Quote Originally Posted by Mo Britain less Europe View Post
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.