Irish voters 'hostile' to poppy symbol

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953693#Comment_123953693

Nobody was held to account for the 2 innocent policemen , one catholic and one protestant, killed in Derry a day or two before Bloody Sunday either, and the republican gunman or gunmen on Bloody sunday were not held to account either.

Having said that, I respect your decision not to wear a poppy or to contibute to a charity which has supported millions of people, even if 0.001% or whatever do not deserve such support.

If it was the early 1950s for example, what would you have thought of the hundreds of thousands of military people who served in Derry at some stage, or who passed through Derry, during the war the previous decade?

Choochtown

Some of the Poppy money raised in Ireland goes to ex-members of the UDR who were behind many atrocities including the Miami Showband massacre.

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953891#Comment_123953891

 Funds are made available to beneficiaries according to need. Over a million people have been assisted by the charity: I respect your decision not to contibute to a charity which has supported millions of people, even if 0.001% or whatever do not deserve such support. The vast majority of veterans obeyed the law and never killed innocents.

Ozymandius2011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953693#Comment_123953693

Thats true and I condemn it. And I also condemn the targeting of civilians by the IRA, such as the Birmingham, Guildford pub bombings, the murder of 2 children, one aged 10, in Warrington. Since the PIRA saw themselves as an army, they should read the Geneva Conventions.

I think history students should be shown what our generation (40s) remember seeing on the news during the Troubles, and then they will understand that PIRA were not heroes but criminals. They were not the heirs to the Old IRA who founded this state. The same applies to the UVF, UDA etc. and those in the British army that committed war crimes like Bloody Sunday.

csirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953652#Comment_123953652

Sorry, those in Irish regiments werent given pensions. My Great GF died in WWI. Had 20 years service prior to that including fighting in the Boer War. The pension thing was a huge bone of contention in his family. They stopped paying the pension he had earned for his 20 years service prior to WWI.........because he was dead - KIA in WWI. Family which included young children got zero financial aid and ended up destitute in the slums of inner city Dublin. Those serving in British regiments were treated very differently to those in Ireland. Its no surprise that the north inner city areas close to Collins Barracks - where many soldiers families lived - strongly supported 1916. 1,000s of soldiers families in this area were left destitute and disillusioned with the British after Gallipoli and Ypres.

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123954055#Comment_123954055

British Army pensions for WWI were managed by the Ministry of Pensions and were only paid to disabled soldiers, and to widows and dependents of those who died in service. Records for these pensions can be found in collections at The National Archives .

Even British people who served in the military in WW2 did not receive military pensions so no, no other nationalities were going to get anything. War widows got a payment from the State but if they remarried they lost it. There was a pension for disabled ex services personnel.

Actually the rebels in 1916 were spat on and jeered by the locals in Dublin after they surrerended and were being led away to Dublin Castle. Many of those people had relatives away fighting and looked on it as a stab in the back.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123954052#Comment_123954052

I agree with you. I didnt at any time say the IRA were heroes.

Its a debate about Irish people honoring the British Army.

Hamsterchops

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123954321#Comment_123954321

For me the poppy on my lapel is a badge of honour, as I remember long gone family members who died in both WWI and WWII. I wear it every year to honour their memory. RAF + RN.

itsacoolday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123954352#Comment_123954352

Respect. It is great when the good peoples of these islands can work together to defend from the Germans, Russians, Isis or whoever.

yagan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123955782#Comment_123955782

Who defended us from mass starvation under British rule?

yagan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953551#Comment_123953551

So is the England captain a traitor for playing in Germany?

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956158#Comment_123956158

Imagine the indignation and outcry there would be here if all LoI players had to wear an Easter Lily and folk were condoning the bile and derision heaped on an English born player(there are plenty playing LoI) who refused to wear one?

yagan

My take on the Irish poppy fetishists is they're a mix of people whose forebearers actually did well out of empire while everyone else suffered, people who consume too much UK TV, walter mitty types, and just general cranks who'd be pro asbestos if it to be banned today.