How long until Ireland is united?

Uther · 18 Jun 2021 at 19:56

Reality|Bites said:
As long as there are two dividing religions in Ireland it will never be a United Ireland tbh.
Over in the USA and in the UK it's Orange man bad, In NI the term takes another meaning.

If you actually google the difference between Catholic and 'Protest'ant it's actually laughable tbh.

Yeah those parades will unite the country i'm sure....

They're a dying breed (not quick enough IMO) but one day those few left will have a choice to make, become part of a united Ireland or leave (or face the consequences if they want to kick off). I'm sure the (not so) UK will welcome them with open arms, considering how 'loyal' they are to the Brit crown... :rolleyes:

Reality|Bites · 18 Jun 2021 at 19:58

I'm less than a 5mins walk away from the local Orange Lodge here in Glasgow lol, Some days I'm not sure if they are having an early morning practice or it's the bin men taking the wheely bins down the stairs lol
It's called the 20 Club...I don't know why though. In my younger days and working in the area I did tend to wind up the Rangers supporters laughing with the comment, Imagine naming it after a packet of fags!

JohnG7 · 18 Jun 2021 at 20:03

Uther said:
It's got nothing to do with Biden.
The only way is a border poll and people voting to unite. It'll happen one day.

I think you weill find out you are wrong, he ius pusihn it soa re EU.

Uther said:
It's got nothing to do with Biden.
The only way is a border poll and people voting to unite. It'll happen one day.

Read the OP's question not the part that suits you or watch the damn news for the past weeks before his visit, whether he or the EU have anything to actually do with it or not they are putting on pressure, any F them both.

flea.rider · 18 Jun 2021 at 20:39

theres not a hope in hell that it will happen .. lot of family over there ..

HoneyBadger · 18 Jun 2021 at 20:58

77 years.

arknor · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:13

when the potatoes run out

sigma · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:56

It is a bit weird that a relatively small island has an even small part of it that is ‘different’.

dlockers · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:59

sigma said:
It is a bit weird that a relatively small island has an even small part of it that is ‘different’.

No one tell this man about Cyprus.

sigma · 18 Jun 2021 at 22:03

dLockers said:
No one tell this man about Cyprus.

What about it?

dlockers · 18 Jun 2021 at 22:11

sigma said:
What about it?

Half of it is owned by Turkey and a chunk of it is a British military base.

gpuerrilla · 18 Jun 2021 at 22:14

BowdonUK said:
I think you're right. Culturally the two countries are very different these days.

I don't really see a United Ireland happening any time soon while the Republic is in the EU.

This. Also from the sentiment I feel the people in the South do not want anything to do with it.

VincentHanna said:
It would connect to Scotland, and Scotland could then vote for independence and re-join the EU....

In reality this is a possibility as connecting the countries via tunnel or bridge would create jobs and mean you dont have to use boat/plane and be a positive move for trade/family/work etc.

Nasher · 18 Jun 2021 at 22:24

Th0nt said:
This. Also from the sentiment I feel the people in the South do not want anything to do with it.

In reality this is a possibility as connecting the countries via tunnel or bridge would create jobs and mean you dont have to use boat/plane and be a positive move for trade/family/work etc.

Yea right. People laughed when a link to NI was suggested, even though we built one to France nearly 3 decades ago. This generation lacks the will or ambition to build that sort of thing, they would rather see the UK as a failure.

dlockers · 18 Jun 2021 at 22:34

Nasher said:
Yea right. People laughed when a link to NI was suggested, even though we built one to France nearly 3 decades ago. This generation lacks the will or ambition to build that sort of thing, they would rather see the UK as a failure.

How old are you?

FishFluff · 18 Jun 2021 at 22:44

Nasher said:
Yea right. People laughed when a link to NI was suggested, even though we built one to France nearly 3 decades ago. This generation lacks the will or ambition to build that sort of thing, they would rather see the UK as a failure.

The two projects are not even slightly comparable on an engineering scale. Plus you're the kind of person who 30 years ago would be questioning why we need a tunnel to France when the EU was about to collapse 'any minute now'.

Nasher · 18 Jun 2021 at 22:52

dLockers said:
How old are you?

Old enough to remember the time before identity politics was the #1 concern and being a victim of some kind was fashionable.

gpuerrilla · 18 Jun 2021 at 22:53

Nasher said:
Yea right. People laughed when a link to NI was suggested, even though we built one to France nearly 3 decades ago. This generation lacks the will or ambition to build that sort of thing, they would rather see the UK as a failure.

I know but unless people welcome progression things like this wont come to fruition and then people will complain about less opportunities/no work, sad to see.

sigma · 18 Jun 2021 at 23:13

dLockers said:
Half of it is owned by Turkey and a chunk of it is a British military base.

Is that normal?

GreatAuk · 18 Jun 2021 at 23:24

Being English I not speaking from any personal experience, but it does seem like a United Ireland is the ideal outcome in the longer term, given the barriers that Brexit has put in place and how trade, culture etc would seem to grow more naturally via land than via sea.

Can only hope that over time people start to be pragmatic about the issue and as older generations become less influential it becomes more of a realistic option than it is currently. The wounds are probably still too fresh for a unification to be possible without a massive amount of civil unrest and domestic terrorism at the moment, even if it got to the point that a majority would vote for unification in a referendum.

That said it doesn't seem like a foregone conclusion to me though - lots could change in international politics that would push Ireland further from unification rather than towards it. Reconciliation between communities within Northern Ireland still seems to need a lot of work too, and one thing modern politics is really bad at is reconciliation.

teaboy5 · 18 Jun 2021 at 23:26

Greebo said:
On the other hand more and more people in the North are warming to the idea of paying to see a doctor as at least you will get to see one when you need one. You seen the state of NI NHS recently?

I can ring my GP and see him the same day.

Blackjack Davy · 18 Jun 2021 at 23:35

Ignore an entire proportion of the population to fulfill some strange idea of unification, the hard left have some peculiar ideas. Like Jeremy Corbyn's support for the IRA I sometimes wonder if they live in an alternate reality.

alchal said:
Wales I can't see going, do they have a strong enough economy for indy?

When did that matter? They'll just claim massive grants from teh EU when they rejoin like the SNP. Never mind that though its time for us here to assert our right to freedom for Sussex! Liberation for the South Saxons!

GreatAuk said:
Being English I not speaking from any personal experience, but it does seem like a United Ireland is the ideal outcome in the longer term, given the barriers that Brexit has put in place and how trade, culture etc would seem to grow more naturally via land than via sea.

Can only hope that over time people start to be pragmatic about the issue and as older generations become less influential it becomes more of a realistic option than it is currently. The wounds are probably still too fresh for a unification to be possible without a massive amount of civil unrest and domestic terrorism at the moment, even if it got to the point that a majority would vote for unification in a referendum.

That said it doesn't seem like a foregone conclusion to me though - lots could change in international politics that would push Ireland further from unification rather than towards it.

It astonishes me the ignorance of NI politics when the troubles were in full force it was in the news all the time so you picked up a lot of what was going on there is a "peace wall" that separates the two communities in Belfast like the wall that separate the Israeli and Arab parts of the West Bank and they're just about as divided the riots that kicked off a few months ago due to the deal with the EU was just a taster of what could happen just as the nationalist "real IRA" were happy to start shooting bullets a couple years back when that journalist was killed by gunfire due to lack of progress in talks in Stormont peace is fragile there, people are delusional if they think all differences are suddenly going to dissolve in some happy clappy future of a unified Ireland.