Northern Ireland - how do you perceive it?

[TheBelleOfBelfastCity]

Genuinely just curious. I was born and raised in NI, opinions on MN seem to vary wildly from no go zone to friendly and welcoming. Trying to got a sense of what the most common thoughts are.

Have you visited? Maybe even thought about doing so? What was your opinion?

I went on business some years ago - more than 2 but less than 10, cant remember exactly. Found it ok, not super friendly but ok. However, I was travelling around a large bank doing a specific training - I found the groups in NI the most hard nosed unempathic bunch of all. And a week after I got home, there was some kind of violent demonstration outside the government offices I had walked past one day when I was there. My step dad is from ROI and it is a very different attitude when I visit there.

Live in Republic, have been many times to visit. Don't love Belfast (just seems a bit drab and grey and the weird peace walls freak me out a bit and the murals are not very beautiful, even if they are kind of interesting) but I really liked Derry, (and our excellent tourguide was the child of a 'mixed' marriage) The countryside and coast is beautiful. The Giants Causeway is the place I tell visitors they HAVE to go and see. There is nowhere else quite like it in the world. Like a giant childs educational toy but in nature.

Its always a weird disconnect crossing the border and everything suddenly being in £.

Because of the whole EU thing its also are you in Europe or not? People born there can still get an EU passport and there are no actual border guards so people can freely cross from the ROI. Its kind of EU no mans land.

Never really felt unsafe, although I did wonder if we would get any hassle in certain areas of NI with our ROI reg car. But we are so obviously and visibly not ethnically Irish (and with UK mainland accents) people probably don't know what to think.

I was there in the summer and found the amount of Union jacks as we drive through some villages quite odd, I'd not expected that and found it quite odd and unwelcoming

Why did you find it odd and not expect it? Are you completely unfamiliar with Northern Irish history?

I'm from here, I'm biased maybe but I love it and would never live anywhere else. I went to uni in Liverpool but I could never have settled there. This has always felt like home.

My sister and I are both in what would be called 'mixed marriages' we were lucky to grow up in a mixed area and went to one of the first integrated schools in NI.

It's come a long way since the good Friday agreement. I'm proud to call it home. I would like to see a united Ireland in my lifetime but I don't think we're quite ready for it yet

Why did you find Israeli flags disgusting?

As an English born child of Irish parents and Caholic, now married to an Armagh man - Prod - and living along the Causeway - I LOVE IT HERE

My earliest memories - during the Troubles, were being at check points, turfed out of the car, the car turned over and soldiers with guns - scary shite for pre teens. Also my Dad being kept for 24hrs "questioning" back in the day

Being of "mixed marriage" I was concerned but in 20 years Ive not had a bother. Sure the English are hated but thats as a whole, not on an individual case. Ive been totally welcomed and this is my home and I wouldn't live anywhere else now

Theres nowhere more beautiful then here, even in the rain, theres no where as friendly ( so I have found ) and still here is community , we look out for and after our neighbours

The NI I live in has moved so far in 20/25 years. Sure its like England of the 70s in some respects but as a whole the people of NI have had to face and learn to live with HUGE change and we are doing it

With parents from ROI it was considered somewhere we wouldn’t be going to visit when I was a dc. However a cousin went to Belfast uni in the 90s & we did a day trip with family. I was quite shocked by the murals, gates, walls etc but maybe this was because I was raised in London & obviously the press was pretty one sided.
Went back about 5/6 yrs ago & stayed in Belfast, saw some GOT landmarks, Giants Causeway, Titanic exhibition & really enjoyed it. Weather wasn’t great though 😆

Why do you think?

I absolutely love it and am always happy to visit - my husband is from Co Antrim. He does NOT like to go back! The Antrim coast is so beautiful, very reminiscent of Cornwall but not completely overrun by tourists.

younger people don’t even take religion into account

As someone who hosted an Austrian woman who was asked by her (young) temporary work colleagues what my name was and then declared "oh, she's a Prod", ..... and then went to a bar with her and was asked by a young man in their wider group where i was from - and when I specified the area - he shouted "she's a Hun, we have a Hun here!" while pointing down towards my head from above ..

...... And also had young people who worked with my Polish ex (when they asked my name and he told them) tell him - again - "oh she's a fkg Hun".

Likewise I lived in a shared house with a young man, whose behaviour was atrocious and would take a separate thread to outline .. but when he found out I was a Protestant, decided all our problems of interaction were because I was a Protestant.

... I can't say I agree with you.

This was in Derry/Londonderry.

(Where all the protestants, except for one tiny enclave, moved out from the main city area between the 60s and 80s... because they didn't feel safe).

Ironically my late Grandmother was a Catholic from Donegal and we have an entire Catholic side to the family, including people whose family business is printing mass cards ......

But no-one I've met cares about that (or could even conceive of it), my name is "protestant" therefore I am a Prod and a Hun.

I grew up in the 80s. I remember reading Joan Lingard books about The Troubles and RC children who couldn't be friends with Protestants

Also remember children from NI coming to our school for a homestay. We weren't allowed to visit them in NI as it wasn't considered safe

Subsequently met my ex h, who had been in the Army. He had been injured in NI in the 70s and his friend was killed in a separate incident

It's good people have moved on, but we shouldn't forget the terrible things that happened

I’ve never been but would very much like to go.

Growing up in the 90s, NI never had particularly good press and was never somewhere I particularly wanted to go.

A few years ago we met some lovely people from NI on holiday and they spoke at length about what a wonderful place it was so we booked a holiday there. I completely fell in love with the place. We visited Bangor, Belfast, Eniskillen, and met up with our friends in Coleraine. They showed us Giants Causeway, Bushmills and Portrush. We had such a wonderful week there and I really hope that we can get back. Everyone was so friendly and I never encountered anything that made me feel uncomfortable.

Because of the segregation between towns and villages, because of the connotations of the Union Jack that have been prevalent throughout my life, because it made me feel odd.

Yes I am familiar as it has affected our family, I spent time during our stay and after finding out more too as a way to understand.

Would it be better to not answer truthfully?! It did make me feel that way, I hadn't expected segregation between areas.

Apparently there is no such thing as sectarianism when it's directed at a Protestant though... 🤫🥱

I think that your definition of young and mine are two very different things - I’m talking late teens/early 20s. Those who never saw or lived through the troubles. What I said was certainly true for my DD, her 19/20 year old peers and any other young people in our wider circle. I do accept though that we are from and live in south Belfast, so a lot more mixed and cosmopolitan than many parts of the country. There are certainly still small but vocal communities in which there are divides

Excuse me?

because of the connotations of the Union Jack that have been prevalent throughout my life

What connotations?

I'm from the Republic and it wasn't always a welcoming place for me: being told to leave establishments because of my accent, having soldiers take our car apart at the border, with guns pointed at us because we were dirty southerners, etc. I haven't had reason to visit in recent years, other than drive through, though most people say it's a lovely place and is unrecognisable from before. I just wouldn't choose to visit and stay. I don't think I would relax tbh.

I hadn't expected segregation between areas.

If you are familiar with NI history, why not?

I love the coast a lot and have good memories from my 2 trips there. The people are really kind as well specially if I mention im basque.

I am from the Republic and have been a few times but don't know it well.
As a kid in the 80s I remember being incredibly scared the few times we went there.
I visited a few times recently and liked it better. Lots to do in Belfast and some beautiful scenery.
I found the areas covered in Union Jacks quite intimidating and some parts seemed quite poor and run down.
I would not like to live there because I prefer the education system in ROI for my kids and feel that ROI is a lot more liberal and progressive (although this is only the case in recent years).
I hope to visit again soon and get to see other parts I have not yet been to.

I think that your definition of young and mine are two very different things - I’m talking late teens/early 20s. Those who never saw or lived through the troubles.

I know tonnes of young people who never lived through the Troubles but are either Irish Republican or Unionist and deeply Sectarian.

They constantly wear sportswear from clubs that represent their loyalties (Celtic or GAA, and Rangers) and if they're banned from wearing sportswear in bars for example, they wear green & white striped sweaters, or Ben Sherman clothing with union jacks

They care very much what community you appear to be from, it's the defining factor.

They are young.

Because no one talks about it in a current sense, hence the word 'history'.

I’m a Londoner. I like Belfast very much. I’ve had some good times, there. And I LOVE Derry.

I know people in both places, though, and my parents are Irish (Republic).

I remember staying in West Belfast as a child, though (early-mid 1980s) and it was a bit mad, to put it mildly…

Im actually planning a solo trip to Belfast and then to the Giants Causeway for next year.