A question for the Irish...?

Question

I'm just wondering who on here likes Northern Ireland being a part of Britain and who doesn't?
And is life now better after the Good Friday agreement or worse?

I did intend this to be answered by the Irish - NOT English. I wanted to know what the Irish perspective was.

I'm English born, but brough up in Germany until I was 11. My grandparents are from Norway, Ireland (Cork) and Wales.

Answer 1

I live in the North and I, like the majority of people here, are not and never will be Irish! British and proud to be British.

Life after the Good Friday agreement it not all that better, we still had the Omagh Bombing (29 dead and unborn twins) plus various other devices left around the province for unsuspecting members of security forces and civilians! A large car bomb was left outside a local hotel here in town 2 months ago, and was got in time and defused by the army! Another device was abandoned in a car which was parked by the side of a main road and was reported to police by Children out walking their dogs!! It contained 200 lbs of explosives!!

There are still people here (on both sides) hell bent on screwing up this country. Bring back hanging, it is the only way to be rid!

I hope and pray that the day will come when my children will be able to walk around our local towns and not see armed police and armed military, but it is still a very long way off yet!

It is still my home and I would want to live no where else.

Answer 2

I am Scottish but have three Irish grandparents. I have always considered Northern Ireland to be part of Eire and I think it will only be a little more time before this happens. The demographics are interesting. It will not be long before the nationalists have a voting majority. The interesting question is whether Eire wants to take over the North.
You must however have a great sympathy for the protestants in the North. Where do they go from here. Will they accept majority rule when it comes.

Answer 3

Sorry, I'm English, so feel free to disqualify me. But I've always been uncomfortable with the idea of Northern Ireland being ruled from Whitehall. It's part of Ireland. I would favour long term transition - power sharing between UK and Eire and a phased transition to Irish integration over several generations, to give everyone the time to adjust to the new arrangements. The EU has helped loosen the sectarian ties a little, but it comes down to people being willing to live together and forgive the atrocities and bigotries of the past. Ireland's a great enough country, and it's people are in the main good enough, to do so.

Answer 4

Hiya,
We've been part of G. Britain for all of my long life, but it seems a bit silly that so many nationals in this wee part of the island consider themselves British when they live in Ireland.
For some unknown reason we don't seem able to put history in it's proper place, (in the past).
We are still living in the past. There's an old saying here, "Ireland would be a lovely country if it weren't for the people", and it's true. We are warm-hearted friendly folk to everyone except ourselves. I believe that parents have a responsibility to teach their children the history of their country, but to make sure the children know that it is history, same as bad deeds were perpetrated in every country in the world, but most civilised countries have been able to put history in it's proper place.
If you go back far enough, every country has been claimed by outsiders. When folk say,"Give Ireland back to the Irish", well, I mean one could say, "Give America back to the Red Indians".
There is relative peace here at the moment, but would you want your country ruled by the political terrorists that are in government here?
Personally, I don't give a s**t whether I'm ruled by Dublin or London, just let me live my quiet wee life without supporting either fanatical party, and I'll be happy.
I think we should bring Super Nanny over here and let her work her skills on our politicians to get them to stop fighting each other.

Answer 5

Life ios definatly better after Good Friday.

Think about it, the IRA have disarmed, the war is over folks. Im English and frankly, as long as they want to be part of us they can be. Im glad the road to diplomacy has been taken, Eire is a better country for it.

To The Second Poster, its not as simple as just giving Northern Ireland back. N/Irelend has always remained British, imagine trying to tell the people their they are going to be ruled by the Catholic South? Lifes not that simple

Answer 6

I'm Irish-American, not Irish, but I'm posting this answer for a friend who is Irish.

It's easy for the rest of the world to see the Good Friday agreement and think positively of it...but peace has been tried time after time and it's hard to be cheerful about it sometimes. There are a lot of memories of how bad things used to be when you couldn't walk down the street without hearing gunfire each day and mothers would make their children duck under the windows when they heard the trash cans rattle. Peace would be best, but I'm skeptical.

Answer 7

I'm Irish and I don't like Northing Ireland being part of Britain, since it should be part of the Republic of Ireland, but nooooo MR BLAIR Likes Owning the 6 counties....

Answer 8

I think the clue is in the words, northern IRELAND. Another is on the map, its AN ISLAND. The north bit is at the top and the south at the bottom. It is clearly one country and should be recognised as such and the english should just visit for holidays and guinness

Answer 9

im not irish either,but seeing you now have signed up to the E.U,boarders will go,so the question really as no substance

Answer 10

to be sure