What is the solution to the Irish border?

[MegCleary]

Keen to hear, as I am struggling.

DH and I were talking about that today, Smackeroos.

TwentySmackeroos you've hit the nail on the head. They (PSF) take an oath of allegiance in stormont, why continue this farce in Westminster while collecting a wage and expenses that weigh on all taxpayers?

Ah to have never lived with borders in your own country
Ridiculous to see Teresa may in belleck today (maybe yesterday)
Fermanagh and donegal the border is 100 meters apart
Gardai on one side of the bridge PSNI on the other
Teresa may leaving, a woman in the crowd shouted "no hard border"
Teresa may agreed "yes no hard border"
Fuckn bat shit

TwentySmackeroos

Their policies for not sitting in Westminster may have been valid in the 60s, 70s and 80s (talking about present day psf) but they are certainly not valid from the tea in. They, together with the dup, administer British rule in ni, pledge an oath to queen and country and as a party rebuke republican ideals and embrace UK mandated policy.

Not sitting in Westminster is a farce to blow smoke up the arse of the older generation of republicans (those that still support them that is)

No they don’t swear an oath to queen and country, that’s the whole point of not sitting in Westminster. Nor do they rebuke republican ideals as their ideals are as purely republican as they get.

Cleebope2

The PSF of today has nothing to do with republicanism, sorry to disappoint you.

I'm also wondering what the situation will be with 1.8 million EU citizens living in one concentrated part of the UK. I know there are agreements to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK... Hasn't there been something about the European court? Sorry, I'm very vague on this and I don't know what, if anything, has been agreed... But surely it has to be taken into account, unless citizenship of the EU is meaningless.

Apileofballyhoo
I'm also wondering what the situation will be with 1.8 million EU citizens living in one concentrated part of the UK.
I take it you mean ni citizens? We are not eu citizens. By birth right we are dual British and Irish citizens. We have the right to both citizenships and can adopt one, both or neither (if we have the right to a third citizenship).

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_of_the_European_Union

Anyone with Irish citizenship also has EU citizenship. As Ian Paisley Jnr was advising on how to apply for an Irish passport after the Brexit referendum I assumed a lot of NI people are interested in retaining EU citizenship regardless of traditional or political allegiance.

Apileofballyhoo
It's a political minefield. Historically only ni Catholics applied for Irish citizenship and ni protestants British, with the odd exception from both sides. Personally I applied for my first British passport only after Brexit for both myself and kids.

Not all 1.8 million of us are eu citizens though.

@Amalfimamma yeah may not be very demographic but it's fair enough for people who don't live in NI or ROI to say just "reunite" and be done with it when you wouldn't have to deal with the social, economic and political consequences of such an action. I would say even if there was the full support in NI for it, ROI wouldn't want us.

And people of the opinion that it's top priority that it should be one country again - where do you draw the line for historical actions resulting in countries? England has been invaded and occupied so many times but you don't see people telling them to go back to France/Rome/Scandinavia 🙄

Democratic**

My immediate solution to the Irish Border would be to not let Theresa May any where near it, nor Donald Trump again....

The bus is rolling and there are people in front of it so SOMEONE is going to go under.
I would think that IF (which is a massive if) Ireland could be 'as one' it could be a decent solution. As Eire is part of the EU and on the basis the EU would support the expansion (as I expect it did with the reunification of Germany) it is 'only' a matter of stopping some factions reverting to violence. The various countries and territories across the world manage this (mostly) successfully so why not here?
NI would actually benefir generally as they voted to remain and the EU are more likely to support them than Westminster.

@DwangelaForever

I'd fear more for the political consequences at the moment to be honest. I fear with the current climate we'd be drawn back into civil unrest with an outcome worse than what happened with the gfa

543

You don't know what you're talking about. The loyalist faction in the north would erupt. The DUP would not support TM's government if she did that so she never will. It's very likely that many innocent people would die a violent death. And it could only happen if a referendum were held and the vote went that way.

People just don't get it. And of course you don't give a hoot that Ireland can't afford the north just now.

There is no way of rocking this apple cart without disaster. It was a frail, fraught peace as it was.

The bus is rolling and there are people in front of it so SOMEONE is going to go under Lovely! See 54321 I follow the Westminstenders threads and I appreciate that Brexit is a huge worry for many of you but Ireland blindly racing towards reunification, something that has NOT been on most people's agenda here for decades, may well be helpful for you and yours but is not a good idea for Ireland right now.

If/when a vote on reunification appears warranted we would hope to have an informed vote, we would need impact studies, much detailed planning, a transition period and not the yes/no, all about the "feels", don't bother me with details Brexit type vote that created this mess . You can minimize it all you like but it's not "only" about preventing violence though that certainly is a pretty big ONLY...

This country was partitioned to suit what Britain wanted, it really pisses me off when remainers and leavers alike now bang on about a United Ireland as a solution to their fucking problems. That post colonial arrogance, "we matter more" isn't the preserve of just leavers is it?

Completely agree Green. I'm originally from ROI, now in NI and there's no way I'd vote for reunification as I couldn't do that to Ireland's economy.

The solution is simple. Just grow up, join the rest of the civilised world and stop fighting. And get rid of your segregated schools

What a silly, uninformed comment. Not only about current politics but also historically as well. You sound like a descendant 9f Cromwell to be honest

This country was partitioned to suit what Britain wanted, it really pisses me off when remainers and leavers alike now bang on about a United Ireland as a solution to their fucking problems. That post colonial arrogance, "we matter more" isn't the preserve of just leavers is it?

^^ this

See Liv the economy is certainly a factor in my thinking but honestly, my more immediate concern is the fact that a significant minority in NI would end up feeling incredibly disenfranchised and marginalized. We know what that does, why the hell should anyone in whichever bit of Ireland be rushed into this?

I have so much respect for all the people in NI for what they've achieved in the past 20 years, the hurt and damage they've had to mentally push aside to make a better future. Why should they or ROI take even the slightest risk of upsetting that fragile peace?

We didn't cause this problem, that's all on our nearest neighbour and it's not for us to fix this car crash for them.

purits

still fighting

Unless you stopped following current affairs in 1997 you can't truly believe that statement, nor can I read it with a straight face.

Please do tell me about all the fighting going on in ni. I'm all ears

purists describing the Troubles as a war from 300 or 400 years ago is shockingly ignorant.