[garyhope]

At the risk of sounding naive or ignorant, would somebody please explain to me (in simple terms) who the various players in N. Ireland are, their beliefs and affilations and what "side" they are on. I don't know who's Catholic and who's Protestant and what they're fighting about. What are Orangemen, the Specials, etc. What's it all about?

[Norn Iron]

Try BBC - The Search For Peace. It has quite a bit of general information of the type you are looking for. The search engine Goggle,com is also very useful.

[driftless]

It goes back to the seventeenth century when the English transplanted Protestants from Scotland to Ulster or what is considered present-day Northern Ireland (there are actually nine counties in Ulster, six in Northern Ireland). The Protestant English gave special favors to the Protestant landowners. Eventually Northern Ireland became about two thirds Protestant in population. The Protestant ascendancy was assured by their victory over Irish nationalists at the Battle Of The Boyne in 1691 with the support of William of Orange of the Netherlands. Ever since then and with the creation of the Orange Order, Ulster Protestants have been called Orangemen. Ireland became part of Britain around 1795. When Irish nationalists early in the twentieth century made progress in creating an independent Irish republic, Protestants in Ulster feared domination by what would be a mostly Catholic country. After the creation of the Irish Free State in 1921, Northern Ireland was created to give Protestants control over a country of their own. In the process, the Catholics (about one third of the population) in Northern Ireland were treated as second class citizens. The struggle for civil rights for Ulster Catholics in the 1960's gave way to reemergence of the IRA and the creation of the Provisional IRA (PIRA) which was much more violent and Marxist than the old IRA. The Protestants have their own para-military groups like the Ulster Defense Force (UVF) and a few others. Both Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups have rogue elements who like killing and crime more than they like progress and peace. The PIRA remains ostensibly a Marxist organization opposed to both British control of Ulster and the resurgent capitalist Republic Of Ireland. The Protestants in Ulster still fear Catholic domination.