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Should Ireland Have Home Rule? Introduction In this essay I will look at the arguments for and against home rule and the background to the argument, which has continued over hundreds of years, I will then put my own opinion forward. Background Northern Ireland (also known as Ulster) is currently governed and part of the UK, and its decisions are made in UK parliament, this has been the case since the Ireland Act (1920), which came into effect as British law in 1921. There has been conflict over British rule in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is made up of two separated communities. The loyalist/unionist who come from a protestant back ground who take up 66% of the Northern Ireland population and are descendants of English and Scottish settlers from the century when Elizabeth I feared the Spanish would use Catholic Ireland as a stepping-stone to invade England, Elizabeth hoped that this would make Ulster peaceful and loyal to the Crown. Once settled they were a minority among Ireland and feel they have been persecuted. This is known as the Plantation of Ulster. The over 34% of the Northern Ireland population is made up of Republicans who come from a catholic background. They have the view that they are the r