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?

Anotger NI friend warned me not to use my Irish language name when visiting a particular town in NI...this was less than 10 years ago. She was half joking (I think) but only half...

We once hired a car in Dublin and drove up to see friends in County Down. We were going out for a meal in Dundrum, and our hosts were really worried about us going there in a car with Irish plates, and one of them checked underneath it before we got back into it! This was also within the last 10 years.

We visited NI for the first time, with ROI friends recently. They said they had only felt comfortable enough to visit for the first time around 5 years ago.
I was honestly amazed by the stunning coast, Belfast was busy and welcoming with some lovely old buildings and riverside. The Titanic exhibition was excellent.
The weather was so good we could easily see Scotland from the Antrim coast which blew my mind!
I hadn’t expected the flags and the kerbs though. They seemed to be everywhere including the small rural inland villages.

We will definitely return.

I think she meant different from each other. Sterling/mph/NHS/A Levels/Brexit Vs Euros/kph/HSE/Leaving Cert/EU. That sort of thing.

Your friends have issues. Absolutely no need for that. County Down is beautiful. Me and my ex - him with an NI reg and me with an ROI one met up there a few years back for a weekend away and none of that was needed.

Thank you for proving my point!

Northern Ireland is a separate country to ROI, unless we suddenly have a united Ireland that I'm not aware of. There are three Ulster counties that are part of the Republic, but NI, the country, is not a province of the Republic of Ireland.

NI is a different country unless of course you count England as 'southern Scotland' in which case go ahead and assume we are the same country here. Same island sadly 6 of our counties were taken off us.

@OkPedro is Irish, I think she means that NI and England aren't different countries, both being the UK.

I think even if you're reasonably familiar with the history and expecting segregation, the sheer quantity of flags in some areas could be surprising. Especially if you visit in the run up to the 12th, when they've all been refreshed.

And the variety of them, too - I suspect some visitors expect it will just be Union Jack vs Tricolour.

But they are different countries like scotland and wales are.

Which community are you from?

Yes I'm here nearly 20 years and I'm still learning new flags.

Well then they didn't read my post properly, as I said that a lot of English people I've worked with didn't know ROI and NI were different countries. Not that NI wasn't part of the UK. Though I've met people in England who don't seem to know that either 🤣🤣

Having been there several times in the 80s, I've never been in any rush to go back and I've not had a specific reason to go again.

There are so many other (less divided) places to visit.

@NoBinturongsHereMate aside from recently when the irish and english flags (flegs possibly) were united against the foreign ones the same weekend as the fleadh ceoil was on ironically with concerts in aide of palestine. Fun times.

My sister in law has moved there and loves it, would never come back to live in England. She does complain about the amount of rain though 🤪

I was raised Protestant/Church of Ireland but nowadays don’t identify with any religion or side with either community.

I just see it as similar to Scotland (Im Scottish) in terms of the friendliness of people and actual landscape, with a different accent. Feel totally comfortable and gutted I'm not able to go this weekend with family to Belfast for the annual trip.

Apparently Northern Ireland is considered both a country and a province.

In any case, the front of a British passport would appear to corroborate NI being seen as a country, because you'd think there would be no need for "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" if NI was just considered a province.
Whereas Wales and Scotland are considered part of Great Britain.

That's because 'Great Britain refers to the island, the physical land mass that is made up of England, Wales & Scotland

That was very dramatic on their part, you could drive up the Shankill with southern reg and noone would bat an eyelid

Do you not think that's a bit naive? DH is atheist (as am I), our DC are in the local Protestant school and our friends are from both communities but he's still very much Catholic. It's not just in terms of his identity (he'd never think to describe himself as British no matter how much I tease him), it's his views on the Troubles, his cultural touch points (music, literature, sport), his schooling.

I don't think anyone can have grown up in NI and not be influenced by their community. That doesn't have to be a bad thing though.

I'm not sure my DC will feel the same, I think there's hope that many young people will truly grow up without strongly identifying with either community but I do think it's a bit naive for those who remember the Troubles and the peace process.

We have 4 provinces in Ireland. Northern Ireland is not a province it is a country. If you are talking provinces you would be talking Munster, leinster, connaght and ulster. None of which say northern ireland. NI is 6 counties taken from us and colonised by the British. It is a country in its own right. It is not and has never been a province of Ireland.

I visited Belfast, Derry and South Armagh around 1998 as part of a university field trip and loved it. Totally blew away all my preconceptions. It was so beautiful and thd people so friendly. I'm going to be honest I didn't really like the Belfast but loved Derry and South Armagh.

No, I’ve worked really hard to educate myself and get away from what was ingrained in me for so long. DD (a big politics nerd and very interested in Irish history) has been a big driver in this - since she has grown up truly neutral she has been able to point out a lot of my flaws and built in prejudices

a lot of English people I've worked with didn't know ROI and NI were different countries

Yep, same here.

I used to go home and rant to my h "look at your fucking passport cover, you idiots!!!".

Being patronised by my neighbour about GCSEs which "we do here". Yes, dear we do them too, and whip your asses in the results tables every year.

Also enjoyable being asked my name and told "that's not a very Irish name!".

No worries, I'll go and tell my Ulster Scot origin, protestant parents (who don't exist in the brains of a lot of English (and American and Spanish, I could go on) people .... To rename me an "Irish" name, from a language they don't speak, and from a culture that's not theirs.