World War 3 - how would Ireland survive?

With all the Ukranian and Russian threats I got thinking how this could lead to WW3. Now I'm not saying it's likely but it is possible for tensions to build up and it only takes someone to make a mistake and all he'll could break loose.

Last few nights I've been watching a couple of movies made in the 80s.

One film was called Threads which is set in 1980s Sheffield and depicts how the city would fear during a Nuclear attack. Let's just say it doesn't look great even after 10 years since the attacks.

This got me thinking as to how Ireland would survive.

As a Neutral country we should be left alone if a nuclear war happened. The worst risks for us could be any military installations in the North and fall out over Dublin from any attack on The Sellafield Nuclear Plant in The UK.

Generally however the country should be left unscathed as we are of no threat and have no major infrastructure worth destroying.

That being the case how would we survive?

Would we suffer a Nuclear winter or would the wind blowing in from the Atlantic blow fallout away across the UK of would fall out from America blow across us?

We have little oil reserves so petrol and diesel would eventually run out

We have turf and gas so we could heat and cook.

Would our water be safe to drink?

Would our animals be safe to eat?

Could we feed the population of Ireland?

Would we be able to run our power stations and communications?

Would the government be able to keep law and order or would our country resemble the world of mad max?

Just how would our country survive in a post nuclear world ?


For anyone interest the two films I watched are

The day after
Threads

Both are available fully on YouTube , threads has been regarded as the closest to reality of all Nuclear war type films.

shopaholic01

Do you think the fallout from a nuclear bomb would just bypass us because Ireland is a neutral country?

Duckworth_Luas

Deleted User wrote: »

One film was called Threads which is set in 1980s Sheffield and depicts how the city would fear during a Nuclear attack.

Threads was the movie that gave Anne Sellors her big break.

realweirdo

Depends which way the wind is blowing that day!

In any case, the whole point of owning nuclear weapons is that you never actually have to use them, as people are too scared to mess with you.

shopaholic01

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Do you think the fallout from a nuclear bomb would just bypass us because Ireland is a neutral country?

I'd imagine the currents from the Atlantic would blow from the west and push the fall out away, but I could be wrong.

ygolometsipe

Air force 1 would surly pick up stephen ireland if ww3 broke out no?

King George VI

I don't think nuclear weapons will come into play. If there were nuclear fallout on its way towards us, we'll all grab some weapons, a guitar, meet at the spire, make our way to the Winchester for a few pints and wait for this whole thing to blow over.

MS.ing

god will protect us


*says three hail marys*

PirateShampoo

We arnt Neutral. And Northern Ireland is a part of the UK so would definitely be a target in a Doomsday scenario.

PirateShampoo

PirateShampoo wrote: »

We arnt Neutral. And Northern Ireland is a part of the UK so would definitely be a target in a Doomsday scenario.

Cork might be spared, and perhaps Kerry!

dxhound2005

The Americans dropped the Hiroshima bomb directly onto a school. That was terrible.

Adamantium

Deleted User wrote: »

As a Neutral country we should be left alone if a nuclear war happened.

Should would work is not how the world does work.
Good luck with borders and international law/theory when bombs start dropping.

Leaders can't even be rational respect basic border laws and UN conventions in our relatively utopian peacetime society


Shannon would be be probably be the first place place to be nuked, taking about infastructure that would invariably be seen as USA asset.

Somewhere RIGHT NOW written in the code is an pre programmed algorithim designed to nuke Co.Clare and 100's of other targets in Europe. They just aren't turned on.
Remeber it is/was some sick bastard's job to design a plan for Total War. It's in a filing cabinet somewhere in the Kremlin

KeithM89

We'll be grand, just like in that 'Threads' movie....

Roger_007

St. Jimmy wrote: »

I don't think nuclear weapons will come into play. If there were nuclear fallout on its way towards us, we'll all grab some weapons, a guitar, meet at the spire, make our way to the Winchester for a few pints and wait for this whole thing to blow over.

Nuclear weapons have the same problem as gas in WW1. If you use them and the wind changes, you're f**ked. Hence, nobody will use them.

keith16

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Do you think the fallout from a nuclear bomb would just bypass us because Ireland is a neutral country?

Iodine tablets and Sellafield will protect us.

shopaholic01

keith16 wrote: »

Iodine tablets and Sellafield will protect us.

Sure, even though they're at least 10 years out of date at this stage. I think I threw mine out too.

Adamantium

On a lighter note.

I'd assume we'd all hide in the Marble Arch and Ailwee caves ala the Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, bumping and grinding to terrible rave music.




I'd take death instead.

seamus

We would be surprisingly well capable of dealing with the kind of devastation from a huge "everyone is ****ed" war. We have a small enough population and fncking ****load of arable land, so we're well placed to grow a load of very boring crops with which to feed the population.

The prevailing westerlies and the general way the wind streams work around us mean that nuclear fallout on the UK west coast would have little if any effect. Unless someone decides to drop a dirty nuke on our west coast. Then we're in trouble.

We're a small country, so transporting goods by horse & cart and by bicycle is very feasible. And initially the government will seize all stored supplies of petrol and diesel, using it for army vehicles and to transport food to strategic distribution centres, for distribution by said carts and bicycles. Eventually we'll look at moving to electric trains and light electric road vehicles to accomplish this in the medium-term. However, most farming will be done at a very local community level and distributed locally rather than halfway across the country; we'll revert primarily to how Ireland was in the 1940s

Our major issues are manufacturing and power generation. We don't mine anything nor manufacture any heavy equipment, and an insane amount of our power comes from imported fuels. It's all well and good to talk about electric vehicles, but if you have no raw materials or factories, you can't build any of these. Your now-defunct vehicles though will be scrapped and repurposed for raw materials, with primary focus on building wind turbines. Wind turbines, everywhere. If electricity is available at all to homes initially it will be for a tiny part of the day to heat some water or cook some food. Most of the time it will be unavailable, restricted to use by those involved in transport and manufacturing.

Grandeeod

I think Shannon is on the Russian missile list so we're ****ed either way.

dxhound2005

seamus wrote: »

We would be surprisingly well capable of dealing with the kind of devastation from a huge "everyone is ****ed" war. We have a small enough population and fncking ****load of arable land, so we're well placed to grow a load of very boring crops with which to feed the population.

The prevailing westerlies and the general way the wind streams work around us mean that nuclear fallout on the UK west coast would have little if any effect. Unless someone decides to drop a dirty nuke on our west coast. Then we're in trouble.

We're a small country, so transporting goods by horse & cart and by bicycle is very feasible. And initially the government will seize all stored supplies of petrol and diesel, using it for army vehicles and to transport food to strategic distribution centres, for distribution by said carts and bicycles. Eventually we'll look at moving to electric trains and light electric road vehicles to accomplish this in the medium-term. However, most farming will be done at a very local community level and distributed locally rather than halfway across the country; we'll revert primarily to how Ireland was in the 1940s

Our major issues are manufacturing and power generation. We don't mine anything nor manufacture any heavy equipment, and an insane amount of our power comes from imported fuels. It's all well and good to talk about electric vehicles, but if you have no raw materials or factories, you can't build any of these. Your now-defunct vehicles though will be scrapped and repurposed for raw materials, with primary focus on building wind turbines. Wind turbines, everywhere. If electricity is available at all to homes initially it will be for a tiny part of the day to heat some water or cook some food. Most of the time it will be unavailable, restricted to use by those involved in transport and manufacturing.

This would be the sort of country which would attract millions of refugees from the devestated lands around us. As can be seen happening on a smaller scale in Syria at the moment.

Adamantium

seamus wrote: »

We would be surprisingly well capable of dealing with the kind of devastation from a huge "everyone is ****ed" war. We have a small enough population and fncking ****load of arable land, so we're well placed to grow a load of very boring crops with which to feed the population.

The prevailing westerlies and the general way the wind streams work around us mean that nuclear fallout on the UK west coast would have little if any effect. Unless someone decides to drop a dirty nuke on our west coast. Then we're in trouble.

We're a small country, so transporting goods by horse & cart and by bicycle is very feasible. And initially the government will seize all stored supplies of petrol and diesel, using it for army vehicles and to transport food to strategic distribution centres, for distribution by said carts and bicycles. Eventually we'll look at moving to electric trains and light electric road vehicles to accomplish this in the medium-term. However, most farming will be done at a very local community level and distributed locally rather than halfway across the country; we'll revert primarily to how Ireland was in the 1940s

Our major issues are manufacturing and power generation. We don't mine anything nor manufacture any heavy equipment, and an insane amount of our power comes from imported fuels. It's all well and good to talk about electric vehicles, but if you have no raw materials or factories, you can't build any of these. Your now-defunct vehicles though will be scrapped and repurposed for raw materials, with primary focus on building wind turbines. Wind turbines, everywhere. If electricity is available at all to homes initially it will be for a tiny part of the day to heat some water or cook some food. Most of the time it will be unavailable, restricted to use by those involved in transport and manufacturing.

Any chance we could implement this now? I'd rather not wait around for nuclear war for things to improve :P

The Diabolical Monocle

seamus wrote: »

We would be surprisingly well capable of dealing with the kind of devastation from a huge "everyone is ****ed" war. We have a small enough population and fncking ****load of arable land, so we're well placed to grow a load of very boring crops with which to feed the population.

Candidate will receive training in agriculture.
Pay - Jobsbridge.

SEPT 23 1989

When the Wind Blows if you can find it is worth a watch

very dark animation

wil

what does the grand book say?

NegativeCreep

Nuclear war would be so inconvenient. Effort

dxhound2005

NegativeCreep wrote: »

Nuclear war would be so inconvenient. Effort

Yes, AH might even be down for a while. Probably not as much devestation as caused by Dav though:)

Archeron

WW3? Best get the washing in off the line so.

Joe Doe

Quite simply common sense would dictate that the 'full scale, all out' scenario is a end-times event.

Thus imagine it wouldn't be a practically discussed option on the tables to the leaders of the major nations, due to the resulting implications.

It's a standing deterrent against anybody seriously messing.

i.e. In 2009 there was know to be 23,574 N's in existence (most 100's of times larger than Hirmo'), if <5% went off, imagine you'd be looking at 'really bad wintertimes' (little or no photosynthesis) for a very (very) long time. Even a fresh wind from the SW wouldn't help in the slightest.

Mint Aero

[Deleted User] wrote: »

We have turf and gas so we could heat and cook.

Yeah I can picture the scene...

Ireland 1846:
Everyones dying from hunger
There's potatoes in the bishops gaff
We can't have that, that's the Churches potatoes, we're not allowed.
*everyone dies*

Ireland 2016:
Everyones dying from the cold cos of eh the fallout thing.
There's turf in them bogs
We can't have that, EU sanctions says we can't cut our own turf. We're not allowed.
*everyone dies*

On the plus Enda dies first cos he's the bestest best boy in the class. Hoho I'll show them, won't cut even an inch of turf cos I'm not allowed, then everyone will think i'm a good boy

Etc

dxhound2005

Mint Aero wrote: »

Yeah I can picture the scene...

Ireland 1846:
Everyones dying from hunger
There's potatoes in the bishops gaff
We can't have that, that's the Churches potatoes, we're not allowed.
*everyone dies*

Ireland 2016:
Everyones dying from the cold cos of eh the fallout thing.
There's turf in them bogs
We can't have that, EU sanctions says we can't cut our own turf. We're not allowed.
*everyone dies*

On the plus Enda dies first cos he's the bestest best boy in the class. Hoho I'll show them, won't cut even an inch of turf cos I'm not allowed, then everyone will think i'm a good boy

Etc

Depends when it happens in 2016. Gerry and Mary Lou might be in power, free turf for everyone.

Stavros Murphy

Joe Doe wrote: »

Quite simply common sense would dictate that the 'full scale, all out' scenario is a end-times event.

Thus imagine it wouldn't be a practically discussed option on the tables to the leaders of the major nations, due to the resulting implications.

It's a standing deterrent against anybody seriously messing.

i.e. In 2009 there was know to be 23,574 N's in existence (most 100's of times larger than Hirmo'), if <5% went off, imagine you'd be looking at 'really bad wintertimes' (little or no photosynthesis) for a very (very) long time. Even a fresh wind from the SW wouldn't help in the slightest.

Nonsense. We have three iodine tablets. Sorted.

Bassfacewhy

We're neutral, but if the UK were to bombed the radiation and whatnot isn't going to stay away from us!

Hell even today there is a noticeable increase in the development of cancer along the east coast of Ireland due to winds carrying radioactive waste.

I don't think a nuclear war will happen anytime soon. What countries are stupid enough to start one after considering the consequences?

And the way I see it, if one did happened, we'd most likely all die so there's no point in fretting about it really.

Fratton Fred

I can't see Ireland being left alone, the runways and harbours would be the first point of refuge for the British and US air force's and navies

BillyMitchel

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Depends when it happens in 2016. Gerry and Mary Lou might be in power, free turf for everyone.

Will we get free printer ink too?

southcentralts

Ireland would fare pretty well in the short term, until a devastated Britain sees the greener fields and starts to plan a new conquest. Preemptive strike anyone?

ush

Nobody survives WWIII. Cockroaches take over.

crockholm

We'll hide under a load of coats, t'will be grand.

Sir Arthur Daley

BillyMitchel wrote: »

Will we get free printer ink too?

The Ink Squid does great deals on ink, Tesco here is so expensive for ink.

Mits

After we setup the tribunal into the cause of the war and the effects of nuclear winter, it would be all over.

We could not defend ourselves against refugee's or countries wanting to use our resources.

"Winter is coming"

Joe Doe

southcentralts wrote: »

....sees the greener fields ..

no green fields (you would need sunlight)

---

Neutrality - wouldn't help much, someone will always presume your leaning one way or the other during a (unlikely) large event and thus a risk factor.

Neutrality - this month (peacetime) also saw Ireland's guards bugged, the national tv broadcaster's station & social media channels taken over briefly. It's just lucky we have none of those reaper drones, in-case some kid in northkorea with a xbox controller and c# got fancy.

Ferries - In the 1980' Liverpool, Southampton, Glasgow each had 3 large ones pointing at them from the Eastern Block, so very few ferry boats would be sailing down the Irish sea (very few edible fish too).

In 20yrs or so with advances in laser tech, starwars defense, ion propulsion craft etc there would be less of individual threat to superpowers, but also therefore more of a real global threat.

Good news: 5yrs underground with a store of tinned food, air/water filters and seedbank you might have a slight chance (few dvd box sets might help too)...

Ten of Swords

PirateShampoo wrote: »

Northern Ireland is a part of the UK so would definitely be a target in a Doomsday scenario.

Good to know the authorities have thought about this and have a plan in place for the increased demand for bread after a nuclear strike

Operation let them eat cake

josip

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Sure, even though they're at least 10 years out of date at this stage. I think I threw mine out too.

Should have kept them.
http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/emerg-preparedness/about-emerg-preparedness/potassium-iodide/ki-faq.html#kiexpired

ygolometsipe

jump in a big bucket of iodine.

Pladimir Vutin

Ireland will not survive, resistance is futile.

dxhound2005

Just to inject a touch of reality any war which will be fought will be more like the unpleasantness which happened in Yugoslavia or Georgia. No nukes. The most surprising thing ever would be if the map of Ukraine remained the same for any length of time. History does not stand still.

Joe Doe

totally agree with dxhound2005, they could quickly solve it now with 2 chairs, pen and paper, and a rough line approx NE to SW reflecting existing aspirational majorities, language and allegiances. 1mth from now (maybe) the new map will be drawn up.

Still surprised that other people are still surprised that the ruskies went into crimea where a fair amount of there naval fleet was based.

wendell borton

We are part of the mighty Nordic battle group.:rolleyes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Battle_Group#Coat_of_arms

Duckworth_Luas

wendell borton wrote: »

We are part of the mighty Nordic battle group.:rolleyes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Battle_Group#Coat_of_arms

I strongly object to the name and insignia. Change the name to the Nordic and Irish Lions.

Lemming

ush wrote: »

Nobody survives WWIII. Cockroaches take over.

I for one welcome our new insect overlords.

Joe Doe wrote: »

Neutrality - wouldn't help much, someone will always presume your leaning one way or the other during a (unlikely) large event and thus a risk factor.

Neutrality is a laugh. Ireland is neutral on paper only, and nobody - at least nobody that matters - is fooled otherwise. In a MAD scenario, Ireland would get nuked to deny NATO members "aid & comfort". Same way that Africa, Asia, etc. would get flattened to deny the Russians, Chinese, & N.Koreans.

Dublin, Cork, Shannon, and that rather large oil storage facility somewhere out by Kinsale would get melted off the face of the earth in short order. The rest of the country (or rather "what's left" that hasn't been burnt in radioactive fire-storms or destroyed by blast/vacuum) gets to deal with the fall-out. And that's before we go near the North, or west-coast UK.

Maudi

[Deleted User] wrote: »

With all the Ukranian and Russian threats I got thinking how this could lead to WW3. Now I'm not saying it's likely but it is possible for tensions to build up and it only takes someone to make a mistake and all he'll could break loose.

Last few nights I've been watching a couple of movies made in the 80s.

One film was called Threads which is set in 1980s Sheffield and depicts how the city would fear during a Nuclear attack. Let's just say it doesn't look great even after 10 years since the attacks.

This got me thinking as to how Ireland would survive.

As a Neutral country we should be left alone if a nuclear war happened. The worst risks for us could be any military installations in the North and fall out over Dublin from any attack on The Sellafield Nuclear Plant in The UK.

Generally however the country should be left unscathed as we are of no threat and have no major infrastructure worth destroying.

That being the case how would we survive?

Would we suffer a Nuclear winter or would the wind blowing in from the Atlantic blow fallout away across the UK of would fall out from America blow across us?

We have little oil reserves so petrol and diesel would eventually run out

We have turf and gas so we could heat and cook.

Would our water be safe to drink?

Would our animals be safe to eat?

Could we feed the population of Ireland?

Would we be able to run our power stations and communications?

Would the government be able to keep law and order or would our country resemble the world of mad max?

Just how would our country survive in a post nuclear world ?


For anyone interest the two films I watched are

The day after
Threads

Both are available fully on YouTube , threads has been regarded as the closest to reality of all Nuclear war type films.

Our water isint safe to drink now.!(flouride)never mind a war

dxhound2005

Maudi wrote: »

Our water isint safe to drink now.!(flouride)never mind a war

There will be a boil water notice.