To not get the hysteria over the DUP?

[dingit]

Cropping up on Facebook statuses today, photos with rainbows to stand against them.
I admit until last week I knew nothing about them. A quick look at their website does not show them to be homophobic, racist etc. And surely Teresa May has bigger worries than LGBT rights? They have 10 seats!
I'm not posting to be goady, I genuinely don't get it?

Whatever.

You're just nasty and rude.

Please don't get so heated. I'm Irish descent living in the U.K. Turning a discussion on this into hate is not helpful.

Nasty, rude and racist! It's almost like we don't mix too well.

I've been wracking my brains trying to think of something that N Ireland has to offer that no where else can, now that linen, shipbuilding and ropeworks aren't in much demand. And I attended a conference recently where I learnt that we are world leaders in cyber security. It's a bit niche but it's something!

Isn't Game of Thrones still filmed there. Film and TV production- some hefty tax breaks for filming there to make up for the loss of EU inward investment.

Quite right treaclesoda...we are top for cyber security! We simply cannot fill the job positions available with all the Silicon Valley companies and leading security companies that have come to NI.
I'm trying to persuade my children it will be an excellent career choice in the future.

Sunny, I'm nationalist and I can tell you a united Ireland probably won't happen. Most people of ALL persuasions here simply do not want to leave the union. The thought of joining with the Republic is simply not want people want...that goes for Catholics too. Don't mistake people voting for Sinn Fein as saying they want to unite. It is about so much more.

I think that if you asked the 'person in the street' do you want a united Ireland you might get around half and half who would say yes and no. But I suspect if you asked eg do you want a united Ireland right now? you may well get a much smaller number of people saying yes. Because even if it's theoretically what you want, you may well look at your job or your children's education, or the fact you're waiting on a hip replacement/heart surgery/cataract surgery and think 'well, I'd like to get that out of the way first'.

Film, TV, law, software development and cyber security are all areas in which NI is world-class. And tourism is on the up! But it will take a while.

Yes, that's right. Maybe in the future - but not now. Plus, the way the Republic sees the cultural differences as an issue is just the same for people in NI. The ROI feels so different now and I don't think all people here are looking on with envy in many ways. Even people who once would have loved to unite now would pass. Perhaps old habits really do die hard here.

It has been interesting to read how people view NI - a forgotten, troublesome millstone around the necks of both ROI and the U.K. But the NI that I know and love is somewhere I adore above all other places. It is more beautiful than anyplace in the rest of the UK and Ireland (imo) and the people here are pretty great!! On both sides of the community. Once you strip away all the various traditions and customs and pomp...we have a LOT in common. I'm proud to say I have friends and family of both communities whom I love.

And did I mention we are world leaders for cyber security?? 😀😀My husband earns a few bob in that area and it is definitely something!!

@LastGirlOnTheLeft Yep. My in-laws are on the North Coast and it is without a doubt the most beautiful place I've ever been. The highlands of Scotland are about the only place that rivals it. The first time my DH took me to Gortmore I almost cried, it's so beautiful!

We love living here - we love the people, the pace of life, the scenery, the sense of humour, the great schools, the food, the arty culture. There are bad points (if I see one more fecking 'fleg' or hear one more bloody flute...!) but the good points by far outweigh the bad.

I also love the company I work for - work/life balance is great.

Oh yes peachgreen, I love my company too!! So much fun yet everyone is so hardworking. I must admit when I hear people describe NI as a welfare state I am pretty bemused. Of COURSE there will be people and places that need support and help - we had years and years of conflict with little investment! But when I look around me I see more and more ambition and wealth and a country that is really on the up. I do feel that Silently is seeing the NI of twenty/thirty years ago, sadly.

And peachgreen I know what you mean about the beauty making you almost cry. Even when I see the lochs and mountains I have grown up with, it is still the only place on earth that has ever made me feel like I was really in the presence of God with the sheer power of its beauty and history.

N.I. is not world class in law, if the published judgments are anything to go by.

I'm not sure how it's possible to be world class in law. What would that even mean?

Big international law firms (Baker and McKenzie, Arthur Cox, Allen & Overy etc) are setting up offices in Belfast, attracted partly by tech talent and partly by the quality of law graduates (and, of course, lower operating costs). I know because I used to work for one of them!

There's been quite a bit in the news about the global law firms setting up in Belfast, creating hundreds of jobs!

They are setting up in many regional cities to cut costs.

@SenseiWoo These aren't local offices, they're global headquarters - Allen & Overy's third largest office is here, Baker & McKenzie's second largest etc etc. I do think it will slow now because of Brexit - I suspect they'll go to Dublin instead - but Belfast is a very well-established centre for global law firms, especially their technology and cyber security arms.

So many people seem so keen to run down NI or minimize all it's amazing achievements in the last few years. Why is that?? ☹️😒

I spend a bit of time in the North for work and it's an interesting place but it's very expensive to run and seems to have a net cost to the UK economy of about £8 billion per year.

The entire Knowledge Sector, that's all types of softwear, cyber security, medical innovation etc, in NI employes less than 9000 people and makes up about 5% of the economy. It's fantastic but it's not a big employer.

One in three jobs in NI is in the public sector, compared to less than one in five in the rest of the U.K.

NI runs at a deficit of about 33% of its GDP. NI residents don't pay water charges, prescription charges or council tax.

It's not trashing the people of NI to say that it's an expensive place to run, nor is it unreasonable to say that it still has massive problems with sectarianism and gangsters. There is very little social cohesion in terms of education, although things have improved massively in workplaces.

It would also be fantasy to ignore the siege mentality of sections of the Unionist community, who imagine those of us in the Republic are sitting just outside Newry, waiting to barge our way in, waving photos of the Pope. We really do just want to pop in, take advantage of your lower VAT rates in Tesco and leave.

Silently, like I said, there are positions within the cyber security industry that can't now be filled - we have people coming to NI from all over the world to take up these positions. My own DH's company is investing millions and in the future it WILL be people from here who take up these jobs!

And the education system here is great - we have excellent schools and year on year outperform the schools in the rest of the U.K.

And please, I am no unionist, but if you think they waste more than one nano second thinking about people scuffling in from the Republic to get cheap petrol, then you have serious delusions of grandeur!!😂

Look, you are happy in the Republic you say, so why are you so desperate to convince us of that?

Maybe I've misunderstood, why are the flags, marching and separating school children along religious line so important if you don't fear re-unification? Why do people continue to vote for the DUP and not move on to wider political issue, if they feel secure?

I don't think the unionist community does feel secure. They lack an identity - they're not Irish and they're not like the rest of the UK and they're a tiny population in a great big world and no one understands how they feel, and even fewer people have any sympathy for why they feel that way. I think that's at the heart of the flags and the marching.

I don't lay the blame for segregated education at the feet of the unionist community though.

Is there not a dichotomy in claiming an excellent education system, a knowledge based economy that make up 5% of the total economy and not being able to fill jobs?

My children go to catholic schools - because I went to the same schools and had 14 years of utter bliss. So I wanted the same for them. Sometimes it really IS that simple. Integrated education, however, is becoming more and more popular. Most towns now have an integrated school. Even in the state schools, you will always find Catholic pupils. My own Catholic nephew was head boy in one!

You are guilty of seeing a few things about people here that you dislike, and applying them to us all. I am no unionist, but even I can see why they vote for the DUP. They are no different from any other group in history who was the privileged group - not one ever willingly gave up their privilege... just look at the suffrage movement, or the civil rights movement.

It is not often hatred that drives that - it is fear. Fear of losing their power and becoming the oppressed group. But more than that, this little country has had such a tortured, bloody history that people feel they are betraying their heritage and the people who went before them, if they turn away from how their community historically voted.

Look, I have no issue with the Republic - Connemara is one of my favourite places on earth and I will always be Irish, even though I am from the North and would like to be disowned by everyone My ancestral family has been on this island as long as your's have! They are as Irish as you! They went through the plantations, penal times (I live beside a Priest's Chair), Internment, the Troubles...and those things don't just melt away!

Our faithfulness to our own heritage is often at the root of all that goes on here.

Anyway, sorry for rambling - I was writing this while answering four children's constant questions at the same time so if it makes no sense you will know why!!!😀