How can we integrate Unionism into a possible United Ireland?

And you'd be crazy enough to ask people to remain in a rogue state that refused to pay pensions they are morally obligated to pay because that state got the benefit of their lifetimes work.

You have fallen for a Tory minister scaremongering. No surprise there really, Unionists do it all the time too. The difference I fancy with the Scots is that once bitten twice shy, they won't do it again.

Its democracy. We can't expect our 17 seats to punch above their weight. If we dont like we can leave. It seems to be that southeners don't like the fact that northeners are excepting to stay in a democratic UK. Devolution was to address much of this but TBH Stormont is doing a pretty grim job of it and when DUP were the Kingmakers at Westminster, they blew it and focused on blackmailing their UK friends

i think the masses in both countries have loads in common and could integrate fine provided roi is able to own up to its sectarianism and make some changes. I think ni has acknowledged the sectarianism in our country and are working to try and resolve and/or manage it. I don’t think roi has began that journey.

What sectarianism are you referring to here?

will official flags only fly on designated days?

I'd imagine that there will be no need to fly any flags in what will be the former NI. As we are really not big into flags in the south, I imagine that no one will notice whether there is a flag flying over the Dail or not.

Will the local catholic boys scout group have to apply for permission to walk in a group?

Is this to do with abuse?

Will the photo of the president need to be removed from areas where unionists are working so as it doesn’t offend?

I don't know of any workplace in Ireland who would want to hang a portrait of the President of Ireland in it (probably down to the fact that the President isn't a lifetime job).

Will there be a minority language act to ensure Irish courts etc can operate in Ulster Scots?

If there is demand for it, yes. (and Ulster Scots is a dialect, not a language).

nothing there that would interest me, but it’s what the current minority seem to want in ni so I guess there will be similar requests.

Nothing too huge there to get excited about.

That nonsense aside, I think my community would want freedom to enjoy our culture. To watch our British tv, support our British football teams, enjoy our cultural parades, have our 11th bonfires, etc, etc.

We do all of those things (and like you, pay through the nose for Sky tv etc). Only issue I'd have is with the size and scale of the bonfires - they are an environmental hazard. I'd be all for small community bonfires at the end of the street - like they were originally.

I don’t think any unionist will give a toss if Roman Catholism continues to dominate your state television, schooling, etc. Maybe we can introduce you to intigtated schools, integrated sports without gingoistic nationalism, equality in employment, etc

I can't help laughing at that attempt at a windup! 😉

The UK wouldn't be walking away from its pension obligations - it would be sharing them out among the taxpayers due to pay for them!!!

Pensions are paid from current revenue, which bit of that is so hard to understand? Remember the UK exchequer loses revenue when the Northern Irish taxpayers start paying into Dublin.

While income tax and some other taxes were devolved, national insurance was not. That is still centralised.

The point is that HM Revenue has been taking money from workers into a centralised fund for the last 100 years from people in Northern Ireland. Those contributors of National Insurance had no say as to how the British Government decided to use that money and when. They own that pension fund and have a right to it when they have fulfilled the necessary criteria of age, contributions etc.

An extract from one of the Irish Times letters:

.....Similarly, when or if Northerners start paying PRSI contributions, their state pension entitlement will be in two parts, determined by their contributions under the British and Irish systems. European law governs this, as does the Convention on Social Security between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland, signed in Dublin on February 1st, 2019.

Here is a link to what taxes are devolved.

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/tax-and-devolution

Doesn't that just mean they are entitled to the pension not that the British are obliged to pay it?

It means that the British Government took money from them so that they would have a pension later in life. The British could decide to not honour that, but it would not be advisable because I suspect they would have several million angry Scots & Northern Irish pensioners demanding their pension.

The UK have set a precedent already with the EU and have coughed up for pensions of British people working in EU Constituents. I wonder why they did that, bearing in mind that they would have had a lot of public support in the UK to do so.

When you get something wrong, it is better to do so on a spectacular scale. So national insurance is centralised??

"In accordance with Section 88(3) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, arrangements are made, in consultation with the Government Actuary, to make transfers between the Great Britain and Northern Ireland NIFs in order to maintain parity of balances"

Now, this is a good one. This shows clearly that if we had a united Ireland tomorrow, then if the Northern Ireland people kept paying insurance contributions at the same rate, there would be a £664m sterling hole in Northern Ireland pensions as the two funds are separate and GB would no longer be subsidising it. Now, if their national insurance rates were reduced to the levels in the South, there would be an even bigger hole.

I suppose the easy solution would be to increase PRSI in the South.

Glad to have found the evidence to finally nail the lie that GB would continue to pay.

Read the evidence Francie. They have set up the whole scenario to welch, with separate funds for Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

They won't be welching, they will be transferring responsibility to Dublin.

They are doing the classic Tory. Kite flying and scaremongering in an attempt to bully people. Swallow it if you wish.

You obviously missed Note 3 to the accounts. The amount paid in by rUK has gone up by £100m from one year to the other. It is only paying for itself because of massive subsidisation from rUK, which won't happen any more after a united Ireland.

100% clear why GB have set this up like this. In a border poll, this gap would form a big part of the debate as NI pensioners would worry about the South's ability to fund that gap, especially as we have lower PRSI.

You did not get to Note 5: Financial Performance!

''The National Insurance scheme is financed on a pay as you go basis with contribution rates set at a level broadly necessary to meet the expected benefits expenditure in that year, after taking into account any other payments and receipts, and to maintain a working balance. Changes in contribution levels, in response to the needs of the Fund, take time to implement, therefore a working balance is necessary as the NIF has no borrowing powers. The NIF is obligated under legislation to fund any future identified underpayments or overpayments. This would include providing funds to satisfy provisions as they are settled in Government departments that administer payments on behalf of the Fund.

In February 2020, the Government Actuary estimated the minimum working balance in 2020 to 2021 to be £479.5 million, being 16.7% of estimated benefit expenditure. The balance on the Fund at 31 March 2021 was £1.2 billion and was above the estimated minimum requirement throughout the year. No Treasury Grant was therefore required in 2020 to 2021. The Government Actuary has projected an increase in the balance of the Fund in the year ended 31 March 2022 and has indicated that no Treasury Grant will be required in that year. However, as a contingency, under article 4(3) of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 (S.I. 1993/592 (N.I.2)), HM Treasury Ministers have made provision for a Treasury Grant of up to 17% of estimated benefit payments.

This equates to a provisional facility of £448.0 million. The financial performance of the Fund has required close monitoring since March 2020 to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on the Fund balance in 2020 to 2021 (see section 4, page 10)''

Not a bit.

Uncomfortable that there are still Irish people who will take what a Tory would say as gospel. Look where that got your country men and women, north and south, east and west.

Not taking what a Tory says as gospel, just examining the evidence of what they have done.

I have looked at the evidence and found:

(1) There is no centralised fund, pensions have been separated between NI and rUK

(2) The system is pay as you go, not a big pot of money sitting in Westminister

(3) The NI fund is subsidised by the rUK fund to the extent of £660m

(4) There is no legal obligation to continue this subsidy in the event of a united Ireland

If you disagree with any of those facts, present your evidence.

That's approx the amount of money we give to one RTE programme (Operation Transformation)