"The Irish problem" has been around for a long time but the short short version goes roughly like this (and no criticism from anyone please about the details, of course this isn't going to be totally accurate, and I know there's far more to it and people get incredibly touchy about it all).
It all goes back to when England invaded Ireland and basically took the island over. Hardly surprisingly, the Irish weren't best pleased, especially with how they were treated by the new aristocratic landlords. In order to hopefully make things easier, a large number of Scots were imported into the north as they would be loyal to Britain. Fine for where they actually were, but only for there. Eventually the British government gave in and gave Ireland independence, but not the six counties of Northern Ireland as the majority there are descendants of the Scots (there's still quite a high proportion of Scottish surnames there) and wanted to stay part of the UK.
So Northern Ireland stays part of the UK because it's what the majority wants. That's democracy.
But of course the minority don't want it and some feel strongly enough to be terrorists - which is what Sinn Fein/IRA are all about. They do NOT represent the majority of Northern Irish people. You see this every time Northern Ireland has an election. The major British parties do not stand for election there, and the unionist (wanting to stay part of the union, that is, the UK) parties are the most popular.
And that's what's wrong about what you say - the majority of Northern Ireland does NOT truly want to be apart from the UK, so the UK won't consider independence. Now if nationalist parties such as Sinn Fein actually started getting significantly more votes than unionist parties such as the DUP, that would cause the British government to think again. But there seems no sign of it. Meanwhile there are a couple of Alliance parties whose basic platform is "look, let's stop arguing, we're all Irish now so why not just get along?", but they aren't popular.
Other answers mention Protestants... it is often seen as a Protestant/Catholic dispute, but it really isn't. It just so happens that Ireland is overwhelmingly Catholic, while the rest of the UK - and therefore the imported Scots and their descendants - are overwhelmingly Protestant, mostly Presbyterian as that is the largest denomination in Scotland, so the largest religious body in Northern Ireland is the Presbyterian Church of Ireland. So religious labels often get applied to it but they really are a red herring. It does contribute, though, to church attendance in Northern Ireland being rather higher than in the rest of the UK.
Great answers above all stressing that N, Ireland is British, has always been British and by a 95% majority in a referendum recently want to remain Britih ( part of the Uk). There was never a fight for freedom as all the answers point put as the eople in N. Ireland were already free . This " fight for freedom" was a con by the IRA terrorists to get money for guns to kill British civilians out shopping. The IRA murderers surrendered in 1998 when the British civilians fought back killing most of them under the UDA group. In 1998 the IRA under Sinn Fein signed a agreement that they would never kill again and giving all their weapons over. Now all of Ireland is Free from the IRA killers.
in 1922 southern Ireland Got Independence but the Majority of the People at the Time in Northern Ireland were Protestants and Did Not want to be dictated By Roman Catholics they had not separated the Church and state
in the Nineties there was a Referendum Join or stay British 2 to1 Voted to stay British
that is basically why Ireland is Split
The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 allowed the 6 counties that compromise what is today Northern Ireland, that have an overwhelmingly Protestant majority population,to opt out of an independent Ireland and to remain a part of the UK - which they did.
Northern Ireland today retains a majority Protestant population that wishes to remain a part of the UK.
Those are the basics,NOT the Sinn Fein and IRA,as to why Ireland is "separated"
Sinn Fein and IRA conducted a terrorist campaign in Northern Ireland and mainland Britain from 1968 to 1998 in an attempt to intimidate the British government,people,and people of Northern Ireland into handing these 6 counties over to the Republic of Ireland.They got substantial political and financial support from people in USA throughout this period.
Good answers already.
What you must understand that there is no "fight for freedom". The majority wish to remain part of UK. NI is an equal partner in UK with Scotland, Wales and England. They send representatives to sit in the Westminster parliament. In fact, NI benefits from subsidies from other parts of UK.
The IRA may have started as freedom fighters before Irish independence. However, in NI they evolved into criminal thugs (protection rackets, bank robberies and links to Colombian drug cartels) and international terrorists (with Libya). A CIA report was published about it.
You need to visit NI and discover for yourself that what many Irish Americans like to believe is atotal fantasy.
The republic of Ireland is a separate country from the United Kingdom...no different from America and Canada
Northern Ireland chose to remain part of the UK, it is not "part of England" never has been and never will be, it is one of the countries which make up the UK, same as England is and Scotland and Wales and England has nothing to do with "giving" any of the other countries independence. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own Government who make their own laws, rules and spend their own money, England is the only UK country who do not have their own independent Government, representatives from Scotland, Wales, NI and England make the rules, laws for England and the English....so you have that wrong.
.......and whats "the falls" got to do with anything... the Falls Road is a road in Belfast it has nothing to do with anything.
"why this 'fight for freedom' still exists" You are a little out of date, in fact by a few years maybe better sources of information could help you and Wikipedia is not a good source.
Read up on the shared future and working since 2006, ALL in place from 2010
http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/index/equalit...
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ for real, honest and independent history
Like any country in the World that suffers or has suffered guerrilla warfare for 30 years there are still some IRA ( or whatever they wish to call themselves, as they continually change their name) who will not accept that the people of NI will not be forced, killed or bombed into submission of becoming republic of Ireland nationals, so NI still has the occasional "incidents" of IRA terrorist activity where they threaten or kill innocent NI but they are generally uneducated criminals and regardless of where they were in the world they were they would be involved in the same type of criminal behaviour
"I am Irish heritage but my parents were closed mouthed about anything that might be cause for disagreement " ummmmmmmm the only reason that would be is shame at the FACT that Americans financially supported and funded the IRA to enable them to continue to kill NI for 30 years, the rest of the UK soon stepped up when the IRA took their killing/bombing over to Britain ( the island) up until then it was just the British Army that protected the NI people from the IRA but then and now the majority of British people ( and I am English) thoughts were " out of sight, out of mind"...." their problem, not ours"
Northern Ireland is part of the UK and the majority want that
NORTHERN IRELAND is part of the UK..BY CHOICE of the majority who are British....Ask your parents about NORAID, and how funds went to KILL hundreds of innocent people in Northern Ireland...NOT PART OF ENGLAND but PART of The UK...The UK is England,Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland....ENGLAND is ONE part of the UK..Easy stuff...The UK GOVT. is BRITISH ...Things in UK are ONLY English when pertain to that PART of our country...UK = "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."
Half the population of northern Ireland are protestant & consider themselves British. Etc etc
