Was the economic impact of the Protestant-Catholic conflict more damaging to Northern Ireland than the political impact?

The Protestant-Catholic conflict often led to strikes and riots that disrupted production.

The constant violence in Northern Ireland drove away foreign investors who were worried about the security and profitability of their investments
Furthermore, tourists stayed away from Northern Ireland because they feared the terrorist attacks conducted by the IRA.

As a result, the economy became stagnant. A pull out of foreign companies led to massive unemployment. People who lost their jobs cut down on spending and this also led to the decline of local businesses. Without the tourist dollar, many companies suffered. Since the economic impact affected both Catholics and Protestants equally, it’s impact on Northern Ireland can be considered to be very damaging.



The conflict has had a more positive impact on Northern Ireland’s politics compared to its economy.

The Protestant-Catholic violence drew attention to the many unequal government policies and led to sweeping reforms.

For example, after 2 civil rights marches in 1968, the government decided to abolish the unfair voting system that only allowed property or business owners to vote, unfairly preventing many poorer Catholics from voting. The catastrophe of Bloody Sunday also led to a power sharing agreement between the Protestants and Catholics.

From this we can see that the political impact was largely positive and not damaging


Because of the tension and danger of conflict erupting, Protestants and Catholics lived separately

They went to different schools, churches and workplaces in order to minimize contact.

One example was the Belfast Peace Wall built in 1969. The aim of the wall was to separate Protestants and Catholics to keep them segregated and avoid conflict.

However, this had a mixed impact because while it did probably reduce the number of riots that occurred, it also kept the mutual suspicion between the Protestants and Catholics in place, since they had no opportunity to interact with each other. On the whole, the social impact of the conflict kept the rift between the two groups and therefore helped to continue its own existence.

Conclusion:
The political and economic impacts of the conflict were both very great since they affected the rights and livelihoods of both Protestants and Catholics. However, while they are equal in impact, the political impact of the conflict was mostly positive because it led to more equal rights, whereas the economic impact was negative because it resulted in massive unemployment. The social impact was not so great since the distrust between the Protestants and Catholics had already existed for hundreds of years. Therefore, it is true to say the economic and social impacts were more damaging than the political one.