Do you care at all about Northern Ireland/anti partition politics today?

Deedsie

Do you care at all about Northern Ireland/anti-partitionist politics?

Whenever we have a discussion about Northern Ireland/anti-partitionist politics, it obviously always descends into anarchy. However there are always posters who make comments like I wish the north would just float away into the Atlantic.

I just wanted to get a poll on what number of Boards users do have an interest and those who can't hack the sight of the words "Northern Ireland & politics" on a thread?

Poll to follow

IM0

a fiddlers elbow I could not give

aidoh

In fairness, it's a very complicated topic to discuss.
I'm from Dublin, now living in Belfast and it's just not a topic that normal people talk about that much on a daily basis.
Pretty much all my friends from up here (on both sides of the political divide) just want to get on with their lives.
Surprisingly to me, most of the protestant people I pal around with have a really good grasp of Irish history and see themselves very much as Irish, though not nationalists.

There is still bitter hatred in some areas, of course. Stemming mainly from the fact that the government up here really have no plans in place to implement a shared future that will please everybody. I think it's because so many politicians are forced to pledge alliance to one group or the other, not unlike post-civil war politics in Ireland (the south).

I think it's up to the NI government to come up with a diplomatic and ethical approach to power and culture sharing up here though. Britain and Ireland's role in discussing NI's future should be limited unless it's the wish of the people of NI for Britain and Ireland to have a more active influence over their little piece of cultural patch-work.

So yeah, she's a complicated beast OP. Haha, what was your question again?

Fr_Dougal

Deedsie wrote: »

Do you care at all about Northern Ireland/anti-partitionist politics?

Whenever we have a discussion about Northern Ireland/anti-partitionist politics, it obviously always descends into anarchy. However there are always posters who make comments like I wish the north would just float away into the Atlantic.

I just wanted to get a poll on what number of Boards users do have an interest and those who can't hack the sight of the words "Northern Ireland & politics" on a thread?

Poll to follow

3/10

I've seen subtler.

Deedsie

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

3/10

I've seen subtler.

Awesome

padd b1975

No.

I care about having a job, keeping that job and being able to pay my bills.

SEPT 23 1989

Once they are not shooting each other and blowing themselves up i dont give it much thought anymore

aidoh

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Once they are not shooting each other and blowing themselves up i dont give it much thought anymore

Ridiculous.

Joe prim

No.Kip.

super_furry

Not really. I view it as a Northern Ireland issue to be resolved by people from there and as such, only have a passing interest.

Grayson

Deedsie wrote: »

Awesome

hey, you're the one who took it personally

SEPT 23 1989

aidoh wrote: »

Ridiculous.

Why?

Deedsie

Grayson wrote: »

hey, you're the one who took it personally

What did I take personally?

JohnMearsheimer

I don't have much interest in it really. I was born in a 26 county republic and I'm happy to leave it at that. Financially, I don't think we could afford to take the north on anyway.

No but I have no motivation for them to float away either. Pretty poor poll.

gurramok

Thats very odd, I'm sure that I had seen the very same posters who do not care roundly contributing to threads usually condemning murders\events that have taken place there recently. That's caring and a bit of hypocrisy!

aidoh

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Why?

Because it insinuates that the majority of people in NI condone such violence, and it insinuates that this happens every day on a large scale up here.
I think you know that it doesn't, that NI and the NI/Ireland/Britain relationship is a lot more complex than a minority of extremists murdering each other.
I think you were being facetious on purpose.

AudreyHepburn

To be honest I think the whole situation should be left well enough alone.

I was in Belfast not so long ago and the tension there is still palpable. It really wouldn't take much to reignite The Troubles again.

I would have no interest in the politics myself, more the social realities. I have interest in as much as I would rather there was no attempt at . re-unification, because imo that would lead to disaster on both sides of the border. I do think it is sad though that many up there just can't or won't let the past go.

The North is at peace now, tentative though it may be.

Let it be.

pablomakaveli

I think a lot of people are just sick of hearing about NI and being expected to care about its problems.

Also there's a subset of people who seem to think that everyone in the Republic and the UK should have NI at the forefront of their concerns all the time and who throw tantrums when they realize that its not.

I think most people are just happy to see that there's relative peace there but care little beyond that. And why should they?

Sergeant

I look to the words of Pearse and Connolly before realising I couldn't give a fúck.

Femme_Fatale

Just want peace up there and elimination of hatred.

pragmatic1

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

Just want peace up there and elimination of hatred.

Not going to happen for a very long time. A lot of really bitter people up there.

To answer the OP, yes I'd very much like to see a united Ireland in my lifetime.

Karl Stein

I care deeply about the north.

Those of us who do you can count as three or four votes against those of you who don't.

You're irrelevant.

playadeldick

Nothing more annoying than Northerners who come south to the Republic and expect to be treated like heroes. They pontificate about the Troubles (yawn) and get offended when they realise no one here gives a fúck. You're irrelevant. X-Factor and English football gets far more coverage here than Northern Ireland.

Femme_Fatale

I give a fuk. It disappoints me when people down here don't. I have never met a person from Northern Ireland - catholic or protestant (they're mad for Kinsale/west Cork :pac:) - living here, who expects to be treated like a hero.

.jacksparrow.

playadeldick wrote: »

Nothing more annoying than Northerners who come south to the Republic and expect to be treated like heroes. They pontificate about the Troubles (yawn) and get offended when they realise no one here gives a fúck. You're irrelevant. X-Factor and English football gets far more coverage here than Northern Ireland.

I can safely say I have never experienced anything like this example given above.

I call bs.

NIMAN

I grew up in Ni, born at the height of the Troubles.

Only really since I moved to RoI approx 13yrs ago did I realise what real politics is about.

NI is psuedo-politics.

Mike 1972

Deedsie wrote: »

Do you care at all about Northern Ireland/anti-partitionist politics?

Poll to follow

What if one cares about the former but couldnt give two figs about the latter ?

FanadMan

Have lived there and have plenty of friends there but have no interest in how their government rule them. I don't really want them part of my country seeing as we are screwed and we couldn't handle another 1.8 million people - especially seeing as a big portion of them wouldn't want to be ruled by Dublin.

.jacksparrow.

FanadMan wrote: »

Have lived there and have plenty of friends there but have no interest in how their government rule them. I don't really want them part of my country seeing as we are screwed and we couldn't handle another 1.8 million people - especially seeing as a big portion of them wouldn't want to be ruled by Dublin.

How do you know the country wouldn't prosper if a UI happend?

It's not as simple as saying we couldn't handle another 1.8 million people cause were screwed at the moment, there are hundreds of other factors to take into consideration.

Dave!

I care insofar as I'm glad they've got a functioning power-sharing executive, and the violence is over (at least for now), and that disputes between the parties are largely around policy and mundane political grievances rather than about religion or criminality/paramilitarism.

It's because of the relative stability of the current situation that I'm not interested in a debate about ending partition/reunification; it would inevitably reignite tensions and we could see it all kick off again.

tdv123

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

I give a fuk. It disappoints me when people down here don't. I have never met a person from Northern Ireland - catholic or protestant (they're mad for Kinsale/west Cork :pac:) - living here, who expects to be treated like a hero.

Nice too see that you give ****.

Grayson

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

I give a fuk. It disappoints me when people down here don't. I have never met a person from Northern Ireland - catholic or protestant (they're mad for Kinsale/west Cork :pac:) - living here, who expects to be treated like a hero.

I don't really care. I care about as much as i do about palestine/israel. Actually, thet's not true. Palestine/israel is an ongoing issue. People there live with the daily threat of violence and death. People in northern ireland don't.
I don't want to ever see the north united with the south. It'd cause too much pain and suffering. The violence would erupt again. And do you think nationalists would sit back and let the government take care of it? nope, they'd be just like the unionists were beforehand. The provo's would be back and it'd be a whole shit storm. maybe in a few hundred years after they've shown that they can get along without having itchy trigger fingers. But it's not going to happen in our lifetimes.

Honestly I'd prefer to see them separate from us forever. And i don't see why people expect me to think otherwise.

Deedsie wrote: »

What did I take personally?

I make one comment and you go create a thread seeking to justify your position. That's a bit personal isn't it?

Deedsie

Interesting results and comments so far. I was expecting more No's really. Personally I do care about Northern Ireland politics, I doubt I will ever see a new version of a united Ireland but I'd welcome stronger links to an ever more "Irish friendly" Northern Ireland.

Deedsie

Grayson wrote: »

I make one comment and you go create a thread seeking to justify your position. That's a bit personal isn't it?

No it's not personal at all, my interaction with you did give me the idea for posting the thread but to suggest I had a grievance with you is a bit mental. You have your opinion I have mine. Live and let live. I can post whatever thread I want as long as its within the charter. I certainly wasn't insulted one iota by my interaction with you.

Leftist

the only people who are still interested are romantic nationalists that need to believe in some higher cause to justify their mundane day to day lives.

SharpshooterTom

You have to wonder why the Irish media are so obsessed with Rory McIlroy. He dominates the irish sport articles, often top news on the rte websites sport section, yet nobody on the bbc or british sport gives him half the time we do.

The irony of course is the lad considers himself British. Yet the Irish media keep chasing him up like he's one of theirs, pathetic and embarresing.

mattjack

Cathal Cloch wrote: »

I care deeply about the north.

Those of us who do you can count as three or four votes against those of you who don't.

You're irrelevant.

Give the people of Northern Ireland the respect they deserve by spelling the " North " with a capital N.

Was this not how Gerrymandering of votes worked during elections , where by giving some groups disproportionate power in some areas allowed them gain an advantage over other groups ?

Disagreeing with your opinion does not make someone irrelevant .

aidoh

Leftist wrote: »

the only people who are still interested are romantic nationalists that need to believe in some higher cause to justify their mundane day to day lives.

I'm far from being a romantic nationalist and I lead a very interesting life.
So anybody interested in Irish history and current politics is seeking to justify their mundane lives? Cop on.

Grand Moff Tarkin

How many tonnes of TNT would be needed to cut them away from the rest of the country?

wintersolstice

aidoh wrote: »

In fairness, it's a very complicated topic to discuss.
I'm from Dublin, now living in Belfast and it's just not a topic that normal people talk about that much on a daily basis.
Pretty much all my friends from up here (on both sides of the political divide) just want to get on with their lives.
Surprisingly to me, most of the protestant people I pal around with have a really good grasp of Irish history and see themselves very much as Irish, though not nationalists.

There is still bitter hatred in some areas, of course. Stemming mainly from the fact that the government up here really have no plans in place to implement a shared future that will please everybody. I think it's because so many politicians are forced to pledge alliance to one group or the other, not unlike post-civil war politics in Ireland (the south).

I think it's up to the NI government to come up with a diplomatic and ethical approach to power and culture sharing up here though. Britain and Ireland's role in discussing NI's future should be limited unless it's the wish of the people of NI for Britain and Ireland to have a more active influence over their little piece of cultural patch-work.

So yeah, she's a complicated beast OP. Haha, what was your question again?

you are very brave to live up there.i am even too scared to visit it.

FanadMan

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

How do you know the country wouldn't prosper if a UI happend?

It's not as simple as saying we couldn't handle another 1.8 million people cause were screwed at the moment, there are hundreds of other factors to take into consideration.

There are more like thousands of other factors - and they are the people that don't want anything to do with "the south". Granted, the majority of the the unionists are decent people that just want to live in peace but they have so many knuckle dragging wasters, just like this side of the border. What would we do with them? Imprison them all just because they don't like the people that are ruling the county? Gardai and soldiers drive up to their houses and drag them out of bed. Think that was tried in the north before and it didn't work out that well.

I'm happy enough being part of the 26 - I personally don't want another 6 counties and their problems.....we have enough of our own.

Joe prim

Grand Moff Tarkin wrote: »

How many tonnes of TNT would be needed to cut them away from the rest of the country?

Typically uncaring and impractical response. Any serious student of Irish history and politics,and especially Northern Ireland, on which I am an expert, as I recently watched all five episodes of The Fall, knows that the answer is a ten -foot wall around it ( with those whirly spikey things on top)

WanabeOlympian

I suppose we all share the same little island so i'd like to see them happy and put the past/bigotry/hatred to rest 100%.

I don't really follow NI politics but doesn't mean I don't want to see the people up there being happy. They deserve it after all they have been through.

Deedsie

WanabeOlympian wrote: »

I suppose we all share the same little island so i'd like to see them happy and put the past/bigotry/hatred to rest 100%.

I don't really follow NI politics but doesn't mean I don't want to see the people up there being happy. They deserve it after all they have been through.

Well said...

I dunno, like it or not we are irreversibly interlinked through ethnicity, family, society, shared history, work, sporting organisations, politics etc etc

My main feeling would be that no Northern Irish resident should be made to feel any less Irish than anyone else on the island if that be their national identity. I'm not southern Irish, I am Irish I would be annoyed to be labelled as southern Irish. I am sure some in Northern Ireland feel the same.

I am happy with the GFA. Leave it up to the people of Northern Ireland to decide their future.


"The agreement reached was that Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom until a majority of the people of Northern Ireland and of the Republic of Ireland wished otherwise. Should that happen, then the British and Irish governments are under "a binding obligation" to implement that choice."

.jacksparrow.

FanadMan wrote: »

There are more like thousands of other factors - and they are the people that don't want anything to do with "the south". Granted, the majority of the the unionists are decent people that just want to live in peace but they have so many knuckle dragging wasters, just like this side of the border. What would we do with them? Imprison them all just because they don't like the people that are ruling the county? Gardai and soldiers drive up to their houses and drag them out of bed. Think that was tried in the north before and it didn't work out that well.

I'm happy enough being part of the 26 - I personally don't want another 6 counties and their problems.....we have enough of our own.

What about the thousands that don't want to be part of the UK? Have they ever been given a chance to vote or express their desire?

Grayson

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

What about the thousands that don't want to be part of the UK? Have they ever been given a chance to vote or express their desire?

Just because someone wants to live in my house doesn't mean they're entitled to. nationalists may want to make the 6 counties part of the south, but if I remember the polls correctly, most of the people in the south don't want the hassle. So it's tough, but they're going to have to deal with it.

Magill

wintersolstice wrote: »

you are very brave to live up there.i am even too scared to visit it.

Why ? Incase you get blown up or kneecapped ? wise up.

.jacksparrow.

Grayson wrote: »

Just because someone wants to live in my house doesn't mean they're entitled to. nationalists may want to make the 6 counties part of the south, but if I remember the polls correctly, most of the people in the south don't want the hassle. So it's tough, but they're going to have to deal with it.

Should still be given the chance to decide.

Mike 1972

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

What about the thousands that don't want to be part of the UK? Have they ever been given a chance to vote or express their desire?

The Belfast-Dublin bus runs every hour last time I checked ?

.jacksparrow.

Mike 1972 wrote: »

The Belfast-Dublin bus runs every hour last time I checked ?

Good one.