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OVER THE LAST few months, there has been plenty of bizarre statements made by UK politicians while discussing Brexit.
Quite a few of them have been about Ireland, with quite a few MPs getting something completely wrong about the government here or the way our electoral system works.
How well do you remember what British politicians have been saying about Ireland? Find out with this true or false quiz.
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It will happen . And when the time comes , our Orange cousins are welcome to move forward with us in peace, respect, and prosperity.. alternatively they are welcome to move to Britain , if a United Ireland doesn’t suit them . Their choice
@K H: exactly the unionist argument: you don’t like it, move south. The last things we need here is an uneducated mass . 10 per cent dropping out of education, just the kind of people we don’t need.
@Alan: Yes, because the people up there are innately different to us, with a genetic predisposition to dropping out of college. Nothing systemic about it at all.
@Louis Jacob: the same root system that fostered the multicultural utopia you fled to. Ironic……
@K H: I once held similar sentiments to you about Irish unity, but realise now how utterly naive it is. Populations won’t happily be absorbed into a nation that it doesn’t want to be in and the result will be inevitable civil war as we seen previously in the North and in Ukraine and countless other countries around the world. I’m a regular visitor to the North and familiar with whole towns and areas where a united Ireland simply won’t work. I don’t think we have to worry about it any time soon though as I’ve yet to see a credible poll where people of either persuasion would vote for unity.
@Alan: jesus you would think your fellow citizens came from Mars .
How backward are you , embarrassed for ye
@Longlin: pish
@sean weir: Well thought out counterargument there. Well done you.
@K H: The are not our cousins ! They do not understand the word “Respect” or “peace”. Orangemen are not even that important amongst Unionists and Loyalists now a days. Talk about being outdated with the intel.
@Longlin: They can try and evoke a civil war . They have and always had less than “one million strong”. They would be wiped off the face of the earth within a year if they try it on. There would be a lot of southerners only too happy to have a pop at the Prods and the Catholics up there would gladly repay for the 40 years of hell that they went through
@Val O’Connell: That must be up there with one of the thickest posts I’ve read here.
Culturally , economically and politically , I don’t want to see a united Ireland. And ramming it down the throat of a load of Unionists in the north realistically won’t be accepted. I’m happy to keep things as they are and continue on – if a nordy wants to be Irish, let them move to Dublin. Simple.
@Ciaran: ‘Ramming it down throats’? We haven’t even started the conversation about it yet here after over 100 years as FFG keep refusing to do so knowing full well the closet unionist governments we’ve had would be fighting for their very existence if it did happen.
@Ciaran: This is a super simplistic take on a complex situation. It won’t be up to you, but the entire population of the island to decide. It won’t be ramming anything down anyone’s throat if it’s a democratic decision. It would simply be righting a historical wrong. It would make complete sense to unleash the economic potential of the entire country too.
NI is being massively held back by British subsidies. It would fall apart in days without being paid for by England (mostly). Sure, the others contribute too, but so much of that money is coming from London and other major English cities. Unification would be a major step in dropping the shackles and moving into the future with a new start and the huge potential of an undivided state.
Your last statement is so glib. Nationalists have rights too. They certainly don’t deserve the kind of withering condescension you offer. They don’t ‘want’ to be Irish – they ARE Irish. If their and many others dream of a UI comes true, it will be well deserved after the endless heartache caused by one of the greatest colonial misadventures the world has ever seen. Throwing them on the heap because you find it inconvenient is cowardly stuff.
@SerotoninWars: yes it would mean Unionists having seats in Dail Eireann and vice versa, compromises would no doubt need to be made, but Ireland would be better in the long run to be united economically and politically, afterall it was predicted in star trek so has to be true! Lol
@Mike B: Trek prophecies are good enough for me! Yes, plenty of compromise and a willingness to use our imaginations while planning for a better future would be essential. I often see PUL people speaking fearfully of persecution. I don’t think they understand just how secular Ireland is. There’s lots of cultural catholics – people who do it out of laziness or convenience when they need a venue – but in reality they don’t give a stuff about these sort of things. It’s something they had no choice over and after all the endless scandals the idea that people would be motivated to go out and fight for Catholicism is where we enter comedy territory. People can worship whoever they like of course, but hopefully the trend of moving away from arbitrary religious labels will continue.
@SerotoninWars: Its only my opinion but I think that unionists would probably rather take rome rule than the type of secularism that has replaced it. Bit of a Sun Tzu thing, if you get my drift…..
@SerotoninWars: How was it a historical wrong? What are the indicators of huge potentials for an undivided state? Indications are more for a drop in living standards south of the border.
@Ciaran: If you’re from the north of Ireland,you’re irish already. there’s no need to move to Dublin,there are 32 counties on the beautiful island of Ireland,everyone one of them is part of Ireland.
@Ciaran: we are Irish without moving to Dublin,fecking west Brit bootlicker
@Vincent Alexander:
‘How was it a historical wrong?’
This can’t possibly be a serious question. Taking into account the minute possibility that you have sailed through life completely oblivious to history – start the with plantation of Ulster, the penal laws and the civil rights struggle. You’ll find the Irish famine in there too along the way. Luckily for you there are endless books and sources of information on the subject. Get reading immediately and enter a world of knowledge that has thus far managed to escape you and maybe three other people!
‘What are the indicators of huge potentials for an undivided state?’
There’s a lot of international goodwill toward Ireland. From tourism to business, it would be up to us to manage and make the best of the new situation. It would require the work and imagination of multiple bodies and boards but there would be massive opportunities for a united EU member with a well educated English speaking workforce. Change brings worries, but opportunities also, if you are brave and confident enough to take them.
@Ciaran: There are other places in the Republic besides Dublin. They could move to those places instead
@SerotoninWars: Exactly right, couldn’t have captured it better! The type of individual whose mentality disavows people who are just as Irish as anyone from Dublin is a product of over 30 years of the Sunday Independent and the total disregard for our National self respect which incidentally wouldn’t be tolerated if it was said in Britain or elsewhere . It’s amazing that dignity and unity is fine if its Ukraine’ but here its to be made little of?
@SerotoninWars: It is now 2025. That’s the way the world was all those years ago. Ireland was never really unified except under British rule. If we want to right the wrongs of history, it is impossible. Where will all the planters of the New World return to? How will the indigenous peoples of America and Australia be compensated? It looks like the majority of Irish and British can live in harmony and why not leave it kill that.
@Uí Braonáin:
I wonder will we get to celebrate the Black and Tans this year?
@Uí Braonáin: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael refuse to discuss it because it is not and never has been remotely a priority for the people of this State. Unlike Sinn Féin who won’t be in power in this State anytime soon, if FF or FG said boo, Unionists would have gone mental and GFA would never have happened. Even now you can count on the number of years that Stormont sat on barely two hands compared to the 25 years plus that it has existed. Nothing to do with any “closest Unionist government” . Complete horse manure. Ulster hide under the bed between 1916-1921. Most of them went Free State-Pro Collins during the Civil War bar Belfast and Tyrone . In Tyrone, the IRA leaders were Cork men but classed as “outsiders” by The Donegal IRA (Joe Sweeney) who had them executed. Fianna Fáilers never forgot or forgave “Ulster”.
@Vincent Alexander: “Like” and not “kill”
@SerotoninWars: ” Nationalists have rights too. They certainly don’t deserve the kind of withering condescension you offer. They don’t ‘want’ to be Irish – they ARE Irish. ”
Let them live down here then.
It absolutely will be up to Ciaran and people like him !
They have sweet FA in common with us. Sweet FA. Celtic FC obsessed. Refer to St Stephen’s Day as “Boxing Day”………Politicise everything , hijack the GAA with their Provo jerseys and crap “folk” songs.
@SerotoninWars: “Throwing them on the heap because you find it inconvenient is cowardly stuff.”
Excellent example of how this will be “rammed down our throats”. This BS argument will be all the rage. Northern Ireland was an economic basket case long before The Troubles. The difference was , the Irish State was in a worse situation
If they want to be Irish, let them move over to Dundalk or Lifford or Letterkenny ……….but they won’t.
@Daniel Roche: Another barstooler with major issues with facts. If you ever bothered travelled north of Dundalk or East of Letterkenny etc , you’d be under no illusion that you have left the Irish State. Ireland has no political or economic control of the north east of the island. Even to this day, if one is born in NI, they are assumed to be British unless they get their Irish passport. Many don’t .
@Liam Byrne: The Black and Tans were no worse than the PIRA who some no doubt would be quite happy to celebrate and vote for some who were active members of said terrorist group.
@Val O’Connell: Travel north and the most noticeable is the vast amount of Palestinian flags in nationalist ghettos.
@Vincent Alexander: all I see are Israeli flags and union jacks, flegs are really more their thing.
The assumption seems to be that there will be a united Ireland, there might be a rejection of the referendum…. in the Republic. Not everyone wants the crap that will come with taking in the North.
@Jacqueline McCabe: as soon as how much it will cost us to take them on gets mentioned the support in the republic for unification drops from almost 70% to about 20%. This while support for the status quo is at about 70% in the north. It won’t be happening any time soon, it’s really just a shinner talking point from people stuck in republican echo chambers that aren’t at all representative of the general public.
@George Bowling:
Any sources for those support percentages you’re giving us George?
Or are you just pulling them from where the sun doesn’t shine…..
Support for unification in the south had been about 65% for at least a decade and yes, most of us are intelligent enough to work out it won’t be cheap.
In NI at the moment a vote would be rejected, likely about 55/45 or so according to opinion polls which also have been fairly steady for a while now.
Personally, while I would vote in favour, I think it’s decades away,
If ever.
@P. J.: yes, Kantar poll from April 2021, confirmed by Red C poll in April 2024. Anything to support your made up numbers beyond vague references to opinion polls? Of course not, because you’re making them up. There is not 45% support for unification in the north, nowhere near, and there is not 65% support for unification in the south when finances are taken into account, again nowhere near. These are the sort of made up figures that have had the shinners salivating that’s it’s “going to happen soon” for the past few decades, and will have them similarly waffling for a few more decades to come.
@H Woo: you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about ,as someone from the “north” and from a unionist background in 50 odd years I have yet to meet a nationalist you does not want a united Ireland.
You view come from the idea that because we are from the north west are somehow less Irish than everyone else ,pure ignorance of your fellow citizens is what it is
@Jacqueline McCabe: And where was the referendum about the importation of countless thousands of economic migrants? The entire country being turned into an absolute dung heap thanks to the fools in the Daily
@George Bowling: Even Shin Féin know this .
Interesting that housing costs have not been factored in, probably for obvious reasons as the North clearly wins there with its significantly lower housing costs. This would mean that our big MNC services sector in the south could expand into Belfast with a United Ireland and workers would be keen to take advantage of the cheaper housing so would move there. Access of Belfast port and airport to the UK has big advantages too. The south’s housing market and population growth in and around Dublin are both way too overheated so a United Ireland could take some of this heat out of both areas; these are positives unless people don’t want house prices and rents to cool a bit!
@Lewis Armstrong: i thought that myself. But when trying to make a case these days, they only talk of the pros, not the cons (or vice versa)
When Ulster turns from a British backwater to a part of a united Ireland, the whole paradigm changes.
@Louis Jacob: Cork will make a superb capital of the new Ireland.
@Louis Jacob: Only Cork would think that.
@Louis Jacob: with your unique, unfettered admiration for and unquestionable understanding of, multiculturalism, I appoint you the big man in charge of integrating the 6 into the fold.
@Oh Mammy: Yawn! You’re an insufferable bore man.
@Louis Jacob: not up to the job? You want it? You got it. Show us what you have big man
@H Woo: Outstanding analysis of a complex situation
@Louis Jacob: Ulster isn’t part of Britain or British,it’s part of the island of Ireland.
@Oh Mammy: so are we less Irish that the rest of you ???
Is that what you are saying???
@Daniel Roche: I know. I don’t know why I said it that way. My partner is from Monaghan.
@sean weir: @sean no, you are not. Everyone on that Ireland Os Iriash in my opinion.
The crack could be mighty with the likes of Sammy Wilson and Danny Healy Rae in a united Dail/parliament.
The DUPers will boost FGs numbers.
Since when does 26 counties equate to Ireland? It seems the political establishment will always find further obstacles to ending partition. In the past it was the the reverse was given among to reasons against a united Ireland. The goal posts are constantly being shifted
In terms of personal savings and investments the difference is night and day between North and South. I would encourage everyone to look into the Individual Savings Allowance’s (ISA’s) available in the North. We need an exact copy of these down South.
@irishsaverandinvestor: The south is backward in those terms. The state doesn’t like paddy having money
A united WEF run Ireland yay! Lol
The gaps between the Republic and the north won’t be addressed while partition continues. Britian doesn’t care about the prosperity of the North citizens – Unionist or Nationalist.
After Starmers’ election win all the flags of the home nations were flown – England, Scotland, and Wales, but no flag for Northern Ireland. What does that tell you?
A new study from Queens University also shows Northern Ireland at the bottom of UK rankings for poverty and health inequality.
The main parties in Britain don’t even stand for election in Northern Ireland, so people there can’t hold them to account. Waiting for things to get better before Unity is considered is ridiculous, it’s like a doctor withholding treatment until the patient is disease free.
@H Woo: have a look at rté some day and see how many are in the dail eireann most days.
Leave it alone.
Make Belfast the administrative capital. Put Parliament there. Like Washington is to the US. But it will never happen – the most pro unification are blinkered 1980s anti-Brit. The North needs to feel a proper welcome (red white blue orange, their history, culture, the lot). You can’t annex thy neighbours whilst slagging them off. That’s Trump or Kneecap. It’s a shame – personally I’d like more colour, more punk down south. It would antagonise our weird far-left Nationalist movement. Without the cause – they’d split into irrelevant far-right, far-left factions. And good riddance to them.
Fairplay to the journal exposing High Street out outlets run by folk originally from far away places being funded by the taxpayer. The first bit of proactive journalism you’ve done, creating awareness when most people were of the opinion of “Fairplay to these guys setting up their businesses providing a service in the locality and making an honest living” only to find out that They are receiving grants from bodies funded by the taxpayer. Surely that’s not fair to other businesses providing similar services in the area.
OK, we’ll take the 6 counties on loan for 10 years and see how get on!
@Alan Kennedy: who ever grants the loan will forgive it ten minutes after you walk out the door. They will cancel the phone number and be out of there 7 times quicker than traveller’s out of a camp.
It would be like German unity in the 90’s with the West absorbing the stagnant East and enduring years of pain. Even today, in parts of the east living standards are still lagging behind hence the rise of the right in the former DDR. If the economically powerful West Germany had to confront this, I can just imagine the pain we’ll be in for?
Ignoring the fact that a lot of jobs in Northern Ireland are civil service based tasks that get offloaded from the rest of the UK – which we wouldn’t be able to magic up similar roles in the republic to keep folk employed – there are other basic things that even the most staunch Green Voter in the North would be against Unity. While their ‘rates’ (property tax) is a bit higher, what they get included in that is a lot. They wouldn’t be too happy moving to our model of ‘pay for everything and then some’.
@Derek Power: they would if they had our wages
Some of the comments here, wow. The othering of your fellow Irish man and woman is pathetic.
@Anthony Curran: Bit ironic coming from the guy who said he wished they would deport all the “racist Irish” for the immigrants.
@Ger Whelan: Huh?
@Anthony Curran: Huh? Now you’ll deny you said you wished you could deport the “racist Irish” and keep for immigrants?.
@Ger Whelan: Get your facts right Ger. I said I’d rather live next door to a hard working immigrant than a layabout racist.
@Anthony Curran: My facts are correct. You also said that. But as typical of people like you will back track and deny when you’ve called out.
@H Woo: blame the British. You don’t know Ireland history.
@H Woo: not the British then???
You tit
@Ger Whelan: People like me? So, people who are anti-racism. People who believe our peoples are better off together. People who believe in unity, not division. Ger, you can be pro-partition. That’s your democratic right. But you’ll have one vote just like everyone else.
@Anthony Curran: Yes people like you say you wish you could deport the racist Irish then claim you didn’t and you’re all for togetherness. Yes I’m entitled to vote and I’ll be voting NO to Irish unity. This island has never been united and ruled by an Irish leader or government in its entire history. It doesn’t need to be now.
What will replace the billions of pounds from the uk to the north just to keep it standing still?
I think the minster for finance in the uk would be happy to hand it back tomorrow
FFG are partition parties and need to go they are currently selling our neutrality(wonder why) and putting us in grave danger of future wars to make colonial American corporations even more wealthier
At present people have an over simplified view of a united Ireland however when it comes down to the realism of what they will lose, what it will cost them and their families then they will be rejected by the vast majority. Until that happens let them have their silly dream, in reality it’ll never happen in the lives of anyone reading this…thankfully.
It’s going to happen.
I’m not saying we should have a border poll in the next 5 years, not even in the next 10 years.
But it’s coming, within the next 20-30 years would be my rough estimation. And when it does happen, this island will reach its full potential.
I hope to see it
It will be a new Ireland that is required though not just them joining us.
There would need to be some sort of federal government, so that some NI institutions can continue, especially regarding institutions established in the GFA which will likely still need to be enforced in the decades after unity.
The Stormont assembly could remain, perhaps as an all Ulster Assembly incorporating Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan into it. With the other 3 provinces getting regional governments, with assemblies in Cork, Galway, and Dublin.
Proof, if needed, that SF is an economic disaster waiting to happen.
No one really cares, certainly not those who are working and taxed to the eyeballs . For all the Wolf Tone wannabes, most of them never set foot in Nordie land for any significant amount of time ……..
Wont be long now before we are united through Economics , united we stand divided we fall
Thought NI and ROI had similar public service employee rates,not really a big difference, surprised at that.NI is a peripheral region of a bigger economy and thus like all peripheral regions is subsidised but in the event of a UI would become very central.
Flags and borders… we’re still doing that I suppose.
have your say