Re-united Ireland?

[nicanary]

It would be interesting to see what the SNP had to say if Westminster agreed to an independence referendum as long as they took on NI if they got their own way. They have more in common culturally with each other than with England and Wales.

An independent NI is an impossibility. The economy, for what it is, is virtually reliant on handouts from Westminster and a proportionally large civil service which provides retailers with spending power. It's been calculated that 60% of those in work are in the civil service or provide services to that body. It's a p*ss-poor place and quite honestly no nation would actually want to take it on.

Typically, Martin McGuiness has already hinted at a fresh border poll. Dublin don't want you, mate.

[V8RX7]

Sam All said:

Cunning Plan - move all Scottish people to Northern Ireland, and the Northern Ireland population to Scotland.

Job done. No border/currency etc issues

[Leins]

dazwalsh said:

If NI are out with UK then what hapoens to the border with republic? Common travel between Ireland and UK pre dates any EU but the UK are not likely to allow the land border to remain open are they?

It would be a back door into the UK,yet i dont think border patrols will do anything for economy or keeping the peace.

And the other way around too - UK nationals may have difficulty travelling to and working here in RoI. We will possibly be told to shut our borders to you by Brussels. Whether we listen or not is a different matter

[Moonhawk]

Countdown said:

Surely they're entitled to choose, just as much as we were...

Scotland did chose.....I seem to remember this independence referendum thingamajig a few years back run by a bloke who looked like the Churchill insurance dog.

If I remember rightly - Scotland said "oooooh-No" to independence.

[irish boy]

No chance of a united Ireland, even the republican population realise they would be a lot worse off financially.

Putting a border up would be a right pain in the ass, it's so handy to pop down to Dublin now. I'd say they will come up with an agreement.

Will those of us with 2 passports have to hand the Irish one back?

[s2art]

Alternatively we could ask RoI if they would like to come back to the UK. That would also re-unite Ireland.

[Leins]

s2art said:

Alternatively we could ask RoI if they would like to come back to the UK. That would also re-unite Ireland.

Obviously only speaking for myself here, but no thanks very much

[s2art]

Leins said:

s2art said:

Alternatively we could ask RoI if they would like to come back to the UK. That would also re-unite Ireland.

Obviously only speaking for myself here, but no thanks very much

With the UK out of the EU, a federal United British Isles would be good solution for RoI. But if the EU can see sense and agree a tariff free zone with the UK it wouldnt be required. I think something like 60-70% of the Irish economy is tied up with the UK, if the Eurocrats insist on tariffs its bad news.

[burritoNinja]

Not in a million years or our life anyway. I watched that horrid martin mcguinness on the news and lets be honest, SF/IRA were destroyed and now sit as British ministers and administrating British rule in a part of the UK. This is the same man who had an innocent man kidnapped, tied to the steering wheel of a truck loaded with explosives and forced to drive into an Army barracks. Not but a disgusting joke to us with dead relatives thanks to his terrorist lot. Plus there are still thousands of loyalists and the loyalist paramilitaries are still there. It would be near civil war.

[anonymous-user]

I've not been to N.I. Is it as bad as some say on here?
While we are together we have a duty of helping each other improve our lot. That is even if the end result is that we part company - at least it would help us to become good neighbours.

[Kaj91]

Time to send the planters home.

Britain are out of Europe, let's finish the job and get them out of Ireland.

[DMN]

Countdown said:

What are the chances of NU and Scotland waving bye-bye to the UK?

Surely they're entitled to choose, just as much as we were...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/24/snp-say...

Why should they be the only ones allowed to escape the clusterfk? London, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, York and Newcastle all voted remain too.

The United Kingdom is dead.

[Leins]

s2art said:

Leins said:

s2art said:

Alternatively we could ask RoI if they would like to come back to the UK. That would also re-unite Ireland.

Obviously only speaking for myself here, but no thanks very much

With the UK out of the EU, a federal United British Isles would be good solution for RoI. But if the EU can see sense and agree a tariff free zone with the UK it wouldnt be required. I think something like 60-70% of the Irish economy is tied up with the UK, if the Eurocrats insist on tariffs its bad news.

RoI coming out of the EU would be a disaster for it IMO. My own job would likely disappear, as would many many others

But yes, the UK is important to us too for a multitude of reasons, and a free-trade zone still remaining would be a good solution. However, I just don't see the EU allowing it. I feel if (and I'm beginning to think it may be a big 'if') the British government do invoke Article 50, the EU and all its member states will have no option other than to play hard-ball with any exit deal

anonymous said:

[redacted]

NI is a lovely place, with some of the nicest scenery in the world, and very friendly people. You should really pay it a visit

Don't forget to pay us a visit south of the border too though, but make sure to bring your passport

[s2art]

Leins said:

s2art said:

Leins said:

s2art said:

Alternatively we could ask RoI if they would like to come back to the UK. That would also re-unite Ireland.

Obviously only speaking for myself here, but no thanks very much

With the UK out of the EU, a federal United British Isles would be good solution for RoI. But if the EU can see sense and agree a tariff free zone with the UK it wouldnt be required. I think something like 60-70% of the Irish economy is tied up with the UK, if the Eurocrats insist on tariffs its bad news.

RoI coming out of the EU would be a disaster for it IMO. My own job would likely disappear, as would many many others

But yes, the UK is important to us too for a multitude of reasons, and a free-trade zone still remaining would be a good solution. However, I just don't see the EU allowing it. I feel if (and I'm beginning to think it may be a big 'if') the British government do invoke Article 50, the EU and all its member states will have no option other than to play hard-ball with any exit deal

anonymous said:

[redacted]

NI is a lovely place, with some of the nicest scenery in the world, and very friendly people. You should really pay it a visit

Don't forget to pay us a visit south of the border too though, but make sure to bring your passport

Re Article 50, it sure looks like that will be the escape route, but some MPs are talking about just repealing the European Community act. They may wish to play hardball, but Germany just isnt going to damage its trade with perhaps it best export market. And as Germany pays the bills......

[Mr Tidy]

Why not hold a new referendum in the rest of the UK (over 44 Million voters compared with a paltry 4 million Scots) to decide if we still want to subsidise Scotland any longer - surely that is what a democratic majority is about?

The Scots want to stay in the EU, great - let the EU pay for them like every other subsidised economy (as in Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Republic of Ireland - the list goes on, and on............).

Then the rest of the UK can stop funding the Scottish ego! At least this time the tail didn't get to wag the dog!

Re-unite Ireland too - great idea! It solves an age old issue and dumps the costs on the EU! Ireland has been a problem for mainland UK for a century - what actual benefit is Northern Ireland to the UK, apart from a drain on resources? Time to go is surely long overdue?!

I won't miss them, to be sure!

[eharding]

burritoNinja said:

Plus there are still thousands of loyalists and the loyalist paramilitaries are still there. It would be near civil war.

That doesn't sound good.

Who do you think these loyalist paramilitaries would blame for the current state of affairs?

[Mr Tidy]

eharding said:

That doesn't sound good.

Who do you think these loyalist paramilitaries would blame for the current state of affairs?

I think they would just go back to blaming each other, as they have done for the last hundred years or so!

[Eric Mc]

Leins said:

And the other way around too - UK nationals may have difficulty travelling to and working here in RoI. We will possibly be told to shut our borders to you by Brussels. Whether we listen or not is a different matter

Highly unlikely I would say. All that will happen is that the provisions of the Common Travel Area for British and Irish citizens will be reinstated (I don't think they were ever rescinded anyway).

The problem is the "back door" scenario for other EU citizens using Ireland as an access point to the UK.

How much of a problem this really becomes will depend on what actual people movement restrictions for EU citizens the UK decides to put in place.

Despite all the bluster of the Leave campaign about controlling our borders, I expect that these "restrictions" will turn out to be less stringent than some people might be expecting.

[footnote]

'Leave' has taken the Great out of Britain and put the England and Wales back in.

Scotland will definitely leave and go with the EU. They were full of regret after the last vote.

A united Ireland is further off but nowhere near as far off as it was before yesterday.

[nicanary]

Mr Tidy said:

eharding said:

That doesn't sound good.

Who do you think these loyalist paramilitaries would blame for the current state of affairs?

I think they would just go back to blaming each other, as they have done for the last hundred years or so!

They've always acted in self-interest, which isn't always in the interest of the population in general. If they don't get their own way, they riot. My guesstimate of the loyalist population is around 25% of the total in NI, so that'd be around 400,000 ( half the pop is Catholic, and half the protestants are perfectly nice, law-abiding citizens.)

A united Ireland is just not an option, certainly for the next 50/100 years anyway - the Republicans realised that they had achieved all they were going to, which is parity of esteem. At least they get a say in the running of the Province, which is a sight more than they were getting before. Realistically, they don't expect any more (whatever they claim) and you can be sure that the Republic don't want an extra 1.6 million mouths to feed.

BTW if the UK does split up, will Her Majesty remain as Head of State for all 4 individual countries? What happens to Balmoral? Will it be taxed as a holiday home? Best of all - what happens to the Orange Order, that loveable bunch of scamps who've endeared themselves to the British over the centuries? There'll be no reason for their existence if they no longer have a monarch to pledge allegiance to.