Would you like to see a united Ireland?

Affable

And how much actual difference would it make?

2Scoops

Affable wrote: »

And how much actual difference would it make?

NI would be a lot poorer and have a lot of pissed off Unionists, for a start. :pac:

Red Hand

Hmmmm...you have any idea the amount of tax money Northen Ireland costs the British taxpayer? A hell of alot! We'd have to foot it instead. Plus, we'd be taking on a million people who do not want to be united with the Republic.

The British created the mess, they can keep it.

Affable

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

Hmmmm...you have any idea the amount of tax money Northen Ireland costs the British taxpayer? A hell of alot! We'd have to foot it instead. Plus, we'd be taking on a million people who do not want to be united with the Republic.

The British created the mess, they can keep it.

Do you not think if Scotland broke away from Britain that the NIrish would be more likely to support it for practical reasons?

sink

Affable wrote: »

Do you not think if Scotland broke away from Britain that the NIrish would be more likely to support it for practical reasons?

I'm afraid that many people in NI are not driven by practicality, their positions are based on emotions rather than reason. For this reason I can not see under any circumstance a change in their position. At a minimum it will take 2 generations for them to put their negative feelings towards the republic to bed.

pablomakaveli

im against a united ireland. it would cripple the republic financially and could lead to a civil war with unionists.

northern ireland would probably be better off going it alone as an independent country once its politicians gets the norths economy and other issues sorted.

i think a lot of people in the republic would be opposed.

Affable

pablomakaveli wrote: »

northern ireland would probably be better off going it alone as an independent country once its politicians gets the norths economy and other issues sorted.

I suppose, on second thoughts, it is entirely possible. Seeing as we will all be increasingly controlled by the EU anyway I doubt it makes so much difference for it to be alone.

brianthebard

Affable wrote: »

Do you not think if Scotland broke away from Britain that the NIrish would be more likely to support it for practical reasons?

That's a long way from happening. And what would be practical of NI leaving the union just because Scotland had?

greatgoal

look at the mess were in with 26 counties,wtf would it be like with 32?

irish_bob

Affable wrote: »

Do you not think if Scotland broke away from Britain that the NIrish would be more likely to support it for practical reasons?

i think that would make unionists think again about a united ireland but i think its important to remember that nationalism in scotland is hugely over played in the media , some of the most staunchly pro union people live in scotland along with northern ireland , much more than in england who are a more moderate people in outlook

mikemac

I think it's pretty much inevitable.
It could be 20 or 30 years away, I'll see it in my lifetime for sure

nuac

Suggest the issue of reunification should be left on the back burner for 30/40 years. Too much blood spilt over it- allow time for bitter memories to subside.

tolosenc

Absolutely not. NI should be it's own independant state.

Zombrex

Whether SF likes to admit it or not N.I needs the U.K for the forseeable future, as tax money from the rest of the U.K is really the only thing keeping the N.I economy ticking over. Something like 60% of the work force is employed by the civil service.

I would ideally like to see N.I as a totally independent State within Europe, but even that is a long way off. They need a proper economy, which starts by increases in education.

conceited

I can't believe you call yourself Irish.You lads make me sick to my stomach.
What in gods name is wrong with you.

magick

conceited wrote: »

I can't believe you call yourself Irish.You lads make me sick to my stomach

well im not surprised , these threads are usually recycled every couple of months such as "worst county, you know what annoys me about Ireland, and rip off ireland".

Besides i think a significant amount of people in the north would like to be part of a united ireland.

So to answer this topic for the 11tybillionth time, yes.

LordSutch

United Ireland = Oh no, not this old chestnut again :rolleyes:
Northern Ireland would be a lot poorer off 4 a start, they would lose so much (the NHS comes to mind) & gain what exactly? a New identity - a New Flag - a New Capital City, a New Culture, and a new Anthem!!! –
I don’t think so . . . .

If a so called “United Ireland” whatever that means was foisted upon the North by the British Government you would have a lot of very pissed off Unionists who don’t recognise the Tricolour, who don’t recognise the soldiers song, who don’t recognise the president of the Republic (as their monarch), who don’t recognise the Taoisecah as ‘their’ Prime Minister I also think a lot of people in the Republic would be totally opposed to the very idea of trying to force something that never existed in the first place . . . .

Was there ever a “United Ireland” ? & What does a “United Ireland mean” ?

stovelid

Do you mean that we simply absorb NI into the Republic?

For me, it would be a nice in a romantic (for want of a better word) sense, and that would probably even take precedence over the problems of inheriting a state that has been economically propped up by the British exchequer for most of the period since 1969.

The main problem for me is that a large number of people there simply don't want it, and the inheritance of the gigantic security headache.

Firetrap

Aside from the security problems, I'm not sure we can afford to take on six extra counties at the moment. Though on the positive side, would it mean that we wouldn't have to look at Julian the continuity announcer from UTV anymore?

walrusgumble

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

Hmmmm...you have any idea the amount of tax money Northen Ireland costs the British taxpayer? A hell of alot! We'd have to foot it instead. Plus, we'd be taking on a million people who do not want to be united with the Republic.

The British created the mess, they can keep it.

well if they day ever came when citizens of the 6 counties vote to join the "republic", it will take probably a good 750k - one million to vote in favour of joining the "republic", so if it happened many unionists would seem to be in favour. the population after all is almost half and half

as for the tax bill, wtf, the people would be irish themselves. jesus, although i note you are being practicle, but you sound as bad as the unionists of the past (during home rule years) concerned only for self interest. with that attitude i would not blame even nationalists to say no to joining up. for we all know only the eastern and part of the south of the republic get any decent investment, connaught and the north west gets neglected when it comes to jobs, roads, schools etc

Maybe, quite maybe, have a whole island may help bring more investment into the country when it has two - four major/growing cities in the island, not just dublin.

but you are right, before anything could happen both sides would need to get their houses in order.

stovelid

conceited wrote: »

I can't believe you call yourself Irish.You lads make me sick to my stomach.
What in gods name is wrong with you.

I have an unfortunate affliction. It's called forming my own politcial opinions without recourse to nationalism. Sorry about that.

BrenC

I'd like to see it but people in the North would have to vote for joining the republic, a lot of things are treated as all island now anyway. Sports, new gas plans? etc

aquascrotum

I'm not as opposed to it as I once was but in practical terms I don't believe it's feasible.

There are a lot of wounds still being licked, on both sides. Maybe in a generation a real debate could begin based on the practical pro's and con's rather than fundamentalist green blooded uber nationalism vs loyalism.

The current trend of positive ties economically etc will hopefully continue. For the first time in generations Unionists look down south with something other than utter distrust. Thats good news for the island as a whole, and should be fostered. You keep coming up spending a ton in Newry and we'll keep buying your cheap diesel.

In the meantime, buffoon that he is, I'm glad Gordon Brown is in charge of my job, savings and future, and not the gob****es in Leinster House.

djpbarry

micmclo wrote: »

I think it's pretty much inevitable.

Why?

walrusgumble wrote: »

as for the tax bill, wtf, the people would be irish themselves. jesus, although i note you are being practicle, but you sound as bad as the unionists of the past (during home rule years) concerned only for self interest.

I think you'll note that a number of posters have stated that NI would be (economically) worse off outside the union.

walrusgumble wrote: »

Maybe, quite maybe, have a whole island may help bring more investment into the country...

Why? The whole island is in the EU anyway. Besides, if I ran a business, I'd feel much more secure knowing Westminster was looking after things upstairs than I would if Dublin was pulling the strings.

magick

Camelot wrote: »

If a so called “United Ireland” whatever that means was foisted upon the North by the British Government you would have a lot of very pissed off Unionists who don’t recognise the Tricolour, who don’t recognise the soldiers song, who don’t recognise the president of the Republic (as their monarch), who don’t recognise the Taoisecah as ‘their’ Prime Minister

So reverse Republicans they are then.

Kovik

Frankly, the fact that 63% of northern Ireland's GDP is generated by the public sector only demonstrates the horrendous mismanagement and neglect of NI's economy by the British government. Fact doesn't have much bearing on the maddened "THIS IS WORST COUNTRY EVORS" crying that populates these boards (and any "nationally" established message board communities for that matter, no matter the country).

Given that Ireland's per capita GDP is substantially greater than that of the UK and our economic policies have resulting in a mere 35% of Ireland's GDP being publicly generated (versus 43% in the UK) we're probably in a better position to absord Northern Ireland rather than the UK to maintain it.

Currently, I likely would not support the unification of Ireland. While I accept that the north is itself merely the product of gerrymandering and should rightly be unified, acquiring such a large population which is adamant in rejecting any Irish identity would merely cause hassle and distract.

Northern Irish people will forever remain second class citizens within the UK. In my (hopefully objective) view, it's likely in the region's interest to return to the south but should only occur after the impact of the troubles thaws and lapsed unionists begin to warm to being comfortable with an Irish identity they currently only half accept.

Fratton Fred

Kovik wrote: »

Frankly, the fact that 63% of northern Ireland's GDP is generated by the public sector only demonstrates the horrendous mismanagement and neglect of NI's economy by the British government. Fact doesn't have much bearing on the maddened "THIS IS WORST COUNTRY EVORS" crying that populates these boards (and any "nationally" established message board communities for that matter, no matter the country).

Given that Ireland's per capita GDP is substantially greater than that of the UK and our economic policies have resulting in a mere 35% of Ireland's GDP being publicly generated (versus 43% in the UK) we're probably in a better position to absord Northern Ireland rather than the UK to maintain it.

Currently, I likely would not support the unification of Ireland. While I accept that the north is itself merely the product of gerrymandering and should rightly be unified, acquiring such a large population which is adamant in rejecting any Irish identity would merely cause hassle and distract.

Northern Irish people will forever remain second class citizens within the UK. In my (hopefully objective) view, it's likely in the region's interest to return to the south but should only occur after the impact of the troubles thaws and lapsed unionists begin to warm to being comfortable with an Irish identity they currently only half accept.

got any links that back up those GDP figures? I would have thought Ireland had a very heavy dependance on the Public Sector, or does it not count Quangos?

djpbarry

Kovik wrote: »

While I accept that the north is itself merely the product of gerrymandering and should rightly be unified...

It is .

Kovik wrote: »

Northern Irish people will forever remain second class citizens within the UK.

Got anything to back that up? Didn't think so.

Fratton Fred

The fact that the government has sent thousands of civil service jobs to Ireland, basically because no one else wanted to go there, shows two things imho.

Firstly that they haven't mismanaged the economy, they took a course of action to create jobs there and secondly that the people of Northern Ireland are anything but second clas citizens.

There is a disproportionate amount of money spent up there on defence, policing and development grants compared to the rest of the UK.

Using average GDP Per capita is not a particularly good example of how the south can take absorb the north comfortably, especially considering the GDP in the south is a skewed figure anyway due to large companies channeling profits into Ireland to take advantage of the low tax rate.

ChocolateSauce

conceited wrote: »

I can't believe you call yourself Irish.You lads make me sick to my stomach.
What in gods name is wrong with you.

So in order to be Irish we all have to conform with your politics?

I don't support unification any time soon, certainly not as long as the mainland UK is subsidising the North. Whatever it costs them, it will cost us 15 times more per person to do the same job. Plus as has been pointed out, we'd have one million people who considered themselves foreign nationals in the republic.

Also, while the British may be good at annexing territory, we're not. We can't even manage our own country properly, let alone a new province which would have to be brought into line. It would become an extraordinarily expensive and wasteful expedition which would end in a country torn in half, with possible militant action fron extreme unionists.

evil-monkey

conceited wrote: »

I can't believe you call yourself Irish.You lads make me sick to my stomach.
What in gods name is wrong with you.

I could take this comment a lot more serious from a guy who wasn't speaking English...

I'm with the poster who said the romantic notion of a United Ireland is great, but practically, I just can't see how it would work...