What would you sacrifice for the island whole again?

Mickeroo

Nothing, makes no difference to me either way.

valoren

We came very close to bankrupting the 26 that we have as is.

irishejit

Winterlong wrote: »

Something like 220,000 people in northern ireland work in the UK public sector. Absorbing that in a united ireland would be a tad difficult.

That's a bit misleading, and people often confuse Public Sector with Civil Service.

The Civil Service employs 23,422 as of Jan 2017. Source. And a lot of people assume both terms mean the same thing.

Public Sector figures include Police, Council Workers, Hospital Workers, Firemen to name just a few professions. These have fallen too since 2014 with numerous job cuts and redundancy schemes ran this last 3 years. This currently stands at around 202,000 (this figure includes the 23k Civil Service employees)

In fact Public Sector employment in the UK as a whole has fallen by over 1 million since the report you quote was published, and with the way things are going these jobs are going to keep declining in number.

cuculainn

How about sacrificing, our status as a republic. Become a unified island, and take Scotland's place in the UK when they get independence.

That way we would get the best of both worlds. United Ireland and cheap car tax/insurance.....etc

dinorebel

cuculainn wrote: »

How about sacrificing, our status as a republic. Become a unified island, and take Scotland's place in the UK when they get independence.

That way we would get the best of both worlds. United Ireland and cheap car tax/insurance.....etc

FrancieBrady head explode:D

Mr.Micro

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Absolutely zero. I don't want the 6 counties as part of Ireland.

I know in my heart and soul that it will never happen in my lifetime and probably not in my children's life time either. You have to renember that there are approx 50% of the NI population which would be staunchly opposed to such a unification. Convincing them otherwise isn't going to happen anytime remotely soon.

Indeed. We can't even manage what we have.

dinorebel

I live in Donegal and it's just not a conversation people are having I work in a large company with employees from both North and South and nobody seems to care.

voz es

dinorebel wrote: »

I live in Donegal and it's just not a conversation people are having I work in a large company with employees from both North and South and nobody seems to care.

Are you sure it's not just avoided?

ED E

If Britain will take the Healy Raes off us I'd be happy to foot the welfare/NHS bill for the north. Definite net gain.

dinorebel

voz es wrote: »

Are you sure it's not just avoided?

I could understand that at work with people from both communities here but amongst friends and acquaintances away from work it very rarely comes up even with republican friends.

jonon9

Not a single thing.

dinorebel

ED E wrote: »

If Britain will take the Healy Raes off us I'd be happy to foot the welfare/NHS bill for the north. Definite net gain.

Just make Kerry independent a win win situation for all.

pilly

dinorebel wrote: »

I live in Donegal and it's just not a conversation people are having I work in a large company with employees from both North and South and nobody seems to care.

And what's the talk like around Brexit? Surely some people are concerned? Considering the amount of extra applications for Irish passports since it was announced.

dinorebel

pilly wrote: »

And what's the talk like around Brexit? Surely some people are concerned? Considering the amount of extra applications for Irish passports since it was announced.

Definitely more concerned from all sides. I'm English but have lived here for 25 odd years and have an Irish wife and kids so am OK from that side of things but the whole border issue has people really worried.

pilly

dinorebel wrote: »

Definitely more concerned from all sides. I'm English but have lived here for 25 odd years and have an Irish wife and kids so am OK from that side of things but the whole border issue has people really worried.

Hence why a united Ireland is coming up again imo. All jokes aside I would like to see it but don't think I will in my lifetime.

dinorebel

pilly wrote: »

Hence why a united Ireland is coming up again imo. All jokes aside I would like to see it but don't think I will in my lifetime.

No doubt it will(and should) happen but I think it's at least 25/30 years away.

pilly

dinorebel wrote: »

No doubt it will(and should) happen but I think it's at least 25/30 years away.

As I say not in my lifetime, unless it's on my death bed. :D

VinLieger

Absolutely nothing whatsoever, if it costs me 1 cent I would vote against it

LordSutch

voz es wrote: »

What would you sacrifice for the island whole again? .

I guess that's just an awkward way of asking "What would you sacrifice for this island to be one political entity".

I presume it would be a massive monetary sacrifice (a large annual bill) shared among every man woman & child in the ROI, for decades . . . .

Wishing for Unionists to convert to Irish Nationalism is one thing, but you must factor in the massive annual subsidy currently provided by Westminster, which would have to be coughed up by us every year (if NI became part of the ROI).

Robsweezie

Atomic kitten

LordSutch

Should do a border poll in about two years time.

FrancieBrady

I'd sacrifice quite a lot to see my fellow southerners free of their hat doffing, inferiority complexes and the residual guilt they suffer from their ancestors abandonment of so many Irish people to their fates.
They hate the idea that the ferryman has caught up with them.

They pretend not to care but open a thread on the subject and they are all over it telling us it doesn't matter to them. Bless. :D

BraveDonut

Why would I sacrifice anything to see Loyalist terrorism on the streets of Dublin?

Chips Lovell

voz es wrote: »

So what would you be willing to sacrifice for a 32 counties?

I think a better question is, what would you be willing to sacrifice to avoid it?

I think I'd find being kicked in the bollix twice a day more palatable than a union with Northern Ireland.

sjb25

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

I think I'd find being kicked in the bollix twice a day more palatable than a union with Northern Ireland.

By an Orangeman playing the sash
But seriously
I'd be of a similar opinion do we really want to inherit that mess no thanks all the same

Chips Lovell

FrancieBrady wrote: »

.... their ancestors abandonment of so many Irish people to their fates....

Hate to break it to you dude, but it was the Nordies who abandoned us and not the other way around. Under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the entire island of Ireland was given independence as a single state. Northern Ireland was allowed opt out, provided it exercised that option within one month, which it did.

Christy Browne

Some absolute edge-lords on here who are against the unification of their country :rolleyes:

FrancieBrady

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

Hate to break it to you dude, but it was the Nordies who abandoned us and not the other way around. Under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the entire island of Ireland was given independence as a single state. Northern Ireland was allowed opt out, provided it exercised that option within one month, which it did.

Yes, and then we abandoned the people we constitutionally had a mandate to 'cherish' and protect.
The Unionists were allowed to rule their sectarian bigoted statelet until the lid came off, unrestrained by anything constructive the Irish government did or the attention of British government.

cbreeze

The Euro
Green Pillar Boxes
Compulsory Irish

blanch152

irishejit wrote: »

That's a bit misleading, and people often confuse Public Sector with Civil Service.

The Civil Service employs 23,422 as of Jan 2017. Source. And a lot of people assume both terms mean the same thing.

Public Sector figures include Police, Council Workers, Hospital Workers, Firemen to name just a few professions. These have fallen too since 2014 with numerous job cuts and redundancy schemes ran this last 3 years. This currently stands at around 202,000 (this figure includes the 23k Civil Service employees)

In fact Public Sector employment in the UK as a whole has fallen by over 1 million since the report you quote was published, and with the way things are going these jobs are going to keep declining in number.

202,000 public sector employees is quite a lot for Northern Ireland compared with just over 300,000 for the South.

There won't be jobs for everyone.

cuculainn wrote: »

How about sacrificing, our status as a republic. Become a unified island, and take Scotland's place in the UK when they get independence.

That way we would get the best of both worlds. United Ireland and cheap car tax/insurance.....etc

Makes sense, the island has only ever been unified while under British rule, as a colony prior to the Act of Union.

Fighting Tao

Christy Browne wrote: »

Some absolute edge-lords on here who are against the unification of their country :rolleyes:

Regardless of the local rivalry between counties, my country is unified. All 26 counties of it.

Maximus Alexander

For the whole of my life it's been a different country. For the whole of my father's life it's been a different country. For the whole of my grandfather's life it was a different country. It's nothing to me, but a different country. I would sacrifice nothing for it, and frankly don't understand why people carry this baggage around with them.

Most of them don't want to be Irish and those that do already are. We owe them nothing, let it go.

Jawgap

Christy Browne wrote: »

Some absolute edge-lords on here who are against the unification of their country :rolleyes:

Very few are against it in principle, it's the baggage and the bill people are against......I've better things to spend €7,500 a year on than funding a Six county tribal asylum.

Noddyholder

Yes certainly would pay more for my country to be united as I am sure most people would, I give thanks on a regular basis that boards.ie as in going by the posts are a not represented of Irish society.

Zaph

Noddyholder wrote: »

Yes certainly would pay more for my country to be united as I am sure most people would

Most people? What are you basing that on? I have never once spoken to anyone who would be happy to have a united Ireland knowing how much it's going to cost and what a mess the whole thing would be to implement.

suicide_circus

It's worth noting that SF got 30% of the vote in the recent NI elections. So that's arguably 70% of the NI electorate who are not committed to a united ireland.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I'd imagine if push came to shove that there are very few Northern Irish people who would sign up to a united Ireland if they were informed of what they would be losing, what it would cost them and how it would greatly effect their jobs, education, health service, tax and outgoings.

There are a lot of NI people who shout about an United Ireland but the majority of them are brain dead hooligans who have no responsibilities other than to collect their dole weekly and try and entertain themselves for the rest of the week. It would mean nothing to them as they don't contribute to their society in any way. They are the most vocal when it comes to unification but they are only a small minority. I'd imagine the vast majority including republicans would baulk at the idea if they knew what it would cost them. It ain't happening.

Winterlong

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

I'd imagine if push came to shove that there are very few Northern Irish people who would sign up to a united Ireland if they were informed of what they would be losing, what it would cost them and how it would greatly effect their jobs, education, health service, tax and outgoings.

There are a lot of NI people who shout about an United Ireland but the majority of them are brain dead hooligans who have no responsibilities other than to collect their dole weekly and try and entertain themselves for the rest of the week. It would mean nothing to them as they don't contribute to their society in any way. They are the most vocal when it comes to unification but they are only a small minority. I'd imagine the vast majority including republicans would baulk at the idea if they knew what it would cost them. It ain't happening.

And that explains the difficulty of step 1 - Northern Ireland to vote for a United ireland.
Step 2 would have to be the republic voting to unite. I dont see that passing either. Not in a long long time anyway.

Berserker

Not Irish so I wouldn't be willing to give anything up. It would be very funny watching the RoIers trying to handle all those pee'd off NIers when they realise that life is much tougher without the bank of London propping them up.

Jawgap wrote: »

on the plus side, we'd get an extra bank holiday and easier access to bowler hats

And all the extra marching could help solve the pending obesity crisis in the RoI. You could send a sash and bowler hat to every home in the country, just like Harney, if I remember correctly, did with the iodine tablets.

blanch152 wrote: »

202,000 public sector employees is quite a lot for Northern Ireland compared with just over 300,000 for the South.

There won't be jobs for everyone.

The redundancies would have to be in the RoI. Also, i'm guessing that those in the RoI on welfare would be happy to have that cut to met the levels in NI? If not, the welfare bill would be ... ahem ... quite something.

Fighting Tao

Zaph wrote: »

Most people? What are you basing that on? I have never once spoken to anyone who would be happy to have a united Ireland knowing how much it's going to cost and what a mess the whole thing would be to implement.

Obviously like 99.9% of the people you haven't been to a Sinn Fein ard fheis or cuman meeting.

Atoms for Peace

I find a bit funny that those that bemoan the current state of the republic the most also seem to be the most against reunification. The border has only been the source of misery for this island nation that resulted in two conservative and bigoted sectarian states driven by jingoism, thankfully the south has moved on a bit while the north remains a rump state feeding off the teat of an ailing united kingdom. But as we have seen in recent times corruption and an untouchable elite remain in the south.

I do expect to be a united Ireland in my lifetime, but the resultant state cannot be simple addition of the six counties to the south, the only solution formation of a new federal state with a constitution for all communities on the island who have a common history.

Although the changes required for a unified Ireland both here and in the north will upset the status quo a bit, so I expect a bit of opposition from vested interests such as the civil service and other criminals who hide beneath the cloak of nationalism.

Guy:Incognito

A Little Pony wrote: »

I was reading it costs like 50+ euros to get a meeting with a GP and you pay for subscriptions?

I've been to the UK loads of times and magazines were never free.

sydthebeat

Cork

It will never happen.

Common sense says No.

D0NNELLY

andekwarhola wrote: »

I for one am patently thrilled at the prospect of assmilating the lumpen Loyalist working class into our society.

What did we do with all the lumpen Loyalist working class in the 26 counties post 1922?

Jawgap

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

I find a bit funny that those that bemoan the current state of the republic the most also seem to be the most against reunification. The border has only been the source of misery for this island nation that resulted in two conservative and bigoted sectarian states driven by jingoism, thankfully the south has moved on a bit while the north remains a rump state feeding off the teat of an ailing united kingdom. But as we have seen in recent times corruption and an untouchable elite remain in the south.

I do expect to be a united Ireland in my lifetime, but the resultant state cannot be simple addition of the six counties to the south, the only solution formation of a new federal state with a constitution for all communities on the island who have a common history.

Although the changes required for a unified Ireland both here and in the north will upset the status quo a bit, so I expect a bit of opposition from vested interests such as the civil service and other criminals who hide beneath the cloak of nationalism.

Think a 26 county is bad, just think how bad a 32 county one would be with about 20% of the population not wanting to be part of it......

Our republic is by no means perfect and there's much to bemoan (and a lot to celebrate and value), but the last we need to do is become the Balkans without the sunshine......

.....if people want to participate in a collective flushing of a country down the sh1tter they can always move to the UK

D0NNELLY

Jawgap wrote: »

....if people want to participate in a collective flushing of a country down the sh1tter they can always move to the UK

Channeling your inner Cromwell

sjb25

andekwarhola wrote: »

I for one am patently thrilled at the prospect of assmilating the lumpen Loyalist working class into our society.

In an effort at friendship

The Loyalists............. A great bunch of lads

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vQalvHEsUQQ

Jawgap

D0NNELLY wrote: »

Channeling your inner Cromwell

No, just pointing out that change isn't always positive......the border has been detrimental, there's no doubt about that, but it doesn't follow that removing it would be beneficial......

......for a start NI relies on a significant subvention from HM Treasury.....re-unification means us making up a substantial part of the €12 billion they currently get......effectively having to find 20% more money than we currently spend.....

irishgrover

what I would be willing to give up for a united Ireland

1. All and any influence (direct or indirect) of the catholic church
2. All elements of all religions in education
3. Sinn Fein
4. The healy rays
5. videos of irish people abroad trying to make viral videos of themselves "having the craic" and being the greatest "tourists/fans/travelers in the world", in the hopes that it will be picked up by joe.ie and then commented on thousands of times about how the irish are " the greatest, so proud to be Irish" almost exclusively by other Irish people...
6. Jedward
7. Chris De Burg and anyone related to him
8. Anyone related to Gerry Ryan
9. RTE - all of it, with the exception of current affairs & News
10. The Irish Language Acts - and the ludicrous legal status is has as equal to the english language and the utter waste associated with same
11. All county Councils
12. Ads for Brennans Bread
13. Fans of Garth Brooks (and line dancing)
14. Mid atlantic accents
15. The concept that if your family has only been here for 400 years that you don't have an opinion
16. The Irish Independent new group
17. TV3 - every last fu(king bit of it
18. George hook
19. Guess I could give up not being in the Commonwealth, at a push
20. The Rep of Ireland soccer team (if replaced by an all Ireland soccer team)
21. The legal right of parents of 10 year old Irish dancers to make their kids up like Jonbenet Ramsey, and pretend it's done for cultural reasons
22. Oh yea, Michael Flatley
23. THe Tri-colour

This is all the I am currently willing to commit to. Thank you OP, this has been quite a cathartic and introspective exercise :-)