The English-Irish Conflict

Essay from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2, University of Flensburg (English Department), course: British Studies, language: English, abstract: 'Geography gives us our neighbours, but history gives us our enemies.' This is an Irish saying which describes the love-hate relationship between Ireland and England in a few words. Though England is Ireland's closest neighbour neither side has ever tried to understand the other one. Irish people make a difference between England, Scotland and Wales. While the Scots and Welsh are seen as a part of the Celtic family the English are the traditional enemy. Still today many Irish feel angry about the way they were treated by the English and about the English attitude towards Ireland these days. There is still a certain degree of racial prejudice since many English people don't know a lot about Ireland's history and the English-Irish conflict. However, you cannot really talk of hate between the two countries. The people get on quite well with each other as long as it doesn't come to politics. The ending of the violence in Northern Ireland gives strong hope that economic, political and social relations between Ireland and England will improve a lot in the near future.