A Comedy set in Belfast at the beginning of "the troubles". The city was/is divided along religious and political lines, see

Catholics are usually in favour of union with the Irish Republic, Protestants in favour of the link to the UK. Because of the discrimination in Northern Irish society, Catholics tended to live in smaller, poorer accomodation and have larger families than their Protestant counterparts. When Mickybo's father is seen drinking in his local pub, it would be clear to an Irish audience that all/most of the customers would be Catholics, which made pubs a frequent target for sectarian attacks.

ps: 'Shite' is a word used much in Ireland in addition to 'shit', and 'beezer' is old (50's-70's?)slang for 'great'.

By the way, if you watched THE MAGDALENE SISTERS, you will have heard references to 'the Guards'. This is the Irish Police Force, also known as the Gardai, or the Garda Siochana (Guardians of the Peace) to give it its full Irish name. North of the border, until recently the police was known as the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary). Both appear in this film. The latter is now the PSNI (Police Service of Northern ireland).