instance_of nationalist party 
The Nationalist ___MASK85___ was the continuation of the Irish Parliamentary ___MASK85___ , and was formed after partition , by the Northern Ireland - based members of the IPP . The Nationalist ___MASK85___ did not enter the ___MASK64___ of Northern Ireland until 1924 , having won six seats in the general election of 1921 . In 1965 , it agreed to become the official opposition party in the ___MASK64___ . On 20 June 1968 , Austin Currie , Nationalist ___MASK85___ MP at Stormont , with others , began a protest about discrimination in housing allocation by ' squatting ' ( illegally occupying ) a house in Caledon , County Tyrone . The house had been allocated by Dungannon Rural District Council to a 19 - year - old unmarried Protestant woman , Emily Beattie , who was the secretary of a local Unionist ___MASK4___ . Emily Beattie was given the house ahead of older married Catholic families with children . The protesters were evicted by officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary ( RUC ) , one of whom was Emily Beattie ' s brother . The next day the annual conference of the Nationalist ___MASK85___ unanimously approved of the protest action by Austin Currie in Caledon . This was one of the catalysts of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland . The party became involved in the Derry civil rights march in October 1968 , which ended in violence amidst allegations of police brutality . As a result , the party withdrew from its role as official opposition on 15 October 1968 , following the controversy of two weeks earlier . The party developed a reputation for being disorganised and being little more than a collection of elected members with their own local machines . Many calls were made for the party to develop an overall organisation but it fell apart in the late 1960s . Earlier , many members had formed the National Democratic ___MASK85___ ( NDP ) after attempts at reform failed . The NDP merged into the Social Democratic and Labour ___MASK85___ at that party ' s foundation in 1970 and many remaining nationalists followed them . One of the Nationalist ___MASK85___ ' s last electoral contests was the 1973 election for the Assembly created as part of the Sunningdale Agreement . The lack of success in that election meant that the inevitable outcome was obvious , although a handful of councillors were elected to Omagh District Council and Londonderry City Council in 1973 and 1977 . In October 1977 , the party merged with Unity to form the Irish Independence ___MASK85___ which also included non - aligned republicans . Although it was successful for a while in capturing the Republican vote , it faded from view due to the rise of Sinn Féin in the early 1980s . Ireland , also described as the ___MASK24___ of Ireland ('), is a ___MASK10___ in north - western Europe occupying about five - sixths of the island of Ireland . The capital and largest ___MASK19___ is Dublin , which is located on the eastern part of the island , and whose metropolitan area is ___MASK40___ to around a third of the country ' s 4 . 75 million inhabitants . The state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland , a part of the United Kingdom . It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean , with the Celtic Sea to the south , Saint George ' s Channel to the south - east , and the Irish Sea to the east . It is a unitary , parliamentary republic . The legislature , the ', consists of a lower house , ', an upper house , ', and an elected President (') who serves as the largely ceremonial head of state , but with some important powers and duties . The head of government is the ' ( Prime Minister , literally ' Chief ', a title not used in English ), who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President , and appoints other government ministers . The ___MASK40___ Rule League ( 1873  1882 ), sometimes called the ___MASK40___ Rule Party or the ___MASK40___ Rule Confederation , was a ___MASK62___ which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , when it was replaced by the Irish Parliamentary Party . Northern Ireland (; Ulster Scots : "") is a top - level constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the northeast of Ireland . It is variously described as a ___MASK81___ , ___MASK13___ , region , or " part " of the United Kingdom , amongst other terms . Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland . In 2011 , its population was ___MASK47___ , 810 , 863 , constituting about 30 % of the island ' s total population and about 3 % of the UK ' s population . Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement , the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a ___MASK23___ of devolved policy matters , while other areas are reserved for the British government . Northern Ireland co - operates with the Republic of Ireland in some areas , and the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to " put forward views and proposals " with " determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments ". Ulster ( or " Cúige Uladh " , Ulster Scots : " Ulstèr " or " Ulster ") is a ___MASK13___ in the north of the island of Ireland . In ancient Ireland , it was one of the fifths ruled by a " rí ruirech ", or " king of over - kings ". The ___MASK21___ Friday ___MASK12___ ( GFA ) or Belfast ___MASK12___ ( or ; Ulster - Scots : " Guid Friday Greeance " or " Bilfawst Greeance ") was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s . The Irish Parliamentary ___MASK85___ ( IPP ; commonly called the Irish ___MASK85___ or the ___MASK40___ Rule ___MASK85___ ) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt , the leader of the Nationalist ___MASK85___ , replacing the ___MASK40___ Rule League , as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament ( MPs ) elected to the House of Commons at Westminster within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland up until 1918 . Its central objectives were legislative independence for Ireland and land reform . Its constitutional movement was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Irish self - government through three Irish ___MASK40___ Rule bills . Isaac Butt , QC , MP ( 6 ___MASK28___ 1813  5 ___MASK99___ 1879 ), was an Irish barrister , politician , Member of Parliament ( M . P .), and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations , including the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836 , the Home Government Association in 1870 and in 1873 the Home Rule League . The Northern Ireland ___MASK42___ ( Ulster Scots : " Norlin Airlan Assemblie ") is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland . It has power to legislate in a wide ___MASK23___ of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom , and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive . It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast . The Northern Ireland Act 1998 ( c . 47 ) is an Act of the ___MASK9___ of the United Kingdom which established a devolved ___MASK8___ for Northern Ireland , the Northern Ireland ___MASK42___ , after decades of direct ___MASK17___ from Westminster . The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a ___MASK10___ on ___MASK47___ January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800 , which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland . The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish ___MASK79___ , which resulted in Ireland seceding from the Union and forming the Irish Free State in 1922 . Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom , and the state was consequently renamed the " United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ".