Has Irish Independence Been A Success?

Bock the Robber

Is Ireland a better place thanks to independence?

PomBear

Yes, considering we have functioned extremely well for our small little island in the Atlantic. The standard of living is extremely high and we have great prospects for the future

Mr. Presentable

Well, I'd say that judging by the complete lack of British bobbies on our streeets, yes, a resounding one.

stepbar

Ask yourself this, would you rather be ruled from the commons?

ballsymchugh

probably. we are a hell of a lot more liberal than britland, no matter what anyone says. foreigners there are treated with a lot of suspicion, and while there's a degree of it here, it's nowhere near as bad. spent 7 years there and couldn't wait to leave.
around the time of independence there was serious suppression of GAA and irish language, so from those points i'd say we're better. our education system is way better for all it's faults too.

tennessee time

are the jews better off since they were freed from the nazi concentration camps??

stepbar

Well you only have to look at whats happening on the streets of Birmingham to decipher that Ireland are are better off being independent from the UK.

ballsymchugh

although, why are some people still paying ground rent to lords in the uk on the houses that they own? still think that's a shame. even the GPO is subject to it!

flamez911

tennessee time wrote: »

are the jews better off since they were freed from the nazi concentration camps??

Holy crap, did you just equate Ireland under the Act of Union to the Holocaust? That's a pretty goddamn extreme comment and better have some backing up.

Terrontress

stepbar wrote: »

Well you only have to look at whats happening on the streets of Birmingham to decipher that Ireland are are better off being independent from the UK.

I don't mean to ask the obvious but what is happening on the streets of Birmingham?

The accent is awful but I am not aware of anything brewing on the streets.

Daftendirekt

Overall, yes.

We still have a lot of work to do though.

Terrontress

ballsymchugh wrote: »

although, why are some people still paying ground rent to lords in the uk on the houses that they own? still think that's a shame. even the GPO is subject to it!

I'd say in order for the British to have willingly signed Ireland over, they must have agreed that there would be no forcible removal of property. Same thing that if Ireland were to become 32 county, anyone who leaves Northern Ireland to go to the UK will still own their house and property unless they sell them.

Our man in Havana

I will say no.

What have we to show for it? A bunch of self serving policitians with no sense of right or wrong who have run the country into the ground.

Bock the Robber

Ground rent is irrelevant. Bobbies are irrelevant.

It wasn't the question asked, which was this: is Ireland a better place as a result of independence?

Rosita

"Is Ireland a better place thanks to independence?"

An impossible question to answer in many ways as the alternative narrative is an unknown, and it is a very very broad question too. Does it mean better politically, economically, socially, culturally etc.?

It is probably too early to say really as we still have so much post-colonial crap going on.

But Scotland, for example, has hardly prospered under the union in the past 90 years.

I would say Independence was overwhelmingly a good thing and will be seen to be a good thing in the long run. Whether it is a better place as a result is impossible to say but it certainly is a different place and I think that is a good start.

FTA69

All we have achieved is a banana republic dominated by an elite of self-serving politicians and an economic elite. Nothing to write home about in other words.

mike65

Independence has only worked as part of a greater body of nations - who have thrown 30 billion euro at the place since 1973.

Terrontress

FTA69 wrote: »

All we have achieved is a banana republic dominated by an elite of self-serving politicians and an economic elite. Nothing to write home about in other words.

Well, at least we have not gone down the road of far right parties which is not something that a lot of European countries can boast.

All politicians are self-serving and I think that, given the relative infancy of the Oireachtas, we have not had the time to implement correct checks and balances.

mike65

You think it would be rushing things after nearly 90 years?

PomBear

Hopefully a United Ireland will be achieve soon then I would call it 100% successful

The Volt

Domino Effect on the empire. We f*cking rule

stepbar

Terrontress wrote: »

I don't mean to ask the obvious but what is happening on the streets of Birmingham?

The accent is awful but I am not aware of anything brewing on the streets.

Turn on Sky News and you'll see about the Anti Muslim marches perpetrated by English scum.

Bock the Robber

Luckily, we have no scum in Ireland.

stepbar

Bock the Robber wrote: »

Luckily, we have no scum in Ireland.

Lucky aren't we :rolleyes:

Rosita

Bond-007 wrote: »

I will say no.

What have we to show for it? A bunch of self serving policitians with no sense of right or wrong who have run the country into the ground.

This implies that if we had remained part of the UK our politicians would be different. If you had been reading about the expenses scandals in recent months in the UK political establishment you would have been aware that it is in fact no different in the UK.

So if your sole criterion for judging the success or otherwise of Independence is the morals of politicians then it must be a very qualified 'no' as the alternative would probably be worse as we'd have been following the US into wars as well as having corrupt politicians.

Bock the Robber

Nobody said it was the sole criterion. Where did you get that from?

asdasd

Turn on Sky News and you'll see about the Anti Muslim marches perpetrated by English scum.

Anti-Islamic. No more right-wing than anti-Christian secularism, generally considered leftwing.

asdasd

Nobody said it was the sole criterion. Where did you get that from?

from the guy s\he was replying to who gave it as his sole criteria.

Bock the Robber

I didn't see anyone saying it was the sole criterion though I'm open to correction if you can point out where that was said.

However, it's irrelevant and a sidetrack, as it certainly wasn't the premise of the original question, which was this: is Ireland a better place following independence?

asdasd

It clealy is not irrelevent and is open to refutation if someone comments like this

All we have achieved is a banana republic dominated by an elite of self-serving politicians and an economic elite. Nothing to write home about in other words.

Note the All, bit. I boldified it.

Yes, ireland is a better place. London ( and Dublin) are over-centralised. I cant imagine were the only Irish representation in London, across both Parties, that we would have much input into anything. Would things be worse? Would london have an IDA? Would Ireland ( not the UK) get a dispropotrionate amount of the world's capital investments.

Of course not.....

Bock the Robber

Would we have needed a Ryan report?