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Do you consider nationalists from Northern Ireland to be Irish?

  • 12-10-2019 4:54pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,017 ✭✭✭SharpshooterTom


    I know this topic is potentially a hornests nest but I feel I have to ask anyway if that's ok.

    I from England originally but have been living in Northern Ireland for nearly 19 years so this doesn't apply to me but I have family who are from here (from nationalist backgrounds) who identify as Irish, play GAA etc. From topics I've read regarding debates around UI's or extending the vote for Irish president to the North, I have read a lot of disparaging comments and ill feeling towards Northern nationalists, that they're not "real" Irish/not as Irish as someone from the Republic/foreigners, or even not Irish at all. I'm curious to know how common this sentiment is towards people in North from people in the Republic?

    I was watching a youtube video when Martin McGuinness was confronted by a women questioning him running for Irish president (nothing wrong with that given his history) but implying that he and people from the North weren't Irish (shaking her head that people from Derry were not as Irish as people from Cork or Kerry as you see at 0:46).



    My mum (Belfast born and raised, holds an Irish passport) has herself come across people from the Republic whilst living in England not considering her a proper Irish as themselves or speaking negatively of her being from the North.

    Is this sentiment quite common in the ROI towards Irish nordies?

    Do you consider people from Northern Ireland to be Irish? 382 votes

    I consider everyone in NI to be Irish
    59% 226 votes
    I consider nationalists as Irish, but unionists as British
    24% 95 votes
    I do not consider anyone in NI to be Irish
    15% 61 votes


«13456713

Comments



  • If they consider themselves to be Irish, I have no objections.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,148 ✭✭✭amadangomor


    This is you ??:pac:

    JamesDerryGirls-b88e46c.jpg?quality=90&lb=620,413&background=white


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,784 ✭✭✭pgj2015


    yes, and the unionists are Irish as well, even if they dont want to admit it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,182 ✭✭✭bobbysands81


    Anyone born in the 06 counties is as Irish as someone born in the Republic.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,572 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    Anyone born in the 06 counties is as Irish as someone born in the Republic.

    I would never have expected such an answer from you, bobbysands81


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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,230 ✭✭✭jaxxx


    Are people from England English? Are people from Scotland Scottish? Are people from Wales Welsh?

    #Food4Thought


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,214 ✭✭✭✭lawred2


    Yes.

    I also consider unionists born in Ireland to be Irish.




  • lawred2 wrote: »
    Yes.

    I also consider unionists born in Ireland to be Irish.

    Do you consider them British if they so identity?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,653 ✭✭✭✭Plumbthedepths


    People born in NI have a right to both a British and Irish passport so if they wish to identify as Irish all good if they want to identify as British equally good. Giving Irish passports to citizens of the north if they want one was very small price to pay for the GFA and the peace it brought about.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,818 ✭✭✭Silent Running


    Those born in the North of Ireland are as Irish as those born in the West of Ireland,or the south of Ireland, or the East of Ireland.

    Why would people born in occupied territory be anything but Irish? Ireland is an Island.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 7,055 ✭✭✭JohnnyFlash


    They are Irish, but there’s definitely something different about Nordies. Very sour and dour people who are seemingly incapable of letting things go.


  • Registered Users Posts: 707 ✭✭✭wijam


    No. Ireland = Irish. Northern Ireland = UK = British.

    The worst thing we ever did was hand out easy passports to foreign nationals.

    Yeah that’s a load of balls and shows little understanding of the situation, this coming from a Derry man, who holds an Irish passport


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,277 ✭✭✭Your Face


    Not part of the Republic = not Irish.


  • Registered Users Posts: 16,342 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    Yep I do.
    The right of N.I folk to claim Irish citizenship and to have their right to identify as Irish recognised and respected is one of the numerous compromises that led to the relative peace wrought by the GFA.

    Parity of esteem and the right to identify as and be a citizen of the Republic are integral to that.

    We even had a referendum on it ;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,214 ✭✭✭✭lawred2


    Do you consider them British if they so identity?

    sure and Irish


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,336 ✭✭✭rockatansky


    Your Face wrote: »
    Not part of the Republic = not Irish.

    So Irish people only existed after the declaration of the Republic in 1949?

    You're talking nonsense.

    Of course they are Irish, it's a stupid question only asked to antagonise.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,277 ✭✭✭Your Face


    So Irish people only existed after the declaration of the Republic in 1949?

    You're talking nonsense.
    .


    Underpants gnome logic there.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,017 ✭✭✭SharpshooterTom


    Of course they are Irish, it's a stupid question only asked to antagonise.

    Nope, I've not written the thread purposefully to antagonise. There are people in the Republic unfortunately who do not see those north of the border as Irish as someone from the ROI. I linked the Martin McGuinness video as proof these people exist (I had to because I knew I would get the "OP's a sh1tstirrer" passing comments) and I'm curious to know how common these views actually are, or was she just an extremist?


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,336 ✭✭✭rockatansky


    Nope, I've not written the thread purposefully to antagonise. There are people in the Republic unfortunately who do not see those north of the border as Irish as someone from the ROI. I linked the Martin McGuinness video as proof these people exist (I had to because I knew I would get the "OP's a sh1tstirrer" passing comments) and I'm curious to know how common these views actually are, or was she just an extremist?

    You linked to one person with this view. Plenty of nut jobs have been in the audience in RTE and got themselves on TV by asking a question.

    Are people really going to argue that Liam Neeson, Ciaran Hinds, Adrian Dunbar, Bronagh Gallagher, Seamus Heaney, James McClean etc.. arent Irish?

    There is only one answer to your question , yes they are.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    Nope, I've not written the thread purposefully to antagonise. There are people in the Republic unfortunately who do not see those north of the border as Irish as someone from the ROI. I linked the Martin McGuinness video as proof these people exist (I had to because I knew I would get the "OP's a sh1tstirrer" passing comments) and I'm curious to know how common these views actually are, or was she just an extremist?

    There is nothing unfortunate about having that viewpoint. It is as valid as any other. The current political settlement is disputed by some people, as is the case in many other territories around the world. The best way to proceed is to abide by what is recognised by the UN for the time being.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,017 ✭✭✭SharpshooterTom


    There is only one answer to your question , yes they are.

    I agree with you (although I wouldn't consider unionists Irish). But we have around 30% of early votes so far who don't see Nordie nationalists as Irish so far. So she's not an extremist.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,761 ✭✭✭Donnielighto


    They are but they don't have the same country as me. Same nation, not country but that is by geography only.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    I agree with you (although I wouldn't consider unionists Irish). But we have around 30% of early votes so far who don't see Nordie nationalists as Irish so far. So she's not an extremist.

    Too small a sample, and self selecting. Another Boards poll made Sinn Fein the most popular political party, 10% ahead of the second place.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 143 ✭✭Ready4Boarding


    There's no single, preeminent Irish identity (something many of my countrymen are too bigoted to have perceived). And while northern nationalists can certainly participate in the same Irish identity that prioritises Irish unity and looks to the distant Gaelic past for cultural inspiration, there's quite obviously a sense of Irishness from which they are excluded, and vice versa. Ironically, the Troubles, the violent attempt at unification, has had the effect of magnifying their cultural difference.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,707 ✭✭✭Bobblehats


    People from Northern Ireland in Northern Irish shocker :eek:


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,617 ✭✭✭votecounts


    Yes and we voted in the GFA that states this, or are rewriting history now.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,105 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    More importantly the Govt in Westminster, the Tory party, wider British society are making it clear they consider everyone in the North as nothing to them, certainly not British.

    They don't care what anyone In the Roi thinks of it.

    The choice was Brexit or the United Kingdom and their going for Brexit.

    The North being in the customs Union is arguably more significant than the ending of Stormont in the early 70s or the peace process.

    Britain is saying your different to us and making it legally so, and in a way where divergence can only grow.


  • Registered Users, Subscribers Posts: 47,247 ✭✭✭✭Zaph


    The GFA allows people from Northern Ireland to decide whether they're Irish or British and carry the appropriate passport, and I've no problem with that. But I do draw the line at people like Martin McGuinness or Gerry Adams standing for elected positions in this country when they have not been normal residents of the Republic. Notwithstanding their backgrounds, which I have no time for, but parachuting in and deciding they'd like to be president or a TD makes a mockery of the electoral process and is unfair to the people who didn't vote for them that they may ultimately represent. Gerry Adams doesn't even live in the country of the parliament he's been elected to, how is that right?


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 21,936 CMod ✭✭✭✭Ten of Swords


    Mod

    Moved to Politics. Read the local charter before posting


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  • Registered Users Posts: 208 ✭✭mehico


    Zaph wrote: »
    The GFA allows people from Northern Ireland to decide whether they're Irish or British and carry the appropriate passport, and I've no problem with that. But I do draw the line at people like Martin McGuinness or Gerry Adams standing for elected positions in this country when they have not been normal residents of the Republic. Notwithstanding their backgrounds, which I have no time for, but parachuting in and deciding they'd like to be president or a TD makes a mockery of the electoral process and is unfair to the people who didn't vote for them that they may ultimately represent. Gerry Adams doesn't even live in the country of the parliament he's been elected to, how is that right?

    Im not trying to dismiss your reasons but once a person is elected democratically I don't think it makes a mockery of the electoral process.


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