To ask Irish & Northern Irish MNers what your views on the DUP/Tory deal are?

[stumblymonkeyagain]

There are a couple of threads knocking around on this topic where people are commenting on the impact on the Good Friday Agreement and peace in Ireland/Northern Ireland.

As an English person I won't pretend to understand the complexities and how it feels to you but wondered if you could share so I have a better understanding of the potential impact from your viewpoint?

Do you think it will impact the GFA?

How are people in Ireland (the island of...) talking about it?

[FlaviaAlbia]

So you're asking why, in twenty years of peace we haven't caught up with countries that haven't had civil wars?



Let me think...

[FlaviaAlbia]

Ah, you left. That explains the bitterness a bit.

[rockshandy]

We don't count. Never have. The UK government was just happy that we had stopped bombing each other so it could get back to ignoring it's mess.

And a point on the "self reflection" suggested.

I don't need to self reflect. I would spoil my ballot before I ever voted DUP or SF. The political climate in NI makes me sick.

Short of starting my own party, I am not sure what I am expected to do about it.

[AndTakeYourHorseWithYou]

No bitterness. Just no rose coloured specs or epic denial of reality.

[LaurieMarlow]

The self reflection suggestion is for those who voted DUP/SF. I have no problem whatsoever with those voting UUP/SDLP/Alliance.

However, it's been posted frequently on these threads that people 'have no choice' but to vote for DUP/SF.

[FlaviaAlbia]

Really? You think claiming (wrongly) that over 50% of people here voted DUP and that therefore everyone in NI deserves what they get doesn't come across as bitter?

[SilentlyScreamingAgain]

I don't need to self reflect.

As a nation, you don't self reflect and you get angry at input from outside that isn't monetary.

[SilentlyScreamingAgain]

claiming (wrongly) that over 50% of people here voted DUP and that therefore everyone in NI deserves what they get doesn't come across as bitter?

What's being claimed is that the DUP keep winning elections in NI.

[AndTakeYourHorseWithYou]

I claimed no such thing. If you're not going to bother to read peoples posts, why jump all over them?

[DioneTheDiabolist]

The people of NI didn't elect David Cameron's Conservative Party.
The majority voted Remain in the ref.
None voted for TM's Conservative Party.
2/3 didn't vote DUP.

The current fuckedness of the UK is not the fault of the people of NI.

[MaudGonneMad]

So you're asking why, in twenty years of peace we haven't caught up with countries that haven't had civil wars?

Exactly. Some posters seem to think that once the violence stops, NI should magically fast forward to some mythical place where the conflict never happened, where the society and the economy weren't severely affected. If only it were that simple.

[FlaviaAlbia]

Youtakeyourhorse You vote them in. How is that no control

[rockshandy]

you get angry at input from outside that isn't monetary.

Do you mean the input of soldiers on the streets killing innocent people?

Or the input of the intelligence services and FBI who sat on information that could have prevented the deaths of 30 people and the maiming of many more?

And that is only two examples.

Is that the kind of input you mean?

[TrollMummy]

I can see why people are annoyed when after years of cuts and austerity TM can suddenly pull a billion out of no where when it comes to saving her own skin. It's not about NI getting the money, it's about the hypocrisy of the Tories telling producing money when it suits them.

[MrWriter]

I am definitely not a DUP voter, I have never voted for them, but I am a unionist and with the UUP falling majorly, there is little other option for the next election.
I would never vote SF and SDLP have the same outdated views on abortion etc.

In response to silently's post about the south of Ireland prospering in comparison to NI, there was huge EU investment in Ireland, another country owns their roads, the toll is owned by a private company and Britain bailed them out a few years back with £14bn which is significantly larger than the DUP's £1bn.

I am glad the rest of the UK is starting to take notice, but recently some of the comments I have read on fb, mn and in papers are ridiculous and very nasty towards us an area within the UK.

I work in infrastructure and there was a bit of a panic with the lack of a government here that there were no new projects and our jobs could be in jeopardy, so I'm grateful to see some more investment, and hopefully SF cant turn down an agreement.

[SilentlyScreamingAgain]

posters seem to think that once the violence stops, NI should magically fast forward to some mythical place where the conflict never happened, where the society and the economy weren't severely affected. If only it were that simple.

It's been 20 years, how much longer do you think you'll need?

[LaurieMarlow]

For context, following the second world war, economic recovery was in full swing for most of the biggest countries effected (UK/France/West Germany/France) by the early 1950s.

[LaurieMarlow]

Meant to type Japan there, not France twice.

[MrWriter]

And another thing, although we have had "peace" for 20 years, it's going to take a lot longer to get rid of the tarnish that it has left. A lot of the world still see NI as an area of conflict, and the fact that we have a fragile peace might maybe stop investors bringing their businesses to NI?
Unfortunately it's going to take a bit longer than 20 years to clear that label and get businesses to set up camp here, especially when we are up against the amazing business perks the south is offering.

[SilentlyScreamingAgain]

Do you mean the input of soldiers on the streets killing innocent people?

This is what it always comes down to. This is always the argument that trumps everything else. Both sides suffered horrifically, over 3,000 people were murdered but the never ending need to pull those people, out of their graves and wave them around as some kind of bargaining chip, never goes away.

This Is The Problem.

[MaudGonneMad]

It's been 20 years, how much longer do you think you'll need?

I dunno, how long does it usually take to recover from a 30 year civil war? Is NI tardy by international standards?

[FlaviaAlbia]

SilentlyScreamingAgain who knows? But that's the consequences of what NI has been though.

Take Arlene Foster as an example, since you'll have heard of her, she saw her father shot in the head and then survived a bomb attack on her bus while in school. Do you think she should be 'over' it by now?

[LaurieMarlow]

especially when we are up against the amazing business perks the south is offering.

Apart from corpo tax, what would they be?

There are huge disadvantages to doing business in the South which NI could be capitalizing on.

Infrastructure isn't wonderful, public transport/traffic in Dublin is dreadful. Health care is very expensive, education is not to the standard of NI. Housing stock is poor in central Dublin and the surrounding suburbs. Rent is astronomical. Cost of living is sky high.

[TheCraicDealer]

MrWriter has the right of it- it's hard for us to attract investment due to being a different land mass, confusion over the political situation, worries about the stability of our political institutions, and the "ick" factor of having to deal with a province that is still associated with civil disturbance and tragedy. We've only just got Greggs fgs.

[Eve]

the craicdealer

...haven't got a John Lewis!