The problem in Northern Ireland is those stupid British roundheadsare still occupying pat of the island. If the British would stop being evil and end the illegal occupation, I guarantee you there would be no problems between the Catholics and Protestants.

"while the Catholics held out for an independent Northern Ireland" - Incorrect. Nationalists in the Northern Ireland state want a united Ireland. The 1998 peace agreement sets out a path how this political objective may be achieved by consent and not by violence.

`it`s not religious` - you really shouldn`t comment about things you know nothing about. I am from Northern Ireland. I am from the Protestant, Unionist, Loyalist community. I firstly and foremostly consider myself to be an Ulsterman / Northern Irish but I am equally Irish and British. The problem is not the British `occupying` Ireland but rather the fact that some people from Ireland consider themselves to be both Irish and British (largely Protestants in the North of Ireland (Ulster) who can trace their roots to the plantations of Ulster in the 1600`s from Scotland and to a lesser degree England ie Scotch-Irish) whilst other consider themselves to be Gaelic Irish (largely Roman Catholics). There is no `occupation`, that is simply Sinn Fein IRA talk for the local Northern Irish Army regiments and local Northern Irish Police who are part of the UK / British system ie the Royal Irish Regiment and the Irish Guards of the British Army that are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan with US forces!

If a British army is in Ireland against the declared will of the Irish population expressed in the only all-Ireland poll in 1918, what do you call it if not an occupation??? They are not just visiting.