At the close of St Patricks Day I wish to say.. One Ireland!!!

[Loudmxr]

One thing I have learned over my life is that a people will not be prevented from establishing their own nation.

Vietnam the PI and eventually Kurdistan.

I may not live to see it but Ireland will be united. Compromise is not a dirty word.

And with that, my Father was born in Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown) my mother's parents met on the boat coming over from Ireland.

My Mother taught me how to dance like THIS

&feature=fvst

My Mommy and Daddy!

[hlthe2b]

1. It is sad to me that I too will probably never see a united Ireland.

To my Irish ancestors.....

[OPOS]

2. Wont happen

There's a substantial amount of people in those 6 counties who first and foremost consider themselves British. without Bloody ethnic cleansing you arent going to get them to leave since their families go back 800 years.

[Loudmxr]

3. I disagree. It may take the next 100 years but Ireland will be united.

With the fading of the British empire and the insane Irish Republic's constitution ...???

At 57 I will not live to see it. But I believe it will happen ... someday.

I have three countries that I consider home. California (which a third of America considers another country) and my damp rainy green Philipenes and Ireland.

One warm and the other slightly less than warm.

Erin go Bragh!!
Republika ng Pilipinas)

My two little island green ... home.

[OPOS]

18. 100 vs. 800

800 + years some of those Ulster families go back. They are virulent that they are British. Unless someones planning a way to get rid of them, they refuse to move (and why should they?) you wont get those 6 counties rejoining the other 26.

[riderinthestorm]

19. It will probably happen on it's own with demographics

A Catholic majority is less than a generation away in the northern 6.

Why should they move? There's no need for them to move! They can stay right where they are in a unified Ireland where everyone is Irish and the remnants of Britain's bloody rule are brought to an end.

[OPOS]

22. Again...

Because they believe they are British Citizens and refuse to move. As to Bloody Rule, well the PIRA were even bloodier. They killed Catholics including teenagers and buried them and to this day families have no idea where their Murdered children are. so Please spare me the PIRA/Real IRA, etc. as the 1916 post office patriots redux, because they arent now and never were.

[riderinthestorm]

24. I already said they don't have to move! Let them stay.

England did far, far more damage to Irish citizens then the IRA ever did. I absolutely detest the IRA and don't support their tactics one bit but to assert that England was some kind of benevolent ruler for 800 years who killed nary a fly is grotesque.

[Agent William]

25. Not all Northern Irish Catholics are Nationalists...

See post number eight. Many Northern Irish Catholics will vote for nationalists/republican parties and they may also see themselves as Irish, but this does equate for support of a 'unified' Ireland. If given a vote in a hypothetical referendum, I don't see more than ~70% of NI Catholics voting for a Republican merger. This is not due to a feeling of British indemnity, but rather a pragmatic concern that a unified Republic would not be able to maintain the massive amounts of capital that is required to prop up the NI economy.

Given that basically 100% of Protestants will vote against Dublin rule, Irish reunification is more akin to a fantasy rather than inevitability.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. I agree

Until the people in the 6 counties vote for union, its not going to happen, nor should it.

[JaneQPublic]

5. The population of NI is heading toward a Catholic majority

From the Irish Times newspaper:

THE BRITISH and Irish governments and the people of Northern Ireland are facing the prospect – and sooner than most people might think – of how to manage a transformed constitutional situation where the majority in the North are likely to be from a Catholic background.

It’s going to raise serious questions for southerners too, who must also address complex constitutional problems that if not managed properly and creatively could land Northern Ireland – and the rest of the island – back in the mire.

It’s time for the beginning of a calm debate.

The figures are revealed in the statistics: there are now significantly more Catholics than Protestants in nursery, primary, second- and third-level education in Northern Ireland. If that trend continues, and it’s difficult to see a reason why it should not, then in another generation or so the majority population should be Catholic or from a Catholic background – people of voting age, most of whose immediate antecedents are nationalist in their political outlook.

MORE...

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0104/1224309780877.html

[Boudica the Lyoness]

6. Let Northern Ireland alone.

They want to remain British.

I'll never forgive the IRA for killing so many innocents. I'll never forgive the people in the US for helping the IRA to purchase weapons to kill those innocents.

I never realized the hatred for Britain till I came to the US, and it is that hatred that enabled the IRA to carry on their terrorism for so long.

I was born and raised in England. My dad is English and my mum Welsh. My Welsh grandfather fought with the Royal Irish Fusiliers in WW1 (1914 - 1918). My first love was a Catholic boy born and raised in Belfast. His parents loved me and I was one of the family. My parents would have loved me to marry him. I also had many friends Irish friends.

I come to the US and suddenly I'm the enemy for being British. I am so sick and tired of being verbally attacked by American Irish wannabes just for being British.

American mind your own business. Your support and money has proven deadly. My childhood friend was blown up by the IRA. They even detonated a bomb to kill his rescuers.

BTW; St Patrick was a Brit. A Welshman I think.

[MichaelMcGuire]

10. I disagree he is at just as much liberty to discuss his views

on Northern Ireland as any of us.

[Sea-Dog]

11. ironic a English person telling people to butt out.

[riderinthestorm]

13. Wow! Way to dismiss centuries of brutality and oppression by the Brits towards the Irish!

Its quite possible to make a case that the Irish potato famine was active genocide by the Brits. Its folks like you who refuse to see their part in the entire Irish occupation fiasco that infuriate the Irish (and Irish Americans). If you see resentment towards the British you may want to look in your mirror however I believe Americans in general LOVE the Brits.

The Brits telling ANYONE to shut up about the situation is beyond parody. Please, I double dog dare you to tell THIS Irishwoman to shut up. Regardless I see a united Ireland as well in the future - the birth rates will make it so.

And I hardly think anyone is fooled about the life of St Patrick. He's venerated by the Irish because he brought Christianity to the land, not because he was a native son. Newsflash! Christmas used to be a pagan holiday too... doesn't stop Christians from co-opting it and gleefully making it their own (or perhaps you think there's something wrong with that too?)

[a la izquierda]

14. Cue Mrs. Krapabble style laughter (from the Simpsons for those who don't know).

Wow. Many Irish people here in the states hate the English because of several centuries of history that relegated the Irish to slaves in their own land. My dad doesn't support the IRA, but he detests how the Irish were treated over the centuries by the English, and how the Irish were treated by "white" Americans when they got here on the pretext that Irish people were not WASPs.
My dad's family also refuses to acknowledge their English ancestry as a result. Their family was forced off the land, forced to leave Ireland, and went unacknowledged by their England relatives.

[Drahthaardogs]

21. Actually,

He was a Roman. His father was Calpurnius and his mother Conchessa. His father was a Roman army officer, his mother was the niece of St. Martin of Tours and grew up near what today would bet the Austrian border with Italy.

So, if he was anything, he was an Italian (like most good things in life)

[WolverineDG]

23. Perhaps if your family came to this country

as the result of the Famine, or being forced out at the point of a bayonet because of their religion, or SOLD at the age of 8 to a doctor in Ohio, sent across the sea alone & made to work for him until 21, you'd understand the "hatred" for Britain.

We aren't "Irish wannabes."

[Starry Messenger]

26. +1000

[unapatriciated]

27. tis true St Pat was not Irish, he was born in Scotland to a Romanized family.

His birth name was Maewyn Succat, Patricius was his Romanicized name
As a child he had little interest in religion. He was captured and sold into slavery at fourteen or sixteen. During his six years in captivity in Ireland he became a devout Christian. He escaped back to Briton and spent twelve years studying under St. Germain. He than returned to Ireland as a missionary and spent the next thirty or so years setting up churches and schools.

Sorry you have been attacked because of the history between Ireland and England. I'm of Irish decent (grandfather was born in Mayo) and have been told many stories by grandfather regarding this history and what the British did to his family. There are horror stories on both sides with most of us in the middle not wanting to see anymore blood shed.


On a lighter note Saint Patrick saw nary a snake in Ireland, let alone drove them out.

[hfojvt]

7. I prefer to say "one Europe"

I like unity more than independence. In my family Patrick Brady married Mary Mclane. Their son married a Chamberlain, an Englishwoman whose mother was Scotch-Irish. Their son married a Koster, a German. Their daughter, my mom, married a man who was also a blend of German, Swiss, English, Scotch, French and Irish.

Not Irish separatists, but irish who merged with English, Scots, and the rest of Europe.

[Spider Jerusalem]

8. Sorry, no.

Facts: The Irish have a country. It's called the Republic of Ireland. Anyone born in Northern Ireland who wishes to do so may take up citizenship in the Republic and move there. Northern Ireland has a solid majority who are of the opinion that the long-term future for Northern Ireland should be as part of the United Kingdom with a devolved political administration; in the most recent poll 58% favoured this option vs just 16% favouring unification with the Republic (with 15% favouring remaining part of the UK without devolved administration...so the total "remain part of the UK" is 73%). When and if a majority of the people of Northern Ireland decide they want to join the Republic, then, well and good, let them go. At present they do not, and there is no indication that they will anytime soon.

[MichaelMcGuire]

9. Never been against an united Ireland.

Its ultimately up to the Northern Irish to decide on a united Ireland. According to a poll (Belfast Telegraph) 42% view themselves as Irish than British at (39%). 18% view themselves as Northern Irish. Due to the economic problems in the Republic of Ireland, 36% would vote yes to an united Ireland next to 55% that would vote no. Of course the economic problems in the south can change and will improve overtime (http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland-split-over--irish-unity-14721124.html).

[a kennedy]

12. Loved Riverdance.....but with Michael Flatley as lead dancer....

&feature=related

&feature=related


and good for your mum teaching you to dance like this..... and here's to a United Ireland....and what's going on with Scotland??

edit to add two videos...

[Citizen Worker]

15. One of the best political bumper stickers I've seen read, "26 + 6 = 1." On another note. I was in

Ireland as Riverdance was coming into its own and viewed a short promo on TV. The entire country was excited about the dance and it's not difficult to see why. Riverdance is quite simply electrifying.

[excuse not to write]

16. Yes

Rec!

[Sea-Dog]

17. k & r

[chieftain]

20. K & R