Ireland: Republicans and Loyalists The politics and the tragic problems of Ireland revolve around two powerful and deeply rooted traditions, Republicanism and Loyalism. They have such fundamentally opposing ambitions, that conventional politics seem powerless to resolve them.
In two programmes, Keith Kyle looks in turn at these two traditions which have been at the centre of the grim events of the past 12 years. Why is a British identity of such importance to the Loyalists? And why is a united Ireland such an anathema to them? What sort of state do Republicans seek? Why, for some Republicans, has violence become the means of trying to impose a united Ireland on the Loyalists? And are there, despite deep differences, any new grounds for hoping that some of the old barriers may be coming down?
In tonight's first programme, a report on the strength of the Republican tradition, and its place in Ireland today. Producer colin MARTIN Editor PETER IBBOTSON