NationStates Jolt Archive

OK all over the world people have different ideas of what things are like in Northern Ireland; do we all just throw petrol bombs at each other all day and sit around the bonfire burning flags at night, or are we all "country bumpkins" or enjoy milking the cows while ma' churns the butter.

I am a teenager livin gin Belfast (the capital of Northern Ireland in case you're wondering) and I'm curious as to what people arounf the world think life is like in Northern Ireland. So please, post what you think life is like. Also I am willing to answer any questions you have on how things are here (just who controls Northern Ireland, our capital, what went on in the troubles, etc), hopefully I will knwo the answer, but if I don't I know someone who will.

Feel free to post too whether you'd like to live here, and why (or why not as the case may be), what solutions you offer, etc.

Well post and ask away!

Has the IRA disbanded yet?

They were talking about it, fow a while but I don't think it happened (or ever will). Am I right?

No, they haven't disbanded. They are however on ceasefire.

Just out of curiousity, are you for Unification, or keeping the North and South seperate?

are the IRA pushiment gangs still around?

Half my family is Northern Irish - all of my mother's side. I go back to see them fairly often. When I see them, it's, 'Welcome back to Ireland' or 'Welcome home'. And I've never lived there - but I love it. I think that the North is more beautiful than the South - although perhaps not quite as majestic. When I go over, I've had people asking me, 'Are you suicidal? Do you want to get blown up?' The reality isn't like that. Where my family is from, people do their best to live together. The Omagh bomb came as a horrible shock - suddenly, when I say that I'm going to a place near Omagh, people know where I mean. And not for a good reason.
It is true that among my earliest memory of NI is soldiers at a checkpoint as a very small child. But it's also almost my only memory of anything like it - except the tanks in Omagh on August 15th last year.
My enduring memories will be the rain, the lakes and mountains - and leaving the pub at 2:30 in the morning...

are the IRA pushiment gangs still around?

Seeing as how the thread started has disappeared for the moment, I'll field another question: yes.

But it's also almost my only memory of anything like it - except the tanks in Omagh on August 15th last year.

What was that in connection with?

Are you hopeful for the future?
In other words, do you believe that "the troubles" are coming to an end, and will be resolved peacefully?
And whether yes or no, what would you predict for the future.
I am particularly curious, as I am an Australian, and was brought up a Catholic. My best friend immigrated from Belfast when he was a child. We were very good friends for years before the subject of religion even arose between us.

Sorry, DP.
A server, a server, my kingdom for a server upgrade. :lol:

What was that in connection with?

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. My cousins didn't have anything to say about it. I was only in Omagh because I was on my way to see Pirates of the Caribbean!
I imagine it had something to do with the anniversary of the bombing.

The IRA is hardly Irish anymore, their training grounds were in Libya, and many IRA became Libyans afterwards. And they most likely will never disband until someone makes them by force.

Northern Ireland more beautiful than the Republic?! Have you ever been to the Wicklow Mountains, Cliffs of Moher, or anywhere on the sounthern most places of Eire? They make Northern Ireland look like bomb testing ground.

Northern Ireland more beautiful than the Republic?! Have you ever been to the Wicklow Mountains, Cliffs of Moher, or anywhere on the sounthern most places of Eire? They make Northern Ireland look like bomb testing ground.

Oh come on, we have got the Mournes, the Giant's Causeway, Lough Erne, the Antrim coast, and thanks to the fact that we have nothing even remotely resembling an economy we also have vast tracts of underused but beautiful farming land and rural space.

It's not as if the geography changes as soon as you hit the border, you know?

...and both you and I know that the important thing is that the island of Ireland is more beautiful than England...

We have all kinds of beautiful farm land, massive cliffs, the rolling hills and mountians of Wicklow, awesome lakes and rivers...We have Dromoland Castle, even Dublin is great, and I hate cities....

I'm hopeful that maybe the Irish-Americans have stopped funding the IRA and its offshoots, now that terrorism is supposed to be uncool over there.

I'm hopeful that maybe the Irish-Americans have stopped funding the IRA and its offshoots, now that terrorism is supposed to be uncool over there.

Agree. And lets also hope that the British stop funding the Protestant paramilitaries.

Hopefully both sides can reach a political settlement.

The IRA are not stupid enough to do anything now - they wouldn't want the association with Al-Queda (sp?).

Crusaders - beauty is subjective. I meant the Northern parts of Ireland, not the tiny piece of Ireland retained by the United Kingdom. The northenmost point of Ireland, Malin Head, is in the Republic. It is stunning. Donegal, especially Errigal is gorgeous. Northern Ireland doesn't have sprawled settlements as Donegal has in some parts though. The Sperrin Mountains are some of the oldest mountains in Europe. They may not be huge - but they are wonderful to look at.
As for your question, I spent a week in Kerry a few years ago after my grandmother died. I'm not saying that down South isn't gorgeous too, it truly is. I have more distant family roots there. But I love the North. When I went up for her funeral, I felt like I belonged up there.
A few weeks ago, I went to Dublin - it was fantastic there too.
But it brings me to another point. Whil I was there, I was talking to a cousin who now lives in Dublin. From what she told me, the attitude towards the 'Nordies' is terrible - a kind of 'it's their mess, let them sort it' mentality. It isn't 'their mess'. It's the result of a political mess which has lasted hundreds of years and an ill thought out treaty 82 years ago. Didn't East Germany prove that separating a country doesn't work? Didn't many people in the six counties still retained fight as hard as anyone else?
This idea that 'they might as well shoot each other until only the good ones are left' has to stop. Now.

And lets also hope that the British stop funding the Protestant paramilitaries.

True, A lot of evidence has recently come to light that proves that the British military were funding loyalist terrorist groups, providing training and giving information. There is to be a public inquiry into several deaths, a couple of laywers that were murdered by the military and also a guy that was kicked to death a couple of years ago by a protestant mob while an army patrol sat accross the road doing nothing...

A lot of people don't realise that the IRA aren't the only terrorist group in NI, although the IRA as they used to be no longer exist, there are splinter groups of die-hards, albeit in ever dwindling numbers-
Most groups seem to be realising that violence isn't the solution, and things have changed a lot since the troubles began- back then the IRA in its modern form was created as a reaction to the atrocities carried out by the British occupying army (ethnic cleansing was practically invented there)

And lets also hope that the British stop funding the Protestant paramilitaries.

True, A lot of evidence has recently come to light that proves that the British military were funding loyalist terrorist groups, providing training and giving information. There is to be a public inquiry into several deaths, a couple of laywers that were murdered by the military and also a guy that was kicked to death a couple of years ago by a protestant mob while an army patrol sat accross the road doing nothing...

A lot of people don't realise that the IRA aren't the only terrorist group in NI, although the IRA as they used to be no longer exist, there are splinter groups of die-hards, albeit in ever dwindling numbers-
Most groups seem to be realising that violence isn't the solution, and things have changed a lot since the troubles began- back then the IRA in its modern form was created as a reaction to the atrocities carried out by the British occupying army (ethnic cleansing was practically invented there)

And lets also hope that the British stop funding the Protestant paramilitaries.

True, A lot of evidence has recently come to light that proves that the British military were funding loyalist terrorist groups, providing training and giving information. There is to be a public inquiry into several deaths, a couple of laywers that were murdered by the military and also a guy that was kicked to death a couple of years ago by a protestant mob while an army patrol sat accross the road doing nothing...

A lot of people don't realise that the IRA aren't the only terrorist group in NI, although the IRA as they used to be no longer exist, there are splinter groups of die-hards, albeit in ever dwindling numbers-
Most groups seem to be realising that violence isn't the solution, and things have changed a lot since the troubles began- back then the IRA in its modern form was created as a reaction to the atrocities carried out by the British occupying army (ethnic cleansing was practically invented there)

And lets also hope that the British stop funding the Protestant paramilitaries.

True, A lot of evidence has recently come to light that proves that the British military were funding loyalist terrorist groups, providing training and giving information. There is to be a public inquiry into several deaths, a couple of laywers that were murdered by the military and also a guy that was kicked to death a couple of years ago by a protestant mob while an army patrol sat accross the road doing nothing...

A lot of people don't realise that the IRA aren't the only terrorist group in NI, although the IRA as they used to be no longer exist, there are splinter groups of die-hards, albeit in ever dwindling numbers-
Most groups seem to be realising that violence isn't the solution, and things have changed a lot since the troubles began- back then the IRA in its modern form was created as a reaction to the atrocities carried out by the British occupying army (ethnic cleansing was practically invented there)

And lets also hope that the British stop funding the Protestant paramilitaries.

True, A lot of evidence has recently come to light that proves that the British military were funding loyalist terrorist groups, providing training and giving information. There is to be a public inquiry into several deaths, a couple of laywers that were murdered by the military and also a guy that was kicked to death a couple of years ago by a protestant mob while an army patrol sat accross the road doing nothing...

A lot of people don't realise that the IRA aren't the only terrorist group in NI, although the IRA as they used to be no longer exist, there are splinter groups of die-hards, albeit in ever dwindling numbers-
Most groups seem to be realising that violence isn't the solution, and things have changed a lot since the troubles began- back then the IRA in its modern form was created as a reaction to the atrocities carried out by the British occupying army (ethnic cleansing was practically invented there)

Damn, thats a lot fo posts...

Padmez, must of missed Malin...Anyhow, when you capitalise "Northern" and Ireland to the end, thats the name of the UK owned piece. Next time just say Conacht, or Ulster, thats northern Ireland, UK and Republic. Anyhow, that political mess began with those damned imperialist days of England.
And are you proposing that the Republic joins the UK? If so, you can forget it.

Don't lecture me about what happens in Northern Ireland, I doknow what's happening.
As for capitalising, it was a typo, I'm not stupid.
And please. Suggest that the Republic joins the UK? I think my previous post made it fairly clear that I'm a nationalist - a peaceful one, incidentally.
I would have answered before, but the page wouldn't load.

Sorry if this sounds a bit angry - this is an issue I'm extremely passionate about - as I've said many times, Britain is clearly governed by hypocrites and has been for a long time. People who applaud reunification in German, but stave it off in Ireland.

Britain is clearly governed by hypocrites and has been for a long time.
Sounds like politicians in general...

I happen to be in favor of unification, simply because the sooner we [Britain] get shot of NI the better - nothing but trouble for both sides.

How do Northeners feel about the idea of unification? I mean, I know there's the Protestant-Catholic divide but surely that's just religious intolerance, no?

And as for the British government, I think they're more underhand than most people would like to imagine.. It's such a shame that the nature of government and politics means that people with real beliefs and ideas don't get more a voice, like Socialists such as myself :wink:

Just out of interest, how many of our US friends on these boards have heard of Noraid?