In 1921, most of Ireland became the Irish Free State. Only the Ulster region remained under English rule as Northern Ireland. In the 1960s, a Catholic civil rights movement emerged in which radicals formed the Irish Republican Army, otherwise known as the IRA. The Sinn Fein party and its leader Gerry Adams represent the IRA. The unionist side, or pro-British Protestant group, is represented by Ian Paisley, the anti-Catholic leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 17 2005.