Why I'll say no to a united ireland

I don't accept the excuses for violence. Hume and Mallon didn't accept those excuses, the Irish people didn't accept those excuses at the time. The classic excuse of "violence begets violence" is used by the depraved to justify their depravity.

I did not say "IRA bad - Everyone else good", all I said was that the IRA response, the criminal thuggery response in other words, was not justified.

By 1969, nearly all human rights issues had been achieved, by 1974 with Sunningdale, pretty much everything else was achieved. The PIRA violence was counter-productive, during the 1970s and 1980s it set the whole island back economically, thankfully in the late 1980s, the South managed to distance itself from the North, and the people benefitted.

At the end of the day, the criminal thuggery of the IRA violence achieved nothing except heartbreak, poverty and despair.

One of the problems with her and the like of her on both sides is that she's so trapped in the past. Her identity is endemic amongst hardliners on both Unionist and Nationalist sides

Q - "What do you want"

A - "Were not sure but we're prepared to reject your next proposal"

Easily demonstrable if you cared to address it in a meaningful way.

Oh wait - IRA Bad; end of story in relation to the troubles - better for you?

Had Sunningdale 'achieved' anything but make the situation worse, Unionists wouldn't have been able to tear it down.

Hume knew the turning point was the removal of the Unionist veto (DUP/TUV are still trying to get it back) in the AIA.

Try as they might Unionists have not been able to tear down the GFA and subsequent agreements.

Bewilders me what I was caught out on? Your projections maybe, but that isn't anything of substance.

Still waiting for your back up data on the 'only sons' claim or a 'theory' on how the census shows only a marginal fall in Protestant numbers along the border after this sensationalised claim of 'ethnic cleansing'.

Which is the point you and others refuse to address; it's too easy to cherry pick what pops up on wikipedia for you without realising the full history.

The failure of those in power gave agency to militants. You and others continue to justify the (well documented) state terror with "but the IRA..But the IRA" . The sad reality is a lot more nuanced than what you're hopelessly banging on about.

The PIRA made things worse for nationalists, that is a fact.

John Hume and Seamus Mallon were clear on that. There was more terrorising of the nationalist community from those who claimed to be their own than for any other source. I doubt you were around back then, as your recall is most definitely flawed.

Again with your singular view point.

To state that the IRA/PIRA terrorised their own is wanton malicious disregard of what went on. Your 'assertion' I wasn't familiar with this couldn't be more wrong.

All militant terrorist organisations irreparably made things worse - however those in power facilitated a state that encouraged this type of violence.

People always have a choice. John Hume and Seamus Mallon made a choice for peace and achieved far more than the PIRA, who only made things a lot worse.

I never justified "state terror". I did say the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of security force personnel who served in N.I. were law abiding and did not kill anyone. Otherwise the death toll would have been a lot higher.

I seem to remember it was a UDR soldier ( off duty ) who saved Gerry Adams life after he was shot at by loyalist terrorists - he did not try to kill Adams.

Again you show your lack of real perspective and knowledge of the time and what went on.

Singular blinkered view of just the IRA being in the picture.

What were people supposed to do when the police/armed forces continually terrorised them? Give John Hume a shout and ask that they kindly stop it?

You don't have an grasp of what it was like to not be able to know what awaited you on your way home from work at these check points -

• working in a Nationalist area - out of the car; car emptied and your things thrown about and told to "fock off"
• business has an Irish name - out of the car; car emptied and your tools/equipment thrown about, often broken - "we had to check"
• House raided after giving address. To say they were destructively cursory would be an understatement.

Even as a child meeting soldiers/RUC going through a checkpoint - bag open, football boots over the hedge. Hurl snapped in two because "it could be a weapon"

You live off headlines of what the IRA did not the day to day reality that drove people to militants for protection. The state fostered this and permitted it to grow.

I condemn all unlawful activity that occurred, which is more than you ever did. I always condemned all paramilitaries. I also understand (but would not agree with) the logic on both sides why some people resorted to it, although I stress I do not agree with paramilitaries on either side.

( I do not want to be called a B special like poor Billy Fox was by Fianna Fail Ministers no less )

You would not even condemn the murder of an innocent protestant FG politician in this state by the pIRA, the burning of his girlfriend's house + symbolic burning of their bible etc.

That never happened to hundreds of people I know from south of the border who visited N. Ireland during the troubles. I always found the security forces there courteous ( more courteous than one particular Garda that pulled me over in Dublin once, I did not like his tone of voice ).

Any photos of your broken hurl?

Hold on a wee minute there - I condemned all violence including that which had the law behind it and the killing of TD's etc.

It was legal to violently separate fathers from families to intern them for instance. I condemn that violence, you don't it seems.

Good to know the extent of your selective condemnation.

Hold on, you said before the "military actions" of the pIRA was not violence. If you condemn all violence you are obviously very picky as regards what constitutes violence.

Internment was used by our own government here during WW2 and during the IRA border campaign of 1956-62. If you think that internment was violence, it does not surprise me, considering the pIRA did not respect the legitimacy of this (Irish) government at the time etc.

What about the point about the UDR soldier ( off duty ) who saved Gerry Adams life after he was shot at by loyalist terrorists - he did not try to kill Adams. Why was that?

Hold on - your quick scouring of the internet fails you again. Irish internment during WW2 was due to our neutrality...and even then the British agents were conveniently allowed to slip back to England.