Michael D Higgins insists he is President of Ireland, refuses to commemorate partition

Francie. You’ve arrived late to this.

we all agreed cultural expression here is tricky, especially when some don’t want the other side about them.

we were trying to define what exactly ‘not wanted’ means.

we had sort of reached a consensus that it is easy when referring to Shankill or new lodge, but very tricky in Dunloy or Kilkeel - where residents have adopted very different approaches.

(this is the point where you will say, ‘let the parades commission decide’

i know a few kilkeel folk who say they like to see the republican bands coming through as it reminds them how good the loyalist bands actually are 😀

Cultural expression is fine and nobody has any issue with it, if it is respectful and non threatening.

The Irish Parliament voting for partition then is probably one of main reasons that such powers were taken from the Dáil and given to the people in our Constitution.

Are you claiming that Kilkeel is 90% unionist and 10% nationalist? (Because the 2011 census does not support that. Its more like ).

54.67% indicated that they had a British national identity, 27.60% had a Northern Irish national identity and 20.29% had an Irish national identity (respondents could indicate more than one national identity);

90% is, unsurprisingly, hilariously wrong.

Unsurprisingly you are hilariously wrong again 😂

What a load of rubbish. The town's demographics are its demographics.

Where did I “moan about the parade”? Quite the contrary. I said it was great that the parade has not an ill word said to it.

But I appreciate your honest contribution to accept it was reasonable to refer to the makeup of the town centre

and you are feeding more nonsense to those who are detached from the situation. can you tell me anywhere this century where the Orange are spending hours blocking in housing estates that are majority Nationalist?

Derry.

🤣

In your head that was clever.

....Jesus you really read what you want rather than what is written. At no point did I state that it was reasonable to refer to the makeup of the town centre; quite the opposite. I stated that the town centre isn't the same as a residential area. I had no issue with the many Orange parades that have gone through my home town's centre for the record....despite it being a town with an over 60% Nationalist town....if they'd insisted on going up through residential areas, it probably would've caused more problems. Thankfully over in our wee neck of the woods, we have a bit more respect for eachother.

As for hours blocking estates, wasn't there an article shared earlier in this thread discussing how Unionists were disappointed that a parade only lasted 40 minutes as opposed to the usual hours? When I lived on Malone Avenue (admittedly not what I'd call a Nationalist area; it is purely to share a personal experience), the Lisburn Road was out of action for most of the day. While not personally experienced (because I didn't live there), there were certainly reports of people in Ardoyne trapped in their homes by parades and hangers on being there for hours on end, especially when one considers the insistence on marching the return route. You're hardly suggesting it's a five minutes and done job, are you?

Haha. You get quite upset every time I think we are agreeing about something 😂. Apologies if I misunderstood you but now I have no idea what you think. Do you think that because Belfast has a nationalist majority then no unionist parades should be allowed in the town centre?

Quite the opposite my reading challenged friend; I'm totally fine with Orange marches through Belfast City centre; it's a city centre.....one should have different expectations in a city centre versus blocking in residential areas. If you'd read my post rather than going off on one about me apparently being upset you'd know that considering I stated I have no opposition whatsoever to Orange parades through the town centre of my majority Nationalist home town.

You REALLY should try reading before you faff about with your usual, 'so are you saying....' non-sequiturs.

Go ahead with your wee Ardoyne map by the way. You promise an awful lot of sources and deliver precious few. I suspect your, 'source' will of course be entirely unbiased and won't try and put a bit of spin on things.....the whole Twaddell Avenue protest was purely due to the Parades Commission being in the RA, no residents were actually even slightly inconvenienced....and they were also probably in the RA....you'll probably suggest the complaints were shipped in (and not realise your hypocrisy when you moan about the NI Protocol protests, for which the majority of the already minute crowds were actually shipped in).

edit: just to correct an autocorrect typo.

I am afraid you are all over the place in trying to defend the indefensible. Now you have introduced another absurd parameter - it seems you are saying parades are ok in city centres but can be challenged in town centres. Are you for real? Tell the Bogside residents group that. You would be making a massive magnanimous gesture to the unionist community if you were saying that they could parade in Newry and Londonderry town centres without opposition (like nationalists parade in kilkeel), although I suspect you might backpeddle a little on that one.

and, no matter about your passionate post, I completely stand by my assertion that no nationalists are “trapped in their houses” due to loyalist parades

Please let’s try to be honest with each other. Here is exactly what I said

“I am suggesting you should tell us where people have been “trapped in their homes” by loyalist parades.  please don’t make me post a google map of ardoyne to demonstrate that no one was trapped in their homes! other. “

You tell me where you think people are trapped in their homes by loyalist parades and I’ll post a map to clear it up for everyone?