Do you consider people from Northern Ireland Irish??

meglome

digitally-yours wrote: »

once went out with a girl from Belfast

called her "Irish" and she said I am "British"
As a proof she showed me her passport :mad:

it was in 2005
I guess things have changed since then

My friends sister is married to a northern protestant. He has two kids from a previous marriage and I asked the youngest and she told me she's British, but her father would say he's Irish. But to be honest after spending a bit of time up there they are in general as Irish as any other Irish person down south. Yes they've been brought up in the UK system, there attitudes are Irish even if they don't care to believe that. I think more and more northerners are coming to realise that they are indeed Irish and it's not a bad thing like they were always told.

super_furry

They're Nordies and they're all mad.

kevmy

Technically they are not part of Britain, they are part of the United Kingdom.

Secondly they are probably more correctly Northern Irish. This is because most of their decision making goes on in Stormont - not in Dublin or London

Thirdly and more importantly they are whatever they view themselves to be Irish, British, Northern Irish or Nordies

Finally aren't pepole born in the North before 98 or who has parents who are entitled to an Irish passport not a UK one

Hellm0

I think there is a simple fix for this very large and very long running misunderstanding.

Look at a map.

For me, the map tells a pretty simple story. Looks like Ireland is an Island, one with a different color chunk on the top. The chunk was not always a different color but people made it so. That chunk may be claimed to be a part of some other country but never the less it is still a part of Ireland and always has been.

That said folks can imagine themselves to be whatever nationality they want but at the end of the day I think it's pretty obvious for all to see that the north is a part of Ireland.

crushproof

It all depends, I just call them Nordies!

I've Nordie friends who consider themselves Irish, and ones that consider themselve British!
It obviously depends on which side of the divide they grew up in!

All in all, what difference does it make!

darkman2

I consider them Irish. Some may say they are not but only the ones that never smile.

Patricide

I consider them just irish.

Stabshauptmann

They're a mixed bunch

Amazotheamazing

Canadians, and every single last one of them has a chip on their shoulder.

pickarooney

They're Europeans. If Americans don't feel the need to make the distinction, then neither do I.

BTW, there's no need for anyone to have ID going between the UK and Ireland. Sure haven't we a long-standing blind-eye agreement which pre-dates Schengen and effectively precludes us from acceding to the latter?

R0ot

I cross the border most days of the week traveling to school, for shopping or just to hang out with friends since I was little. Never in my mind have I considered people from Northern Ireland to be anything but Irish.

I was along with our local under 16 basketball team as a coach for a cross border league thing, there were 12 teams or so, nearly even mix from the north and the republic, during the lunch break in the middle one of the teams (from Dublin) was standing behind me and the other 2 coaches and a group of coaches from one of the northern teams, one of the kids from the Dublin based school said the following "i'll be glad when we're back around other Irish people" at this point one of the other coaches turned to the kid and said "you are around Irish people" the kids response was "nah I mean real Irish people" *slide in me holding the other coach from leaping at the kid* . [/short story]

O'Morris

Irish!

But I consider the Orangemen to be "New-Irish"

Fratton Fred

There's no such thing as British people, everyone is either English, Scottish or Welsh.

They aint any of those three so they must be Irish.

what flag they want to wave or what passport they want to carry is up to them I suppose, but they are Irish as far as I am concerned.

CPT. SURF

Well if they do not want to be Irish I am so over them. Although the irony for me is that most foreigners (i.e. Americans, Ozzies, Kiwis, Saffas, etc.) consider them Irish whether they like it or not. I once saw a big American guy laugh in the face of a Nordie when he told him he was British.

This is because the Irish are loved the world over. Therefore

Us>>>>>>>>>Nordies

Fratton Fred

I thought another airing of this is called for

Ali: "So is you Irish?"
Sammy: "No, I'm British."
Ali: "So is you on here on holiday?"
Sammy: "No, Northern Ireland has always been part of Britain."

Sammy: "The vast majority of people in Northern Ireland actually use
the police for their own protection."
Ali: "But why is they using a breakdown service as police, that, to
to me, sound like the most stupid thing. No wonder they is
fighting here or whatever, if..."
Sammy: "I think you've got a mistake, it's the RUC."
Ali: "A'ight."

George Paton, Orange Lodge Grandmaster in Northern Ireland.

Ali: "Do you have music at this march?"
George: "Oh yes, yes, lots of music, the whole works."
Ali: "For real, do you have drums?"
George: "Drums, yes."
Ali: "And is you like knocking out a drum and bass thing or is it
more kind of speed garage that you is knocking out?"
George: "It's all there, different drummers have their own rhythms,
it's an individual thing."
Ali: "Do you not think though, me just not giving advice but me
sayin' from me own experience, sometimes it's good to back up
the drums with a bit of human beat box?"
George: "Yes, er..."
Ali: "Do you not think that would be good?"
George: "Yes, course it would."
Ali: "If someone is doing, you know, dumpf, duf, dumpf, duf, dumpf,
people could chill form both sides and get into that."
George: "I would hope that people could."

Ali: "What can we do to increase the peace? Would you ever marry a
protestant girl?"
George: "I have, yes."
Ali: "Well that is a gesture, no, that is a long way to getting the
peace."
George: "Yeah but I'm a protestant as well."
Ali: "Okay, alright, well, so if you weren't married to her, would
you marrying a Catholic girl then?"
George: "Possibly because of my faith I wouldn't."
Ali: "What if she was fit really though? What then?"
George: "Because my religion is so important to me, that's going to be
the overriding factor."
Ali: "But what if she had her own car, she had a, you know, sound
system, whatever, she wasn't gonna be stealing money from
you, whatever. Would you go with her then?"
George: "I think that, you know, I am friends with Roman Catholics,
and I have Romen Catholic friends, but..."
Ali: "But would you get jiggy with them?"
George: "It would never come to that, my religion is the most
important thing to me."
Ali: "Even if they was really, really fit?"
George: "Yes, yes. That's the bottom line, yes. That's hard for people
to understand, but..."
Ali: "Even if she was incredibly the fittest."
George: "Even so, yes."
Ali: "So you is telling me honest that if, like, The Corrs, them
band The Corrs, they came in here now and said they wanted to
marry you, you wouldn't just jump and say yes."
George: "Yes, I've got my views, they are important to me."
Ali: "You is telling me you would say no to The Corrs."
George: "Yes, yes..."
Ali: "All three of them."
George: "Yes."
Ali: "So you really believe this thing. You're really into it, it
ain't just a joke."

and to balance things up

Sue Ramsey, member of the assembly of Sinn Fein.

Ali: "And what is the language that they speak here?"
Sue: "Gaelic."
Ali: "Gay-lick? What is that like, a batty language or somethin'?"

Ali: "What is the story with drugs and that kind of thing here? Is
there a problem with drugs here?"
Sue: "Um, there probably is."
Ali: "Is maybe the cause of the problem that they say, and maybe it is
a stereotype or whatever but that say that the Irish is always
up for the crack or whatever. You've got a problem because the
crack make you violent, me know people from me estate, they go
mental whenever there is someone around they want to fight them,
whatever, it's a bad drug."
Sue: "No, crack in Ireland means having a good time."
Ali: "A'ight, for real, but it ain't all fun, it's also bad stuff as
well, there's a high but after you've finished it there's a
low."

leninbenjamin

robinph wrote: »

You can use a British one wherever an Irish one is not available, or any other EU embassy actually but seeing as they all tend to speak foreign probably not as usefull.

i think it depends in which region you are in, no? I though us and Sweden have some reciprocal agreement for embassies in Asia (where i was in when i was told the Swedis embassy).

or maybe whatever I read was out of date...

newballsplease

i dont see them as been irish or british. however they see themselves i suppose. id hate to have to see someone whos plays gaa with antrim or down etc been called british. and vise versa, id hate to see an orangeman or ian paisley been known as irishmen.

greatgoal

theyre living on the island of ireland so theyre irish,even if they want to be english,theyre still irish,if they all move across the water to that other island called england,they will be the people from the other island called ireland,so they will in theory still and always will be irish.:D

stovelid

Northies, but subsumed under the not-Dublin category.

HalloweenJack

I've always considered themselves Northern Irish, they can like it or lump it.

I am a Nationalist, though not in the Sinn Féin interpetation, so I believe we are all Irish but while they insist on being different, they're Northern Irish.

lostexpectation

bu they plently who grew up on the other side of divide who consider themselves irish too

thelordofcheese

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I thought another airing of this is called for





and to balance things up

Ali G was never funny.
EVER.

And while i'm at it, they're british.

ems_12

People from Northern Ireland can be British or Irish - they choose what passport to apply for. And it always depends on the individual you are talking to!

Police still check the buses going from Belfast to Dublin, and check IDs on the bus. If you are 'foreign', and in the country (Northern Ireland, i.e. UK) on a visa, and try and go down south without a visa for down south, they take you off the bus and send u back to Northern Ireland again!

KnifeWRENCH

One of my best friends is from Down and she doesn't really identify as British or Irish. So I would say Northern Irish.
But then again, you can't say "Northern Irish" without saying "Irish".

Phlann

I don't care what they are, I just wish they'd stay up there.

Acoshla

DEmeant0r wrote: »

Wow you've a really big chip on your shoulder. Why does it matter if you speak Irish or not? Do many Irish actually speak Irish?

I mean she was never taught Irish, its the national language even if we don't speak it most of us have some bit of knowledge of it, she has none.

I'd hardly call having an opinion a chip on my shoulder, I'm just sayin my definition

darkman2

This is the Ali G clip about da north


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndwsailhuv0

john concannon

The nerdeneers

guinnessdrinker

If anyone born in Northern Ireland considers themselfs Irish who is anyone else to say that they are not?

They are entitled to Irish citizenship and to hold Irish passports. It's not like sombody living anywhere else in Ireland is more Irish than them.

funk-you

Ireland is an island, they live on it too. I'd say that'd make them Irish. Now wherever they choose to be a citizen of is up to the person. They have the choice.

-Funk