Should Ireland be united?

[ioan]

We're easily offended when the Brits get their facts wrong about Ireland, like when they talk about "here and the mainland",

I guess they must feel the same when mainland Europeans refer to them.

[Cooper_S]

I sometimes get the impression the 'English' would quite like another small war with Argentina (not in a pre-emptive way you understand).

[Mark]

If you want to discuss the Falkland Islands please use the other thread.

As you say, I also have never considered the possibility on seeing Ireland united, I was born and raised in the Republic and we were our own country and got on with that.

Someone posted earlier that this is a matter for the peoples of Ireland, but really it is mostly for the people of the six counties to decide, when they can decide they want it then the Republic will consider if they want it.

Ties between Northern Ireland and the Republic are starting to become stronger at the same time as N.Ireland moves away from direct control from Westminster.

The M1 motorway and A1 link replacing the horrible old N1 between Dublin and Belfast meaning that people in Belfast can realistically go to Dublin for a day trip and vice-versa (I know, I've done it!) and no border controls whatsoever. In fact one of the only practical things that seperates the Republic from Northern Ireland and makes it different from e.g. going from England to Scotland, is that they use a different currency.

Should the UK ever join the Euro, with Ireland and the UK both being EU members, then the problem will partly disappear as it won't make much difference which side of the border you're on.

[Cooper_S]

Should the UK ever join the Euro, with Ireland and the UK both being EU members, then the problem will partly disappear as it won't make much difference which side of the border you're on.

Currency is only one difference, VAT, Bank rates, Income tax bands etc are all different so which side of the border you live and work will still have an impact.

[Mark]

Currency is only one difference, VAT, Bank rates, Income tax bands etc are all different so which side of the border you live and work will still have an impact.

That is, of course, true. But we're not talking one being a police state and one being a free country for example. Northern Ireland/UK and the Republic have more in common than they have different.

Of course religion is an issue, which is always difficult for an Englisher to understand where religion is largely irrelevant these days.

[fandango]

Ties between Northern Ireland and the Republic are starting to become stronger at the same time as N.Ireland moves away from direct control from Westminster.

I just don't know if that's true. I think you'd have to ask Northern Irish people who live in the Republic. The ones I know have often been made to feel as if they are foreigners. I don't mean it in a deliberately offensive way, but Northerners find it surprising that people see them as being from another country when they feel that the border is just symbolic.

Looking back, and I have absolutely no proof of this, it's just a suspicion, I think the Irish government educated its people this way in order to avoid too much conflict with the UK. I have known people over the years whose political sympathies lay with the IRA to a degree that it was better not to ask, possibly dangerous people. If the Irish government(s) had taken a different policy, it could have been the majority of people in the Republic who held these views, so imagine the mess that would have been.

The result of it all, though, is that many Northern Irish people who identified with the Republic have felt abandoned and betrayed by it.

You only have to look at international football: why is it that Ireland is so called, and not "Republic of Ireland"? "Ireland" is an island, a geographical entity. It's a minor quibble, but it seems wrong to me.

[Mark]

You only have to look at international football: why is it that Ireland is so called, and not "Republic of Ireland"? "Ireland" is an island, a geographical entity. It's a minor quibble, but it seems wrong to me.

Well I think that comes down to the Irish regarding the whole of the island of Ireland as being 'Ireland', just that the six-counties are under occupation by a foreign power at present!

As for your other points, is similar to Scotland I think. Many English like the idea of visiting or living in Scotland, many Scots on the other hand don't have such fond regard of the English!

So from what you are saying those Northern Ireland residents who identify closely with the republic may find themselves less welcome than they first thought?

[glauistean]

Isn't it strange and I hope I have not mentioned this before in that the acrimony between the religions is more prevalent in Scotland that it is in England.

Take the soccer teams, Glasgow Celtic, started by Irish Christian Brothers and then Glasgow Ranger supported by Protestant Unionists. Again I emphasise that religion is the catalyst and excuse. It really is Nationalism and Unionism. My opinion only. It's sad to see people so close in identity harbor such hatred. Not monopolized by either group.
I believe (imho) that the English people are less involved in this hatred than the groups from N1 and Scotland.

[fandango]

Well I think that comes down to the Irish regarding the whole of the island of Ireland as being 'Ireland', just that the six-counties are under occupation by a foreign power at present!

As for your other points, is similar to Scotland I think. Many English like the idea of visiting or living in Scotland, many Scots on the other hand don't have such fond regard of the English!

So from what you are saying those Northern Ireland residents who identify closely with the republic may find themselves less welcome than they first thought?

I don't think "under occupation" is really the correct term. The majority of the people there prefer to stay in the UK.

And it's not a question of being less welcome, for Northern Irish people in the Republic, more an attitude. They don't expect to be foreigners, but they are. It's very subtle, not at all like the resentment to the English.