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Would anyone want Ireland to rejoin the union?

Would you?

Personally I would, because a 32-county Ireland isn't going to happen anytime soon, and it really depresses me to see it divided. It's not like if we rejoined it would be the same as 100 years ago and we would get discriminated against.

And with all the stuff a few months ago with the Queens visiting, so many people saying 'its time to move on blah blah' surely they'd be hypocritical if they wouldn't want to rejoin for the sole purpose of 'men have died for the independance', I'd be pretty certain they were turning in their graves by the time dev had squandered another chance of unification, if not when Collins signed the treaty that divided the island in the first place. Not to mention the sheer abomination they created which is suposed to be an economy.

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Reply 1
Special treaties between the UK and ROI make it them rejoining the union redundant tbh as the British are treated as Irish citizens in ROI and the Irish are treated as British citizens when in the UK... they can rejoin the UK if they wish but nothing will change really due to the current agreements.
Reply 2
Original post by tehFrance
Special treaties between the UK and ROI make it them rejoining the union redundant tbh as the British are treated as Irish citizens in ROI and the Irish are treated as British citizens when in the UK... they can rejoin the UK if they wish but nothing will change really due to the current agreements.


This is focusing more on the question of getting rid of the pathetic excuse of a nation 'Northern Ireland'
Yes absolutely! My Irish great grand uncle didn't die in WWI for Ireland, he died for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He served with the Royal Munster Fusiliers, 8th Battalion, on the Somme. He is buried in a Commonwealth cemetery. I laid a wreath of shamrocks and poppies at his grave several years ago. The Sovereign's entrance to Parliament has a statue of St. Patrick in it. Ireland belongs with us, not to us, and I say that as someone with lots of appreciation for both the UK and the Republic.

I would love Ireland to rejoin the union, but first I think we'd need to radically reform devolution so that all the nations are federal with substantial, almost total, powers over their own affairs with Westminster acting as a federal government. The reason we lost Ireland isn't even because of the famine, the brutality or anything like that, but because we didn't implement home rule. The Irish felt like a colony rather than part of the state, and rightly they said "feck off".

But perhaps it's time to heal old wounds and once more become a true union. It feels a little empty without Ireland TBH - we share so much and always have done. It would take a lot of work but I don't think it's impossible, provided that all the nations can protect their own languages, cultures and have a system (perhaps an elected Lords with equal representation for all the home nations) to guarantee that England won't ride roughshod over everyone else.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by bestofyou
This is focusing more on the question of getting rid of the pathetic excuse of a nation 'Northern Ireland'


Perhaps a confederacy would be better so we would be united, but retain necessary differences in government policy(plus it could solve the Scottish nationalist problems).
Reply 5
I don't particularly care whether Northern Ireland joins the Republic of Ireland or vise versa. I just want to see the Emerald Isle unified into one.
Reply 6
60% of England wish to have a united Ireland ... not under British rule.
80% of the free state indicate that the uniting of a free Ireland should be at the top of all political parties agendas!

But there is like 51% to 49% in the 6 counties or the "Protestant State for Protestant People" as they like to think of it that want a union with Britain.

There is not going to be a united and free Ireland until this recession is over, but just wait, we will take back what is ours and what we have been deprived of, our own land. The 51% is decreasing, there is literally a 2% difference, but now it not the time, we have so much to get sorted! Taxes, hospitals, policing, education! No need to set ourselves up for failure, it will take a long time but this is the direction that we are heading in and I have a feeling it will be long worth the wait for our freedom.
Original post by maria1291
60% of England wish to have a united Ireland ... not under British rule.
80% of the free state indicate that the uniting of a free Ireland should be at the top of all political parties agendas!

But there is like 51% to 49% in the 6 counties or the "Protestant State for Protestant People" as they like to think of it that want a union with Britain.

There is not going to be a united and free Ireland until this recession is over, but just wait, we will take back what is ours and what we have been deprived of, our own land. The 51% is decreasing, there is literally a 2% difference, but now it not the time, we have so much to get sorted! Taxes, hospitals, policing, education! No need to set ourselves up for failure, it will take a long time but this is the direction that we are heading in and I have a feeling it will be long worth the wait for our freedom.


Scotland and Wales are free. Mann is free. Cornwall is rediscovering itself. Northern Ireland is faring much better than the South at the moment. There are many benefits to being part of a greater union.

There's no reason why a united and free Ireland with it's own clear identity couldn't be a reality as part of the UK - Scots Gaelic and Welsh are both protected by British law and have seen something of a resurgence recently, no reason why development of the Gaeltachts couldn't continue. Furthermore it's not about majority demographics - Northern Ireland isn't going to unify with the South until both groups, however they are balanced, agree to it. Westminster isn't going to let NI go unless Protestants accept it, even if they're 10-15% of the population.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 8
I don't care either way.

The only thing I have a strong opinion on is that Parliament will not and should not 'hand over' Northern Ireland to be united without the people's consent
Reply 9
I'd have no problem with it, but I suspect most Irish people would.
If the majority of ROI consented to it,why not? However ,it ought to be remembered that the British before Ireland got independence saw the irish as 4/5 a person. Never would Ireland I think be comfortable being run from westiminster and I can understand that. But a devolved parliament might work with respect given in laws for irish language and traditions, and Northern Ireland in my opinion perhaps could be helped even by them unifying with the south with an understanding that they are still part of a greater union albeit with a devolved parliament.

I think the ROI and UK are already extremely close in trade and military alliances , have so much in common, we have shared history lets not forget but try to forgive and understand the bad ,the irish,the scots, the welsh and the english fought side by side in world wars and all participated in one of the greatest empires ever known. I would be in favour of it, if the ROI was given an equal partnership and real power in this union. Lets put two fingers up to the communists who run the EU, . Ireland has been treated like a vassal state by the EU, exploited by the roman catholic church lets unite with our Irish brothers and sisters and become one.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 11
No. They fought so long and hard for home rule! It would be such a waste for those who sacrificed their lives for Ireland's independence and dominion status.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Sighrawr
No. They fought so long and hard for home rule! It would be such a waste for those who gave up their lives for Ireland's independence, to only ultimately be granted dominion status.


Home rule in an Irish context means devolved/federal government, and we lost Ireland because they wanted power within the union that Westminster ultimately declined to give. That eventually led to independence, but generations of political scientists have speculated about whether Ireland could or would have stayed if home rule had been granted.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Ministerdonut
If the majority of ROI consented to it,why not? However ,it ought to be remembered that the British before Ireland got independence saw the irish as 4/5 a person. Never would Ireland I think be comfortable being run from westiminster and I can understand that. But a devolved parliament might work with respect given in laws for irish language and traditions, and Northern Ireland in my opinion perhaps could be helped even by them unifying with the south with an understanding that they are still part of a greater union albeit with a devolved parliament.

I think the ROI and UK are already extremely close in trade and military alliances , have so much in common, we have shared history lets not forget but try to forgive and understand the bad ,the irish,the scots, the welsh and the english fought side by side in world wars and all participated in one of the greatest empires ever known. I would be in favour of it, if the ROI was given an equal partnership and real power in this union. Lets put two fingers up to the communists who run the EU, . Ireland has been treated like a vassal state by the EU, exploited by the roman catholic church lets unite with our Irish brothers and sisters and become one.


This may actually be the first time that I have ever agreed with anything you have ever said.
Ian Paisley or Peter Robinson perhaps?
Reply 15
Original post by Aphotic Cosmos
Home rule in an Irish context means devolved/federal government, and we lost Ireland because they wanted power within the union that Westminster ultimately declined to give. That eventually led to independence, but generations of political scientists have speculated about whether Ireland could or would have stayed if home rule had been granted.


That is a cool story.
I don't see it happening and I don't see the point. Both countries have different laws and have different infrastructures, I don't see the Irish wanting to change the country they have managed to make for themselves to reunite with the union. They tend to take a neutral status on wars something which the UK definitely doesn't do. Also there is hardly any point, Irish citizens are given the same rights as British ones in the UK and vice versa, you can travel freely between them. Heck there can even be an Irish PM in the UK and a British president in ROI.
Original post by maria1291


But there is like 51% to 49% in the 6 counties or the "Protestant State for Protestant People" as they like to think of it that want a union with Britain.


There is not going to be a united and free Ireland until this recession is over, but just wait, we will take back what is ours and what we have been deprived of, our own land. The 51% is decreasing, there is literally a 2% difference, but now it not the time, we have so much to get sorted! Taxes, hospitals, policing, education! No need to set ourselves up for failure, it will take a long time but this is the direction that we are heading in and I have a feeling it will be long worth the wait for our freedom.


The difference is much larger than 2%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NILT_NIRELND2.png
Reply 18
Original post by barnetlad
Ian Paisley or Peter Robinson perhaps?


Yeah, but no one cares about a few quasi-facist bigots though

Original post by Sighrawr
No. They fought so long and hard for home rule! It would be such a waste for those who sacrificed their lives for Ireland's independence and dominion status.


First of all, you are confused about the whole home rule thing.

Second of all I've already stated my views towards the lives that scarificed for the freedom of Ireland in the OP
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 19
Not happening and the idea would be absolutely ridiculed, if proposed, by the extreme vast majority of Irish. Ireland was always treated as a "bit on the side" by the UK government.

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