Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "BBC News" channel.

  1. It does raise the question as to whether the UK government had a hand in this.
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  2. There was never any 'good deal' post Brexit. That was a lie peddled to a well groomed English population.
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  3. I couldn't care less whether the UK is in the Euro, and there is no 'review' of the opt out in 3 years time.
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  4. Once again Stephen, the UK and Denmark both have opt-outs from the Euro. That means both countries are not joining the Euro. These opt outs have no time limit. Please stop exhibiting your complete ignorance all over the internet, I'm embarrassed for you.
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  5. Yeah, I'm sure reading that will have them running into the arms of Dublin.
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  6. Support for EU membership is running at 93% in Ireland, and Varadkar is representing his people very well. We remain the UKs friends, but true friends do walk all over their smaller neighbours interests... If he was to roll over for Brexiters, he would be considered a UK puppet.
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  7. They do prevent infiltration attempts, but they are not always successful; they cannot prevent rockets being fired from outside their area of operations. The Israeli's have used the Irish for target practice in the past and have been responsible for the deaths of many Irish soldiers, either directly or indirectly. Apparently, sitting a big white building with the letter UN on it in black and under a blue UN flag is not sufficient for Israeli tankers.. The Irish army only requires light-armoured vehicles for UN Peacekeeping. Peacekeepers are restricted in the types of equipment they can use for peace keeping. The joke is your post.
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  8. Why thank you Michael, The ignorance of people like Clarissa McPigeon is utterly breathtaking. They still have the old imperial condescension, but otherwise these days, its hard to believe such people had ancestors that ran an empire upon which the sun never set. Brexit UK is headed up by used car salesmen who are selling Brexit in pursuit of Empire 2.0. Its the politics of the fake orgasm Michael, and if us Irish don't all pretend with them, the likes of Clarissa pops up with her condescending ignorance to remind you that in her uninformed opinion, you're nothing anyway. They are too stupid to feel any shame. They deserve pity.
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  9. Take it up with the UN. It is not the Irish troops who set the mandate, the UN Security Council does thaat.
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  10. This is new historical information - tell us more!
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  11. England should have stayed out of Irish affairs in the first place.
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  12. Yes, but most of them will be refugees from the England, Scotland and Wales.
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  13. I doubt it.
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  14. @ Rosamond Wrigley Brexiters and their predictions....
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  15. @Brian...its not that straight forward. Ireland won't accept Northern Ireland unless 80% of the population want unity; Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU and it was hoped that some exemption could be worked out for Northern Ireland to stay in the customs union. Sadly that's not going to happen. The Irish will veto phase 2 of the talks - the trade agreement. Ireland has nothing to gain and everything to lose from Brexit.
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  16. What shite?
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  17. It would be much worse if UNIFIL were not there, as you well know. UN troops are extremely limited in what they can do anyway - they can't even shoot first, as you well know. When the shooting starts they take cover, but they do not run away.
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  18. The minimum wage in the republic is higher than its equivalent in the UK: its €9.80 for all ages. In the UK its the Euro equivalent of €9.22 at the age of 25, and lower when you are younger, I was surprised to find. Dublin is the economic powerhouse of the island and the republic has a more dynamic, more productive and more globalised economy than the larger UK does. On a conservative estimate, the Irish are now over 25 per cent richer than their UK counterparts. Irish income per capita rose from €13,934 in 1995 to €40,655 in 2018 — growth of 192 per cent. In contrast, UK income per capita rose from £21,716 in 1995 to £30,594 in 2018 — growth of roughly 41 per cent. Ireland is growing economically nearly five times faster than the UK every year. While Ireland has a massive national debt, its growing economy means that its debt to GDP ratio is 64.8% in 2018; in the UK the debt to GDP ratio is 84.7% and is higher than it was before the Brexit referendum. In a united Ireland scenario, there is no doubt the cost to all the people of the island would be enormous as Northern Ireland cannot pay for itself. However, once the economies are aligned the tax burden for all would decrease. This would be aided by the united entity have full access to the EU and a market of 400 + million. Whether a united Ireland is on the cards or not is dependent on the success of Brexit. A hard Brexit may make the republic look more attractive as only Brexiters are convinced that leaving the EU carries any benefits for the UK. It may result in many UK citizens losing many benefits they take for granted today: the NHS, 40 hour working week, retirement at 65 etc Best of luck with your studies...
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  19. It has NOTHING to do with religion. It has to do with identity.
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  20. @ Danny Montgomery And those myriad of reasons were identified, tackled and remedied. The treaty had an addendum guaranteeing Irish neutrality, and the treaty was put to the people again - and they passed it. Ireland voted twice in referenda on the Nice treaty, 3 times on abortion in 35 years, and is about to have a 3rd on divorce since the mid-80s. In the UK that is considered 'undemocratic' - in Ireland, being able to change your mind is an essential for its democracy, while the vote itself is an expression of the sovereignty of the Irish people. You don't have either. Your entire post is representative of the levels of ignorance that underpin Brexit. The English are all in favour if Irish sovereignty as long as the Irish abandon it when it suits the English. Some things never change.
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  21.  Max Powers  I'm sorry, but the EU is full of nationalists. Its just their version is not the 19th century binary nationalism of Brexit. Only sovereign states can join the EU. The problem the UK had with the EU was that could not control it, and no amount of special treatment was ever enough. Brexit is an exercise in self pity.
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  22. Free Dorset!
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  23. 'Just think that if they had relaxed the conditions of membership a bit then the UK would still be part of the EU. The whole thing seem so unnecessary.' I know - if only the 27 EU members had done what they were told, it would never have come to this. Now they are going to be cut off from the UK, right?
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  24. Very soon a country that cannot feed itself, possessing a higher debt to GDP ratio than Ireland, but a lower GDP per capita will leave the world largest trading bloc right on its door step with no trade deals and no trade negotiators. I'm sure that will hurt, and hurt badly.
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  25. What on earth are you talking about?
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  26.  @Jack-uy7ie  Read it and weep: https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/2212292/spains-foreign-minister-confirms-that-spain-would-not-veto-independent-scotlands-eu-membership
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  27.  @harisadu8998  A comedian? Me? It is demonstrably obvious that the English have a psychological need to be needed as part of their identity. It means they don't have to stand on their own two feet, regardless of whether they can or not. The English are a nation in hiding from themselves.
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  28.  @dm121984  You have my sympathy, and if I were you I would head to Scotland also. Scottish values are not English values, while the Scots are at peace with themselves, it seems like many English people are ill-at-ease with their place in the world. They seem unhappy unless their country is shafting Brussels or Dublin or some other foreigners. They are also quite incoherent. As you point out, they love their ruling privately educated and privileged upper classes to whom they will readily doff their cap but seem to they are against 'the metropolitan elite', who appear to me to be the same people. These are the same ruling classes that have shafted most working and middle class English and everybody else for centuries, ut they love them. Of course, non-English ruling classes are simply beyond the Pale. To remain in England is to accept Tory rule forever. Another reason to move to Scotland. I wish you all the best, whatever you decide.
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  29.  @gordonmills7798  You are just not used to being told the truth. And you never answered my question.
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  30.  @gordonmills7798  Whatever. Times have changed, and the question remains unanswered.
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  31.  @gordonmills7798  'My version of history'. Discuss.
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  32.  @gordonmills7798  I disagree. Two people can interpret the same events differently, depending on their perspective or experience of it. In some cases it could be argued that both perspectives are correct. There is no 'true history', only perspectives.
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  33.  @gordonmills7798  I agree, but it is possible to wrong all the time, as you are so keen to demonstrate.
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  34.  @gordonmills7798  I refer to my previous post.
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  35.  @gordonmills7798  The Irish don't feel they are in any kind of prison through EU membership, which is why EU membership is so consistently popular with the Irish public. Having been part of a the British empire and the United Kingdom, the Irish know exactly what the kind of prison you alluded to looks like. The EU does not fit the bill, sorry. EU oppression the product of the English imagination, the collective projection of a people too scared to leave he right union. The Irish stand on their own two feet in a world of interdependence while the English have yet to manage to have their own devolved assembly, ffs.
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  36.  @gordonmills7798  I didn't forget anything. Every club and organisation has rules regulations. The problem with the English is that because they are not the ones telling the rest of the EU what to do they think they are oppressed. Pathetic.
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  37. 'So instead of waiting to see what sort of relationship the UK will have with the EU Reich they're just throwing the toys out of their prams and flouncing off' 2 and a half years later this comment is particularly hilarious.
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  38. Brexiter supporters and their predictions, eh?
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  39. West Brit Way to kill the buzz West Brit!.  You sucked the air out of the room I'm in just by my reading of that post! LOL!
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  40. West Brit "Your point that nobody would lose by the my speculative Abortion referendum , shows that you have no respect for the people who disagree with you ( us in this case) as they think that the foetus is a Human Life from conception so many 'people ' have the Ultimate to lose -Life." I disagree that it shows a lack of respect, I totally respect their point, I just don't agree with it.  People should be free to chose.  Not everyone shares their beliefs on a blanket ban. "...but they can't be Equal any more then you can say that a Goat and Herring are Equal they both have there qualities but are completely different." The concept of marriage has been broadened and same sex marriage is now equal to the traditional concept of marriage in the constitution.  That is where the equality lies - recognition in the constitution.  A goat and a herring are different, but theoretically they can both receive equal protection in the Constitution.  That is all that is happening here. "You have no understanding that the Unionists Stand to lose their Identify and Culture ,and in fact only have to look here to see it .   At independence the Free State had a Unionist  population  of over  13%   and a protestant Minority  of  10% , there are now Zero Unionists and 2.8% Prods left , at the same time the Nationalist population up there has grown -give it some thought before  you claim that they are the intolerant Bigots ." Equality is no threat to anybody, unless their identity and culture is based on a belief in inequality.  Is it? Following partition, Southern Unionists were told to make the best of it by the their Northern counterparts, and by and large they did.  They ceased to exist, as politically the Union was over, but many quickly identified with the Free State and joined with the new pro-Free State party that became Fine Gael in the 1930s. The Protestant population in Ireland was in decline from the time of the disestablishment of the Anglican church.  It declined further following the treaty as the British administration withdrew.  Some others left due to fear for their future in the new state while others left for economic reasons. The First World War and the Catholic church's Ne Temere decree also contributed to their decline. Susan McKay, journalist and Belfast born Protestant puts it this way in her book 'Northern Protestants': "Southern Protestants never were a downtrodden and disadvantaged minority. Economically they were privileged and secure, and research shows them to be overrepresented in the upper reaches of the class structure....there is considerable cultural assimilation rather than isolation or ostracism’ and described myths and overstatements about the oppression of Protestants  in the South is a form of secular anti-Catholicism. Southern Protestants have protested in the letters pages of the Irish Times that they were quite happy, and have no wish to be championed by Northern extremists’ (McKay, 353)"  I also never mentioned anything about Ulster Protestants being intolerant bigots.  Why did you claim I did? I just pointed out that they are, and have been historically, fearful of allowing Nationalists the same rights and opportunities and access to life chances as they had. What have Ulster Unionist got to fear from equality in Northern Ireland anyway?  Now that is has largely arrived, the majority of Nationalists are happy to stay in the Union.
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  41. West Brit "I thought you might miss the abortion point." What point did I miss? "But frankly you telling me how it is/was for Southern Prods and then backing it up with a Quote that you think is validated because the Women in question was born in Belfast, is either satire or offensive." This is just "shooting the messenger" because you don't like her message. Supporting an argument with evidence is normal academic convention, the author is not a southern catholic viewing the situation from afar, but a local critiquing her own. There are very few of those in print, so in that context it is a valid reference.  Referring to it as satire or offensive without any supporting evidence is the opposite of that and doesn't take your point anywhere.   "You are frankly all over the place anyway on that subject  anyway , if we all support FG ( LOL, I do) then obviously we are not looking to reunite with our brethren in the North" You need to flesh out your points better than this, its too vague for me. "I don't Believe  and did not mean to say that the equality of the citizen regardless of Faith in the North  or any other Foreign  Jurisdiction was wrong  and should be feared- the trouble up  there however is people who do not believe that the Unionists are truly Irish and like you think that when they live in a Catholic/Nationalist Ireland  it would be reasonable to repeat your statement". You certainly come across as being dismissive of equality in Northern Ireland. I can't see how equality can infringe on the two identities up there, it can only create one identity over time.  I consider Northern Unionists to be Irish, but do they? A few years ago I mentioned that to a Northern Protestant, personally, while attending a conference at the Burrendale Hotel in County Down and he told me in no uncertain terms that he was British. They should reclaim their Irishness and contribute towards it redefinition - its too green anyway. They seem to lack confidence in themselves and their culture - that's how it come across to me at least. "But their relationships to each other(Herring to Herring , Goat to Goat)  will be different and no end of debate , linguistic fascism or referendum's could change that either" 62% of Irish voters disagree with you.
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  42. West Brit  "Which was the point I was trying to make to you over abortion ,that you missed ( twice) if your opinion  lost that referendum as it has in the past, you would still believe what you do" I didn't miss it at all, but perhaps I was too subtle for you: No, because the blanket ban on abortion is a contravention of human rights. Providing for abortion in certain circumstances at the very least is a civil right. Providing marriage equality is also providing a civil right and opposing it, no matter how well meaning, I believe to be a mistake. In that context you are not comparing like with like in my opinion. Regarding identity in Northern Ireland, people can call themselves what they like, it really doesn't matter what I think.  They should just figure it out and let the rest of us know instead of taking offence. Sorry for touching a nerve, but Northern Ireland is not off limits to me.  If I don't know what I'm talking about, surely you can do better than telling me to "shut up".  Don't be so petty.
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  43. West Brit "Human rights are not a concept that you get to define and they can obviously overlap -the right to life might for instance  Trump the right to murder a inconvenient Child ." Human rights were well defined and agreed by governments internationally.  However, the question of abortion is a tricky one: I think abortion for simple "convenience" purposes is wrong, for example, especially late in the pregnancy.  However, the idea that the religious right have that it is wrong to allow a child to die if my pregnant wife's life is under threat is simply ridiculous (or if she is raped etc) .   "My view for what it is worth is that Abortions are going to Happen, so should be legal and discouraged, the present situation is simply that all but the most impoverished and vulnerable  o to England and have one.        Leaving us feeling all warm and virtuous whilst a women can die ' because we are a Catholic Country'  I will vote to Liberalise the law". I totally agree. "You did not touch a nerve on the 6 ( you simply trot out  the usual conventional Rubbish views on the subject ).  It was you inane lecture on the position of Prods here that did a bit.  Maybe I am petty ,I said we are petty people, I am Irish so maybe have to accept the logic of my own Statement !" Sure seemed like I touched a nerve.  You ridiculed my me and my point, then you dismissed it, before finally telling me shut up, and all without offering a counter argument. And it wasn't about Southern Prods either, you never mentioned them. If you have something to say, have the confidence to say it.  We don't have to agree, but I'm open to intelligent points and you've made a few of them in the past...
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  44. West Brit On what grounds do to feel it is offensive, wrong and arrogant?
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  45. West Brit "So where is the quote from Carson or Craig telling the Southern Protestants to make the most of it?" That's not a quote, its a turn of phrase, reflecting an attitude.  After all, Ulster Unionists was decided to jettison Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan when formulating the partition option, not to mention the Southern Unionists of non-Ulster Scots stock.  "You say that they came to identify with the Free State - No we continued to identify with our neighbours and fellow Countrymen , and unlike the Minority in the North we  were non violent ,so have  on the whole supported the least nutty Southern party  (FG) but that is not the same as embracing the State". See below: is this a better explanation?  I think this covers both of our positions. "While the Border Minority Group survey found that Protestants living in the counties of Monaghan, Cavan and Leitrim identified themselves as Protestant first and foremost, Orange second, Ulster Scots third with Irish coming sixth, the other reports found that there was a strong and enduring sense of identity with the Irish state." Taken from: http://www.seupb.eu/Libraries/Peace_Network_Meetings_and_Events/PN__The_Border_Protestant_Community_and_the_EU_PEACE_Programmes__100205_A_report_to_the_Peace_II_Monitoring_Committee.sflb.ashx    The Irish church was disestablished in 1869 the proportion of Prod's fell a little in the following 5 years then  it remained fairly constant up until  the 1911 census at around 10% to 12 % .  There was no census in 1921  due to civil unrest, in 1926 the Free state had one and it fallen below 8% and continued to do so every time it was counted , until the turn of this century." Yes, they left. "The 'return of the British administration is the biggest lie of all- most of the administration was Catholic and Irish and continued to work for the Free State ,about 1700  civil servants returned to the UK and the military had never been counted due to the lack of 1921 census so no black and tans in your totals." I'm not sure I follow this.  While the exact records are destroyed, it should be easy to make a stab at numbers of troops in Ireland in 1921, and Civil Servants.  Do you have any supporting references?    "Fear for their Future Yes" Yes, it was a major motivator. Economic reasons,why would they have more reason to leave for that reason then a Catholic ?" They didn't.  They would have left for the same reasons.  They were economically better off in the UK. "As for offensive and arrogant,  that's how it felt to me but that is of course   subjective." I'm sorry you felt that way. I would identify two native Protestant traditions in the Republic: the Ulster Scots and the Anglo-Irish.  Would you agree?
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  46. Bazinga90 No just the Republic of Ireland.
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  47. 'who was doing all the jobs that the undercut to take before they came???' The Irish.
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  48. @ Ruth Harte No, just the English. And not all of them either.
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  49. Jesus Christ, you're thick. You know nothing of the GFA or its context, fool.
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  50. According to the Irish constitution the name of state is 'Eire', or in the English language, 'Ireland'. Republic of Ireland is a description of the state. Our man at the United Nations sits behind a little sign that also says 'Ireland'. As the sovereign people, the Irish have chosen their own name for their country. The border in Ireland was put there by the British government at the behest of Unionists. Irish nationalists were not consulted and so it has nothing to do with them.
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