Do you consider people from Northern Ireland Irish??

Gran Hermano

Just look what happened to Germany after reunification, it ruined their economy for years and led to plenty of resentment on both sides. I've no interest in subsidising a bunch of foreigners north of the border.

guinnessdrinker

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Just look what happened to Germany after reunification, it ruined their economy for years and led to plenty of resentment on both sides. I've no interest in subsidising a bunch of foreigners north of the border.

East Germany was a communist country whereas West Germany, capitalist. Completely different economies in the first place.

Gran Hermano

guinnessdrinker wrote: »

East Germany was a communist country whereas West Germany, capitalist. Completely different economies in the first place.

Well looking at how NI is subsidised by GB taxpayers and the size of the public sector there are many similarities.

lugha

Plus you did not have half the population of East Germany staunchly loyal to the USSR and opposed to reunification with the risk of terrorist groupings assembling to oppose it. Or worse still, a risk of an all out civil war.

Sand

Theyre British - though plenty are in denial about it and others have aspirations not to be.

Northern Ireland is a subset of the UK and the British state, not an alternate identity anymore than Corkonian is an alternate identity to being Irish.

I always find discussions about Norm Iron amusing. :rolleyes:

The alternative user names & the new registered users that always appear when ever this subject comes up, some people are just unwilling to come out and express those extreme views under their own usernames.

pablomakaveli

Sand wrote: »

Theyre British - though plenty are in denial about it and others have aspirations not to be.

Northern Ireland is a subset of the UK and the British state, not an alternate identity anymore than Corkonian is an alternate identity to being Irish.

Corkonian IS an alternate identity to being irish.:D

Kev_ps3

lugha wrote: »

Well if over half of the people in NI want to be ruled by the British and are clearly averse to being ruled from Dublin then surely democracy demands that they (the Brtiish) should remain?

That doesnt matter, its Irish land. For eg. if someday Leinster have a majority of immigrants over native Irish and they want independence then by your logic they should have it. We should take back the north, if the prodestants dont want to be ruled by the Irish then they can go back where they came from (Scotland and England).

Kev_ps3

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

if the prodestants dont want to be ruled by the Irish then they can go back where they came from .

I don't think their mothers would let them back in! :rolleyes:

anyway when they left, they weighed about 8lb

Nalz

i alwasys say "he/she is irish, well northern irish like2

I dont think I ever said they were British - even if they are

lugha

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

That doesnt matter, its Irish land. For eg. if someday Leinster have a majority of immigrants over native Irish and they want independence then by your logic they should have it.

Whether the should or should not is beside the point. If a majority is a country have different allegiances to the natives they it is hard to see change not happening. If I might extend your supposition and imagine Britain in a few decades with say a majority Muslim population. Do you really think Britain would remain the same as it is today? Which is one reason why countries should not allow unrestricted immigration.

It is simply not pragmatic to say we were here first, you took our land by force so now bugger off!

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

We should take back the north,

What would that achieve? Apart from destroying the economy, bankrupting the country, creating political unstability, starting a civil war / spawning a new wave of terrorism, ...

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

if the prodestants dont want to be ruled by the Irish then they can go back where they came from (Scotland and England).

I see. Send 1,000,000 people on a permanent holiday to Scotland! Well as long as your solutions are practical! :rolleyes:

pablomakaveli

lugha wrote: »

I see. Send 1,000,000 people on a permanent holiday to Scotland! Well as long as your solutions are practical! :rolleyes:

Unionists make up roughly around 2/3 of the norths population so its more like 600,000.:)

The official population figures

Gaspode

They're British with an irrational desire to be Irish.
As opposed to a large section of the Irish who have an irrational desire to behave as though they're british.

Nowt as strange as folk.

deswalsh

deswalsh wrote: »

They're British with an irrational desire to be Irish.
As opposed to a large section of the Irish who have an irrational desire to behave as though they're british.

Nowt as strange as folk.

We know that most people who live outside of the Republic of Ireland and claim to be Irish are "more Irish than the Irish!"

m@cc@

thelordofcheese wrote: »

look, they are british.
they put the queen on their money == they're british

None of the Northern Irish notes have the Queen on them.

Kev_ps3

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

if the prodestants dont want to be ruled by the Irish then they can go back where they came from (Scotland and England).

This rather interesting map may make you want to reconsider sending people back to the homes of their anscesters, you may be packing yourself

Hagar

No offence, but that map is less than accurate. Link.

'twas a very tongue in cheek post,

Another interesting map from a similar period

edit: this one is even better

Hagar

I couldn't be sure so I was nice and polite.

Hagar

Hagar wrote: »

I couldn't be sure so I was nice and polite.

Fair enough, this topic stirs up enough shit to sink a battleship as it is.

Shacklebolt

I regard them as Irish if they regard themselves as Irish-for example I would never claim Gerry Adams is British. However Ian Paisley or the likes well then I suppose I would count him as British.

RSF Cill Dara

pablomakaveli wrote: »

As for current groups like the CIRA are usually associated with drug dealers and criminal gangs rather than fighting the british . its true some people who join these organisations may be motivated by politics but these same politics can serve as a legitimate cover for carrying out crimes.

remember the RIRA members who murdered garda McCabe tried to be classed as political prisoners so they could be released.

wheres is your evidence of drug dealing with in the CIRA ? their have been attacks on the police in the last while . The british are worried !

garda mcCabe was killed in 1996 ? the RIRA were formed in 97

pablomakaveli

RSF Cill Dara wrote: »

wheres is your evidence of drug dealing with in the CIRA ? their have been attacks on the police in the last while . The british are worried !

garda mcCabe was killed in 1996 ? the RIRA were formed in 97

i made a mistake about the garda mcCabe case

as for your point above you are trying to defend a group who are trying to carry on a war that most people on this island dont want. too many lives were destroyed or taken away during the troubles. if you really loved your country you wouldnt advocate tha actions of a terrorist group but rather support the political process that has borne more fruit than the method of violence.

for the first time in decades there is peace on this island. surely any decent person in ireland wouldnt want to see a return to the violence of the past?

pablomakaveli

pablomakaveli wrote: »

for the first time in decades there is peace on this island. surely any decent person in ireland wouldnt want to see a return to the violence of the past?

Yes! It's time to move on!

pablomakaveli

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes! It's time to move on!

LOL ok i think youve made your point

j.griff

i'm from dublin and i live in belfast now , i work in a mixed company of people from both sides i love winding them up calling them irish they go nuts, they tell me they are british so i say what international team do they support and they say northern ireland , and i say who runs them IFA, irish football ac....
i love it....

moco

irish-stew wrote: »

no such thing as a UK passport either, its the united kingdom of great britian and northern ireland



seen the guards asking for ID on the bus either between enniskilian and donegal or sligo in the last few years

not sure what their creteria was on who was picked out, but atleast a few people on board was, as for the nationality arguement, most of my family who are born in the 6 counties consider themselves irish

my self, not to bothered, we're all from the island of ireland

I go on that Donegal to Dublin bus every week for the past 2 years and I've never seen the guards on it! Apart from the one time the driver went off the road into a field but they weren't checking passports anyway.

moco

MYOB wrote: »

I'm sure his passports actually purple, or black if its a 1 year replacement

Green if it's a one year actually

The old ones were green too.

moco

Frelance wrote: »

I consider myself irish, was born in enniskillen.

I have both passports, it comes in handy as i look pretty young and i mainly use 1 for ID.
Im pretty surprised by the responses on here. Not all of us have "chips on our shoulders." Id say we have the same proportion of arseholes as the south does. If the euro keeps going from strength to strength then id imagine alot more of you folks will be entering the North to take advantage of the cheaper prices. (2 months ago the store i work in made about 750,000 sterling a week, this week so far were on 1.2 million) If this keeps up then maybe the republics attitude towards us will change.

Oh I'm from Enniskillen too