling the whole of Ireland. Also the B Specials were needed in Ulster to stop the threat of the Catholics away so there couldn't be another uprising because of the Catholics not being happy with everything the protestants did. Also the protestants had to discriminate against the Catholics about jobs and housing because if they had housed them in council houses they would have out numbered the protestants because they had so many family members and their birth rates were sky high so in a matter of years the protestants would be totally out numbered to the Catholics which meant after a matter of while the Catholics getting total home rule anyway.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
protestantism set in stone - farmhouses of læsø ...
"The Divide", Ardoyne Road, Belfast - geograph.org...And also where would the Protestants go because all the houses would be took up with Catholics and even if a few were housed would it be safe for the Protestants to go out and wander around with a constant threat of being killed by Catholics because of the hatred given to the children by their parents that has been handed down from generation form generation, so either way they looked at it they couldn't do it.
In other ways the Unionists were not justified in discriminating against the Nationalists because of the government Gerrymandering to keep the Protestants in charge in areas with a Catholic majority this meant the whole word of democracy was not active in this country so the Catholic people could not have there say and even if they did no one would do anything about it because the government was still in charge from the rule of Protestants and not Catholics so nothing would be done.
Also Gerrymandering could push the Catholics into frustrated driven violence, which could result in loss of life and detestation for both parties, Catholic and Protestants. Also the Catholics saw the B Specials as bullies and saw them as bias towards the Protestants because of them being all Protestants and this could result in violence, which would be driven by the social hatred of these parties hating each other. Also the Catholics knew the B Specials were untrained so this struck fear into them because they knew they would act rashly if there were ever a conflict between the both of them. They saw the jobs and housing being given to the small families of the Protestants and not to them the bigger families which need bigger housing to keep the families in and more money from jobs which were also being given to the Protestants which they needed to bye food to feed their families.
Overall, I believe discrimination was necessary because Ulster is the Protestant part of Ireland, they own it so whatever decisions they make the Catholics living there should like it or lump it. Also if the Protestants had given the Irish any Leigh way they would have just got an inch and taken a mile by over throwing the Government in Ulster and just turning the whole thing around, instead of the Protestants discriminating the Catholics it would have been the Catholics discriminating the Protestants instead and it would only have been as bad if this had happened any way so I think discrimination was necessary to keep a part of the united kingdom and not letting be lost and taken over by Catholics which could result in more Protestant deaths and terrorist involvement of both parties which would result in total devastation and maybe civil war.
Le Jour ni l’Heure : statue, 2009, de Jean Calvi...
B-Specials Uniform in the Museum in Derry
English: Percentage of Catholics by Country