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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think most people in the UK don't really care about NI

526 replies

Tooldemont · 07/02/2019 16:23

Just that really, we don't seem to be a together nation and many people I know would just prefer Ireland to become one country on that landmass.

Maybe it's just my circles, but rings true here

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
MadeinBelfast · 07/02/2019 17:34

Well, since the Tory party, DUP and SF don't give a shit about the people of NI it's unsurprising that most ordinary people in the UK don't either.
It was blatantly obvious to anyone who bothered to think about it that the border was going to be an issue when it came to Brexit. I am really, really pissed off at the whole thing and can only support Tusk's comments from yesterday. I hope the history books reflect the devastating role of Cameron, BJ, Farage etc. Not one of them managed to comprehend any of the issues, even with their alleged excellent education.

BroomstickOfLove · 07/02/2019 17:40

Chucking NI at the Republic and saying "good riddance" would also be a breach of the Good Friday Agreement. It wouldn't prevent war and violence, and would be a devastating betrayal of those in NI who see themselves as British.

Ragnarthe · 07/02/2019 17:42

I think it's just not something people think about that much. It's amazing actually how quickly that happened.
I remember the troubles and how much it was all discussed on the news every day, in the papers all the time and how sad and worrying it was at the time
Since the Good Friday Agreement I think people have moved on and there has been relative peace and it's just slipped off the radar.
I think most people I know (in the north west of England) don't give it a lot of thought and unless they have Irish roots tend not to have much of an opinion.

hopeishere · 07/02/2019 17:43

Giving it back would be so hard and there's not enough of an appetite on either side for that to happen. Yet.

Our local politicians are dreadful, corrupt, self-serving morons. But people still vote for them in huge numbers.

And I agree with a pp the reverence of "our precious union" is baffling to people outside of the DUP.

DonutCone · 07/02/2019 17:44

If I’m totally honest I do care about NI. I care about how we will ever manage to successfully get rid of it.

I long for a unite Ireland. Partly because I feel that is just the way it should be. And secondly, because NI has, and will always be a massive drain that I would like to plug.

Bestseller · 07/02/2019 17:47

I don't think most people care about anything except their little bit

Angelicinnocent · 07/02/2019 17:49

It doesn't really matter if the UK wants to hand NI over to ROI. They don't want it. Too many problems, too little investment and too poor economically. It would be too big a burden on ROI fragile finances.

bingoitsadingo · 07/02/2019 17:51

I know very little about NI to be honest, most of what I do know I've learnt since the Brexit vote. So it's not that I don't care, and more that I don't know, and don't really feel like I have any right to an opinion!

woollyheart · 07/02/2019 18:04

I think there is a solution to the border problem if/when Brexit happens.

woollyheart · 07/02/2019 18:04

Posted too soon!

The solution is a United Ireland

derxa · 07/02/2019 18:05

It's just an outpost now. A burden. It generated nothing but trouble and bad headlines. Shock

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 07/02/2019 18:08

Tbh I worry this will restart ‘the troubles’.

StepLadders007 · 07/02/2019 18:08

I care about Northern Ireland. It's a fantastic place full of fantastic people.

I also strongly care about the people there with British heritage who want to remain British citizens.

foggyuplands · 07/02/2019 18:08

I think it would be fairer to say that English Brexit supporters would be content to let NI and Scotland leave the UK to enable them to have their hard Brexit.

badlydrawnperson · 07/02/2019 18:11

I love NI - but the politics are complicated to say the least.

I understand that some people in NI, The Republic, Scotland, Wales and even Cornwall think they have valid cause to hate the English for a variety of historical wrongs visited upon them - BUT as I wasn't around and although English I am not from an aristocratic family, this really wasn't my doing and not even that of my ancestors.

Accordingly I sometimes wish Wales, the rest of Ireland and Scotland were independent, in the hope that "The English" whilst no doubt still being widely hated, could at least not be blamed for any current stuff.

Of course it would never work like that.

How can we hope to keep everyone in NI happy when they are so divided themselves? The only thing Unionists and Nationalists seem to agree on is that everything is the fault of England.

IndianaMoleWoman · 07/02/2019 18:12

I think it just seems so alien that people there are so divided by which church you go to. Also the whole anti-abortion thing, and having actual terrorists as elected politicians, I just feel that it’s a very, very different place to the rest of the UK.

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 07/02/2019 18:13

I sometimes wonder if the ppl not bothered by this are younger though. I can’t remember a lot but can remember Omagh on the news and Manchester

StepLadders007 · 07/02/2019 18:13

I'm Welsh, I don't hate the English, hardly anyone does, it's just comedy villian stuff to bring out at sporting events and the like.

TaimaandRanyasBestFriend · 07/02/2019 18:14

There is zero way Leavers will ever 'hand back' NI to ROI. Hell, plenty of them on here think ROI should leave the EU and rejoin the UK - haahaahaaa [laugh], yeah, they're really that stupid and arrogant. They're the same people who think the US is going to cut them a good deal, the fuck, they're going to fuck them over to the best of their economic advantage because they know they're fish in a barrel, the dumb fucks.

TaimaandRanyasBestFriend · 07/02/2019 18:16

I think it just seems so alien that people there are so divided by which church you go to.

You do realise it goes way, way deeper than just that, surely?

PlumCakeChica · 07/02/2019 18:19

Well I care about NI despite never having set foot there. I despise brexit for the divisions it has caused. I wish we could go back to the 2012 olympics feeling when everyone seemed happy and proud to be the UK family.

MadeinBelfast · 07/02/2019 18:21

@IndianaMoleWoman, our politicians may still think that way but huge numbers of people here don't care where/if you go to church. There's also huge support for gay marriage etc. Have you ever visited? We're not that different......

juneau · 07/02/2019 18:21

I think you're right OP. But instead of dumping NI or complaining that it's an inconvenience to Brexit, I have a better idea. How about we ditch Brexit? You know, that shit thing that 48% of us didn't want in the first place and which was certainly make us all poorer?

Seniorschoolmum · 07/02/2019 18:23

I care in that I believe firmly in the right to self determination. So if the people of Northern Ireland vote to leave or to stay or to re-unite, whatever, I support their right.

badlydrawnperson · 07/02/2019 18:24

There is zero way Leavers will ever 'hand back' NI to ROI.
Do you seriously think there's not one person who voted Leave who favours Irish reunification too?

Just as it's not possible to generalise about opinions in NI as there is such a vast range - you surely can't believe there isn't a single leave voter in favour of handing NI to the Republic?