Recently I found a harrowing statistic; 40% of adults living in Northern Ireland is diagnosed with PTSD. This is higher than any other country in Europe. The reason that the number is this high is as a result of The Troubles.
For any of you who don’t know, The Troubles was a period of conflict that started in the 1960s and ended in 1998 with The Good Friday Agreement. It consisted of sectarian violence and terrorism that had occurred as a result of British colonisation of Northern Ireland.
I am in no way a historian, however, having grown up in Northern Ireland some time after The Troubles, I have a substantial amount of knowledge of the events that occurred during that time. Some of the most historical events that occurred during this time included the Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday, both of which were violent riots that occurred in my own home town.
These acts of violence were fueled by rage from the Catholic side of Northern Ireland, as during this time, Catholics in this country did not have the same civil rights as Protestants. Although there were no explicit legal differences between Catholics and Protestants, between segregation, sectarianism and gerrymandering, it was far more difficult for Catholics to access the same civil rights as Protestants. For example; there was discrimination in the workplace (a family member of mine was fired from his work after less than a week working there after it was discovered that he was a Catholic).
Although The Troubles have officially “ended”, there is still a large amount of sectarianism and segregation in Northern Ireland; for example, on the 12th of July (the anniversary of The Battle of the Boyne, where many people of Protestant religion celebrate with marches and bonfires) this year, there were bonfires lit up with Irish tricolour flags and signs saying “kill all taigs” (taig: derived from the Irish name Tadhg, meaning Irishman)
I have luckily never received any discrimination for my beliefs, however, this is most likely due to the fact that I live in a town where the majority of people share my beliefs. In addition, I know many people who have been assaulted or discriminated against because of their beliefs. I also know that there are many areas in Belfast (the city in which I go to University) that I should not enter because I may be attacked because of my accent, my name or if I am wearing my school leavers hoodie (which has my Catholic school’s crest).
Because of this I am not at all surprised that the rate of PTSD and other mental health problems is so high in this country. In addition, the amount of young people who are committing suicide in my town is steadily increasing every year. This is from a generation who never directly experienced The Troubles, but have only experienced the sectarianism that has been instilled in this society. This is problem that nobody in government is talking about, as we have own our government that is directed by Westminster, who do not care about Northern Ireland and its problems. They are a country that fought for so long to occupy us, but now they are not interested in helping us whatsoever.
This is an issue that is only going to get worse unless we get help. Therefore, for the sake of the town that I know and love, and all of the people that live here, I hope that this issue will be addressed before it becomes too late.
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