Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to portray Catholics as blameless victims, but it's a fact that they suffered a fair degree of repression - gerrymandering, favouritism and workplace discrimination from their colleagues were rampant. I simply view 1969 as the spark that set off a powder keg, but that there were massive problems beforehand.
Furthermore, you
did have bombings both in NI, Scotland and England on the part of the IRA prior to 1969 - the Northern Campaign and Border Campaign both had them. I disagree with the fact that it was simply Catholic indifference that led to the failure of these campaigns - the fact that Dublin interned anyone who so much as whispered a pro-IRA word helped immeasurably
England don't want us in the union. It's fairly easy to see there hasn't been much support for NI being part of the UK since the Treaty - even beforehand you had the Liberals voting for Home Rule. We're part of the UK not because England wants us to stay for strategic reasons, but under sufferance. The alternative would be worse for everyone, so we stay in the UK by default. England would happily get rid of us if we voted to.
If the nukes were so strategically important you'd expect to see some degree of military infrastructure in the province unrelated to security. Before 1969, you had nothing beyond a few coastguard boats and the regimental barracks, as well as a dispersal station at Aldergrove and some radar at Eglinton. If NI was so vital to securing Faslane, you'd have expected a slightly heavier military presence.