Well none, obviously, since it would be political suicide to say it. However, it's blindingly obvious.Originally Posted by Mo Britain less Europe
Well none, obviously, since it would be political suicide to say it. However, it's blindingly obvious.
Perhaps. I have an open mind on the issue, defence is pointless expenditure for the Irish because their only potential "enemy" is UK and even during the troubles the British bulldog was lying on its back and wanting to be tickled in the tummy for most of the time.
But if what you say is true how come they devote so much of their energy to trying and grabbing another piece of UK and thereby acquiring more population which they don't know how to feed?
They don't. They gave up their constitutional claim to the six counties as part of the Good Friday agreement. Equally, during the troubles, the unspeakable truth in Irish governmental circles was that the last thing they would have wanted was British withdrawal or a united Ireland, since the Republic simply wouldn't have been able to deal with a security problem on that scale and would have been forced to call in the UN.
Irish posturing over NI has always been just that. It's a problem they are very happy for the Brits to have all to themselves.
You haven't really been fooled by that have you? The Irish politicians saw sense and realised all they have to do to gain the golden apple is to carry on obeying the Pope on the condom question. Within a few years of the Catholics becoming a majority in Ulster they will agitate for a referendum, get it and leave the Union for their own Enosis.
Right. If you think the Republic of Ireland is desperate to get its paws on Northern Ireland, you're wrong. Equally, NI leaving the union by democratic self-determination has never been a problem as far as the UK is concerned. The problem lay in it being dragged out by violence - something the British rightly refused to countenance.
The biggest mistake anyone can make in attempting to understand NI is to think that Britain and Ireland are fighting over it. They're not. Both sides are just dealing with it as an unwished-for historical legacy for which they feel responsibility and whose descent into chaos they are both desperate to avoid.
Goodness. We lived through a mirage in the sixties through to the eighties then. Haugh-haugh-haughey.
Let me get this straight. You are saying that if the scenario I envisage happens the Republic will refuse to allow Ulster to join it?
I suspect it will mostly depend on whether the officials in charge are devoted fly fishermen, or not.
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."
Oh, the reflexive anti-Brit thing still obtained in the early days - particularly among Fianna Fail - but that is sort of inherent to their history as the anti-treaty party. However, as time wore on, it became increasingly clear to the Irish government that this was not something they could afford to fvck about with. That was made particularly clear after the Dublin bombings in 72 and 73, which brought it home just what the NI problem breaking out would actually mean for the Republic. After that, they pulled themselves together.
As to Ireland accepting NI as part of it, that would depend entirely on what sort of state NI was in at the time. If it were peaceful and the transition could be managed peacefully, then yes. If it were on fire, no.
However, that's beside the point. The point is that NI was only ever a fudge to prevent large-scale civil war and has never been a proposition designed for perpetuity. Britain doesn't want it, but is obliged to keep it, while Ireland feels historically obliged to seem to want it, but has severe doubts on a practical level. Ultimately, everyone is just trying to manage it to a point where a long-term solution can be found. If that is unification with Ireland or it existing as a quasi-independent state guaranteed by both Britain and Ireland then so be it. The mistake is to imagine that this is a land grab by either side. It simply isn't.
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