Policing is a politically contentious matter. After partition, policing in Northern Ireland was the responsibility of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), whose officers are overwhelmingly drawn from the unionist community, prompting deep distrust of the force by many nationalists. The Good Friday Agreement called for a reformed and smaller police force able to engage the support of the nationalist community. Published in December 2000, the report of the Patten Commission on policing recommended comprehensive reform of policing practice and structures. Many of its recommendations, including changing the RUC’s name to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, have been implemented.

Security forces in Northern Ireland (and the rest of the United Kingdom) have long had extensive powers to combat terrorism. In particular, they have special powers to arrest and interrogate individuals suspected of terrorist offenses. The number of people charged with terrorist or other serious offenses to the public order peaked at more than 1,400 in the early 1970s but had declined by about four-fifths that number by the beginning of the 21st century, as loyalist and IRA prisoners were released under provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.

In August 1969 sustained civil unrest led to the introduction of British troops onto the streets of Londonderry and Belfast, and the British army played a central and controversial role in the political tragedy that unfolded. (Significantly, the army recruited a regiment specifically composed of people from Northern Ireland; initially known as the Ulster Defence Regiment, this force merged with the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992 and was renamed the Royal Irish Regiment.) At the height of the Troubles, heavily armed soldiers and police officers were a common sight in Northern Ireland, with a peak of about 27,000 British troops garrisoned there. As the possibility of a settlement increased, however, the security forces became a much less visible presence, and in 2007 the army contingent was reduced to 5,000 troops, with the responsibility for security transferred completely to the police.

Throughout the Troubles, the Maze prison, located 10 miles (16 km) west of Belfast at a former Royal Air Force airfield, was a symbolic centre of the struggle between unionists and nationalists. The prison sometimes housed up to 1,700 prisoners, including many of the most notorious paramilitary offenders. The prison population was divided along paramilitary lines, with each prisoner responsible to his “commanding officer.” As a result, the prison was the site of many protests and violent activities, including hunger strikes, attempts at mass escape, and murder; it was considered by some to be a “university of terror,” where both unionist and nationalist prisoners learned how to commit deadlier terrorist offenses after their release. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, most prisoners—including many who were convicted of murder—were released, and the prison was closed in 2000.

Health and welfare

In Northern Ireland the provision of health care is the responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Services. The Queen’s University has a large medical faculty that supports the health service. Northern Ireland is also known for its export of doctors and nurses.

Because it has traditionally been the most underdeveloped region of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland has had a comparatively high incidence of socioeconomic problems. Although joblessness declined in the 1990s, unemployment has remained high relative to the rest of the United Kingdom, and at the beginning of the 21st century only London, North East England, and Scotland had higher levels of unemployment. Moreover, wages are often lower and working conditions worse in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the United Kingdom. The coincidence of relatively high unemployment and comparatively poor wages has meant that the Northern Irish are more likely than British citizens in general to be dependent upon the state.

As in a number of other Western societies at the end of the 20th century, the gap between the rich and poor in Northern Ireland has widened. In 1979 one-tenth of the population of Northern Ireland resided in households earning less than 50 percent of the national average income; by 1999 this proportion had grown to one in four. As the number of relatively poor people has grown, so, too, has the number of comparatively wealthy, partly because of the rise in the number of management and professional positions in the public sector. Moreover, because housing prices are appreciably lower than the British average, the “new middle classes” in Northern Ireland are able to enjoy lifestyles that would be beyond their means if they lived in most other regions of the United Kingdom.

Housing

Substandard housing for the Catholic community was one of the grievances that led to protests by Catholics during the 1960s. At that time, less than two-thirds of Catholic homes—compared with about three-fourths of Protestant homes—had hot water. Moreover, the allocation of public housing units was under the control of Protestant-dominated local councils, which were accused of discriminatory practices. Over the last quarter of the 20th century, significant investments were made in housing, eliminating most inequities. Rates of home ownership increased significantly, especially because of policies implemented by the British government that allowed the sale of public housing units to their tenants. Whereas less than half of all homes were owned by their tenants in the early 1970s, by the end of the century more than 70 percent of homes were owner-occupied.

Education

While education policy in Northern Ireland has been strongly influenced by trends elsewhere within the United Kingdom, the region’s schools remain distinctive. Notably, the model of education practiced in Northern Ireland continues to be selective despite the government’s elimination in 2008 of the intelligence (“transfer”) tests that were administered to most children at about age 11 to determine the type of post-primary school they could attend—a grammar school (selective) or a secondary school (not selective). Those “eleven-plus” examinations had been eliminated earlier in most of the United Kingdom. Although those standardized tests were eliminated in Northern Ireland, schools were still allowed to use selective exams and procedures for admitting students. Grammar schools in Northern Ireland continue to cater to pupils deemed capable of appreciating an academic education; secondary schools offer more general and vocational training. Traditionally, Northern Irish schools have also been segregated along ethno-religious lines. Although formally open to all, the state-run schools have tended to attract Protestant children. Pupils from nationalist backgrounds typically have attended schools effectively under the control of the Catholic church. However, there are schools that draw more or less equally from both communities.

Northern Ireland has two universities. Queen’s University Belfast, established in 1845 as one of three in Ireland, has had a charter since 1908. The University of Ulster was established in 1984 by the merger of the New University of Ulster (at Coleraine) and the Ulster Polytechnic. It has campuses at Coleraine, Jordanstown, Derry, and Belfast.