 Although Northern Ireland was largely spared the <unk> of the civil war , in decades that followed partition there were sporadic episodes of inter @-@ communal violence . Nationalists , mainly Roman Catholic , wanted to unite Ireland as an independent republic , whereas unionists , mainly Protestant , wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom . The Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland voted largely along sectarian lines , meaning that the Government of Northern Ireland ( elected by " first @-@ past @-@ the @-@ post " from 1929 ) was controlled by the Ulster Unionist Party . Over time , the minority Catholic community felt increasingly alienated with further <unk> fuelled by practices such as <unk> and discrimination in housing and employment . 
