Ireland would have been a better place under British rule?

Maximus Alexander

the_syco wrote: »

Find it bizarre that OP says we should have stayed in the UK, so we'd turn out like non-UK country.... :pac:

Aye, amusing that he didn't pick the much more apt comparison: Scotland. Ehh, no thanks.

murpho999

MeatTwoVeg wrote: »

Maybe because some of us have lived in the UK and accessed their services and can directly compare.

The Irish health service is a joke compared to the NHS for example.

For years the NHS was a basket case and has only improved recently.

Services here are not as poor as people make out. I know it's not perfect but it is exaggerated.

Once a patient is submitted to hospital they receive top class medical care.

The Pheasant2

Mortpourvelo wrote: »

We'd have the NHS.

We give the rich entitled D4 type bastard's kids FREE GP care and yet working people have to suffer as they can;t raise 50 quid for the doctors.

You mean the "rich entitled" types that pay the taxes which ensure a doctor's visit isn't €500?

Get the chip off your shoulder

steddyeddy

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

You mean the "rich entitled" types that pay the taxes which ensure a doctor's visit isn't €500?

Get the chip off your shoulder

He said kids. Very few kids pay taxes. Maybe not entitled (depending on their attitude) but certainly privileged.

Edgarfrndly

Edgarfrndly wrote: »

Probably being pulled out of the EU, whereas I suspect a majority of Irish people would have voted to stay.

Could an Irish yes vote have tipped the overall result to remain?
Imagine what UKIP and the likes would be saying about us if we had cancelled out an English no vote.

MeatTwoVeg

murpho999 wrote: »

For years the NHS was a basket case and has only improved recently.

Services here are not as poor as people make out. I know it's not perfect but it is exaggerated.

Once a patient is submitted to hospital they receive top class medical care.

Waiting list times are ridiculous here if you don't have private medical insurance.

Edgarfrndly

Edgarfrndly wrote: »

Pros

• NHS.
• Buses that run on time.
• Cheap beer.

Cons

• Heightened target for terrorist attacks.
• Stupendous amounts of tax wasted on seemingly futile wars.
• London-driven politics, with a situation similar to Scotland where a Tory government with little or no MP's in our country, would decide the fate of our country. Ergo, democracy eroded.
• Neutrality ruined.
• Diluted identity.
• Probably being pulled out of the EU, whereas I suspect a majority of Irish people would have voted to stay.
• Culture & Arts funding probably reduced greatly. Irish language well and truly dusted.
• Every second generation, we'd see our streets turned into warzones in an effort to achieve independence.

I mean, I'm trying to weigh up the good and the bad - but as someone who doesn't drink and hates public transport, I think I'll stay independent for now.

As we sink closer to an EU superstate all the cons you list become a reality regardless.

Our independence only goes as far as Brussels allows.

The Pheasant2

steddyeddy wrote: »

He said kids. Very few kids pay taxes. Maybe not entitled (depending on their attitude) but certainly privileged.

Ah so they should cover everyone's else's kids except for the ones that are actually theirs?

Look I'm not trying go out and defend "the privileged" here, but it seems the irony of calling others entitled while whinging about your entitlements is lost on some.

murpho999

MeatTwoVeg wrote: »

Waiting list times are ridiculous here if you don't have private medical insurance.

The two tier system is not perfect in anyway but it's not as bad as people make out is my point.

Cina

I don't want to offend any Northern Irish folk here, but it's proof that the op is total nonsense.

The infrastructure, wages, GDP, and overall standard of life simply don't compare.

I was up in Enniskillen recently and it says a lot that the roads in Fermanagh were awful compared to those in Leitrim, and my god, Enniskillen is a seriousy dreary, run down town that looks like it hasn't had any money put into it in many a year.

I know there are some nice places - Newry, parts of Belfast and Derry, but give me our standard of living down south any day!

awec

Cina wrote: »

I don't want to offend any Northern Irish folk here, but it's proof that the op is total nonsense.

The infrastructure, wages, GDP, and overall standard of life simply don't compare.

I was up in Enniskillen recently and it says a lot that the roads in Fermanagh were awful compared to those in Leitrim, and my god, Enniskillen is a seriousy dreary, run down town that looks like it hasn't had any money put into it in many a year.

I know there are some nice places - Newry, parts of Belfast and Derry, but give me our standard of living down south any day!

I agree that the op is nonsense, but the standard of living is pretty much the same for the most part to be honest, the difference is in NI it's paid for by a huge GB subsidy.

East of the Bann especially. West of the Bann is a dark and lonely place, full of odd people.

The Pheasant2

awec wrote: »

West of the Bann is a dark and lonely place, full of odd people.

A result of the "West of the Bann policy" no doubt?

awec

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

A result of the "West of the Bann policy" no doubt?

Not sure why to be honest, but it certainly struggles to attract investment. When the purse strings get tightened the numbers usually don't stack up.

The M1 has grass growing on it once you get west of Portadown.

osarusan

steddyeddy wrote: »

He said kids. Very few kids pay taxes. Maybe not entitled (depending on their attitude) but certainly privileged.

In which case every child is privileged, as every child (under 6) gets free GP care.

Shouldn't the kids of 'rich entitled D4 type bastards' be entitled to that free care just as the kids of people who are not rich entitled D4 type bastards are entitled to it?

Cina

awec wrote: »

I agree that the op is nonsense, but the standard of living is pretty much the same for the most part to be honest, the difference is in NI it's paid for by a huge GB subsidy.

East of the Bann especially. West of the Bann is a dark and lonely place, full of odd people.

Is it? I'd argue it's more expensive to live there and they have a far lower average wage/GDP/social welfare, and their subsidy is huge but still nowt compared to what our budget is. That's obvious when you see the difference in towns here and there, Belfast vs Dublin, and the roads/other infrastructure.

I mean it's a developed country so the average person obviously won't really notice it when they're living there but whenever I visit there, I certainly get that impression.

They really would be buggered without the UK, though, 40% of their workforce is in the public sector or something, isn't it?

The flying mouse

I wonder what the USA be like if it was still under British rule ?

Mortpourvelo

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

You mean the "rich entitled" types that pay the taxes which ensure a doctor's visit isn't €500?

Get the chip off your shoulder

I pay 10k a year in taxes and PRSI etc, and cannot afford a docs visit at certain times.

I can't afford the chipectomy.

10000maniacs

It certainly was not the case in 1847.
Even when the Irish were dropping dead from starvation in the streets, British ships continued to leave Irish ports loaded with grain, Meat and vegetables.
Anything that was produced by the plantation owners was shipped to the UK for profit. Never a single thought for the inhabitants of Ireland.
We went too easy on these plantation families in 1921.

The flying mouse

The flying mouse wrote: »

I wonder what the USA be like if it was still under British rule ?

Some say it still is!

Lux23

The UK have many if not all of the same problems we do but just on a bigger scale. If we remained under British rule, we would be as worse as Wales or Northern Ireland. No thanks.

end of the road

had ireland remained under british rule, it would be the whole of the island which would still be recovering from the troubles, rather then the north. the whole of the island would have been fully involved as the whole lot would have been living under a sectarian, paracitic, bigoted orange statelet, supported and aided by britain. today, the whole of the country would be exactly like the north, or even much of northern and midland britain, few jobs, high unemployment (okay some would say we have that at the moment but it would be worse under british rule) . people would be jailed for saying the wrong thing. parents would have their children stolen because they have the wrong political view, stolen just because reasons, as just like the uk, social services would be a political organisation rather then a service to deal with children at genuine risk. everything that could be sold off to the lowest bidder would be gone, with us the tax payer paying the highest possible cost for it on top of the highest charges for service. councils would have actual power and would be making a balls of everything. i can see no positives what soever from living under british rule. that's not to say ireland is perfect, it's far from it, but i'd rather be here with it's issues then britain.

iLikeWaffles

murpho999 wrote: »

I don’t think you get how Irish politics and its system works. Firstly, it’s a fair and democratic system.

The public elect our TDs and then in turn a government is formed and a Taoiseach is elected by the Dail. That’s how a parliamentary system works.

What you are advocating is a presidential type system which would become American style personality based which I doubt people here would want.

What I would prefer to see is external non-political ministers appointed rather than politicians being ministers . So for example a CEO/CFO/Economist could be minister of finance rather than it being passed around to politicians with no relevant experience,

Also, this idea that we have bad government here just because they have to pay taxes or charges is wrong and ignores the good work done by the government over the last few years to get the economy back on track after a massive crisis.

There is a real element of ‘grass greener’ on the other side. Why does the OP think Belgium is any better. Have they been there? Many problems there and infrastructure is crumbling.

I’m very happy that we are not part of the UK and hopefully never will be again. We have achieved a lot over the last 100 years and still have a long way to go. The British really left us in an awful mess , and I do not see how going back to them would make us better off.

I completely understand how it works thanks.