Will Michelle O'Neill be the first Catholic First Minister/PM of the north since partition

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121716323#Comment_121716323

O'Neill was born a Catholic and recalled being “prayed over” at the Catholic grammar school she attended when she became pregnant at 16. I do not think she ever left the Catholic church? So I am surprised you claim she is not a Catholic. Would you say Joe Biden or Kennedy in the States were not Catholics?

downcow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058334337/will-michelle-oneill-be-the-first-catholic-first-minister-pm-of-the-north-since-partition

I think you mean Roman Catholic. I think you’ll find all the first ministers were Catholic.

Str8outtaWuhan

So the first minister of NI was born in another country and the deputy first minister is an unelected politician who was rejected by the electorate? You couldn't write this.

downcow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710531#Comment_121710531

If this is genuine and she refers to the place we live as Northern Ireland, then I will have to honestly reevaluate my thinking on her.. I will certainly be challenged on developing some respect for her if she does refer to my country as Northern Ireland. I will though be surprised.

downcow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710676#Comment_121710676

Excellent honest Post. The big problem is that it is absolutely not in Sinn Fein interests to make Northern around work. But I think work it will.

An effective working Northern Ireland, with a great relationship with ROI, puts a United Ireland away for generations.

dxhound2005

She said this in the Assembly today:

"For the first time ever, a nationalist takes up the position of first minister.

"That such a day would ever come would have been unimaginable to my parents and grandparents' generation."

"This place we call home, this place we love, North of Ireland or Northern Ireland, where you can be British, Irish, both or none is a changing portrait.

"Yesterday is gone. My appointment reflects that change."

maccored

considering how the north was meant to be, as a unionist statelet, its quite an achievement.

downcow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121711334#Comment_121711334

Yes, agreed again. I am a member of the Unionist community, and we absolutely have a significant responsibility for the horrors of the past.

You are absolutely correct that both communities to this mass. But we have also created a wonderful country.

I believe we are turning a corner, and all the parties in the assembly will make a genuine attempt to make the place work. I think everyone, Sinn Fein included, realise that Northern is not going anywhere or uniting with anyone for generations.

maccored

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121711514#Comment_121711514

so the brits were fighting themselves - they never squared that corner with the above theory

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121717807#Comment_121717807

I don’t see how it’s a wonderful country tbh. Obviously everyone has fondness for their home place, but the most remarkable thing about the north is how divided it is. It really is incredible.

It is very different to anywhere else in the UK or the Republic.

I dunno if anyone can say there won’t be a United Ireland. I think it’s very likely there will be a referendum within 20 years. It won’t become apparent until the closing weeks of the campaign how that will go. I’d agree that if it were held this year it’d probably fail, but again, I don’t think anyone could say for certain without observing how the campaign goes.

But anyway, it’s a huge moment that a Catholic is first minister, given NI was established to have a Protestant majority. If NI is to continue it’ll only be with Catholic approval given how the demographics have turned.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121714244#Comment_121714244

Your Catholic fanaticism has you all warped. Get over it. Religion has very very very little to do with NI politics now. Most people have moved on from fairy stories and are much more concerned with the cost of living and public services.

Sunny Disposition

Hey, if you don’t think politics in NI (and much of life) is dominated by a Catholic-Protestant divide no one or nothing will convince you.

Im not a Catholic fanatic btw, only Christmas, weddings and funerals etc.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121721346#Comment_121721346

Maybe in the 70s and 80s but it's just 2 tribes now - nationalist and unionist. I doubt many would even know the fundamental differences between Catholicism and Protestantism apart from not liking the pope.

For a non fanatic, you sure love defending the Roman church when it comes to their child abuse atrocities.

Kermit.de.frog

A quick drive up north - once you cross the border and hit the flags around the place (which doesn't take long) - that's when you kind of see the place is sort of warped and very different from here. It's moved on a bit but it's still very noticeable when I go there with the painted kerb stones, murals and stuff. Tribal I would say.

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121722393#Comment_121722393

I think you have me confused with someone else. I can’t ever remember being in any debates about the Church.

It was always two tribes, of course. That hasn’t changed.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710676#Comment_121710676

It was there and it was there before you were born and back and back.

A reading of the history of Belfast would show that, one could even argue that the visceral hatred of the past was never exceeded during the worst of the 70s and 80s.

Consonata

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121722393#Comment_121722393

Religion definitely factors into the communities folk live in, and the school they attend. Even if they don't say the prayers every sunday they're still going to St. Josephs' Boys School.