Earlier last century, the island of Eire (Ireland) was in an upheaval. Most of its citizens were tired of English occupation and domination. When open hostilities commenced, the British likely started looking for the door out. Enter the northeast of Ireland, county Ulster, with a large population of scottish and english colonial transplants, many families having ties to Ulster centuries old. These constituents, representing approximately half of the Ulster population, clearly wanted to remain in the UK (United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland). So the authorities devised a compromise: partition of the Irish homeland.
This division kept districts with a strong protestant presence in the UK (6 of the 8 districts in Ulster), but denied the catholics living there membership in the Irish Republic. This is the root of the problem which continues to play itself out today.
