Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "Ireland's D’Arcy Warns There Will Be No Compromise on Brexit" video.

You gave us 7 billion. It was the smallest contribution to the bail out, but it has the highest interest rate. Ireland's debt to gdp ratio was 68.9% at the end of 2018. UKs debt to gdp ratio was 84.7% at the end of 2018. It is difficult to see by what standard you think the UK is trying to help Ireland. As 92% of Irish people support EU membership it is delusional to think that the UK cares more for the Irish people than its current government. 79% of Irish people are satisfied with Varadkar's stance, while 21% think he's soft on the British government.
4
@ Sample Sample 'What happens if UK makes Northern Ireland a tax haven like Singapore post-brexit? All US IT majors would shit their base to UK. Wait and see - don't wake a sleeping giant.' Nothing. The UK will be outside the EU, taking NI with it against the will of its inhabitants. Any company seeking to set up a HQ inside the EU's Customs Union and Single Market will come to south of the border. You cannot set up your EU HQ outside the EU.
4
@1 chish 'Here is a little fact for you to consider especially given your rather ignorant comment about 'the English don't care about the Union either with Scotland or Northern Ireland". Really? If we didn't care why do we fund the Barnett Formula that is far more generous to the Irish and Scots than to us English?' The Membership of the Tory party have been polled and place a higher value on obtaining Brexit than on maintaining the Union. Scotland will make it outside of the United Kingdom, as it is likely to be fast-tracked into the EU. If Northern Ireland leaves the UK it will be unified with the Republic and will automatically return to the EU. There are economic models which demonstrate how this would be economically viable.
4
1 chish 'Scotland will never make it on its own. England is its biggest export market and if it joined the EU it would raise additional currency (it would have to take the Euro), fiscal policy issues decided in Frankfurt by the German run ECB and have to create a border that doesn't exist now.' This is standard rhetoric from former imperialists. It was used to keep the Irish within the UK, but they will be commemorating a century of independence from the UK, currently have a higher GDP per ratio than the UK, a seat at the UN and is a member of the EU and is comfortable with its place in the world. Scotland can do the same. The Irish used to depend on the UK for 90% of its exports. Scotland, like Ireland will be able diversify its markets once it joins the EU. Today Ireland exports between 11-13% of its goods to the UK, roughly half of what it exports to the United States. You see, the Scots will not be trying to 'make it on its own' as you claim, but will be seeking to develop economically by pooling its sovereignty with other EU members and availing of the CU and SM. It is the UK that is trying to 'make it on its own'. It will not be smooth sailing. While the Scots are likely to be fast-tracked into the EU because they already meet many of the requirements due to UK membership, their economy will need to readjust. This will result in short-term pain.
4
1 chish 'As for NI joining Eire? It will never happen as the Irish can't afford the cost of the 6 counties (as represented by Barnett and its deficit) and they do not want their sectarian politics either.' One of the issues about Brexit that the Irish and the EU understand but , remarkably, the English don't, is that Brexit raises the issue of Irish unity before true reconciliation has been achieved in NI. With Irish nationalists about to become the majority in NI, many of them who were comfortable within the UK are now angry at the attitude of those on the other island towards them. Their rights as Irish citizens in NI are undermined by Brexit. They look to the Republic as an open minded, liberal democracy while the UK has become a introverted, ignorant and insular place. Its like the roles have been reversed. In the event of a united Ireland, many of the costs of running the place will be removed. EU and Irish government support will be used to develop the NI economy and to get it up to speed with its more dynamic southern counterpart. If the UK was to wean NI off its bloc grant over a period of say 10 or 15 years, then unity is viable. Brexiters would love to be shot of the place, so who knows? Of course sectarianism is a problem. But this is likely to diminish once the UK breaks up, in any case, and of course any future united Ireland must be agreed - the GFA guarantees that.
4
1chish Oh yes, I am indeed on a parallel planet to you, absolutely, I agree. I'm on planet reality, and you are on planet delusion. The government has no coherent policy on Brexit. The Tory Party, the Labour party are both divided, Brexit is not what the Scots voted for - the entire country is divided on Brexit. In NI, the DUP keep the Tories in power on a pro-Brexit agenda, even though NI voted to remain, with an even larger majority supporting the backstop. There IS no policy, there WAS no plan - the Tories are making it up as they go along. Presently, the Tories are electing a new Prime Minister, choosing between a liar, a bluff and a cad or a dunce. The liar, bluffer and cad will win because his bluster is more like how English Tories see themselves. Of course the Tory Party is represented in every region of the UK, but its membership is concentrated in certain regions and come from a particular demographic and economic background. Do you feel that is representative? Probably, because of course Brexiters have no problem with elites as long as they are not European. Nice try, but your point is obfuscation and does not address the electorate within the Tory Party. There was NOTHING subtle about my changing the word support to charity - it was DELIBERATE. English Tories who are prepared to throw the UK under a bus to get the holy grail of Brexit will of course view any 'support' as 'charity'...with those receiving it not 'appreciating' the English and all they do for them. I would advise you to steer clear of my deprivation comment also, as every economist and business leader worth his or her salt is predicting economic decline for the UK post Brexit. Of course, the poorest will suffer most... Such is Brexit.
4
I hope the UK can work out a way of keeping the UK's economy stable when it exits. The humiliation of having to return to the EU, cap in hand, seeking a deal is even embarrassing for me, a non-Brit.
4
@ Spacetrucker U Ireland maintains an independent foreign policy and is unaligned militarily. This because we value our sovereignty and has nothing to do with Marxism. It has its origins in a conservative Ireland, that was anti-communist, anti-British, anti-imperialist and anti-materialism. It is one of the only remaining legacies of that period of the early Irish state that remains intact. Ireland is now a far more outward looking, progressive and open country than the United States and the United Kingdom. It has a stronger democracy and a freer press than both. Despite all this, Ireland has strong relationships with both the UK and the US.
4
'Dublin isn’t big enough to become like London. There is nowhere near enough office space for a start. And that goes for Frankfurt and Amsterdam too' Too late. They've already set up in Dublin (and Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris etc).
3
1chish 'Now this may come as a bit of a surprise Soft Lad but the 160,000 Tory members are not the UK population and they are not the Government or Opposition that define UK policy.' They shouldn't be, but they are at the moment. It is they who will decide on which Brexiter gets to rule the UK with out a popular vote: 0.34% of the UK’s population will get to decide who is the country’s next prime minister. Recent research at Queen Mary University of London shows the Tory membership lives predominantly in the south-west, south-east and east of England. It is also overwhelmingly white (99%), male (70%), with 86% categorised as ABC1s with more education and better-paid jobs, and 72% aged over 45. The UKs future is in the hands of gerontocracy that is barely represented in the north of England or Wales, has a minimal presence in Scotland, has almost no working-class base and is insulated from the deprivation that will follow Brexit. These are the people who are prepared to destroy the UK to get the Holy Grail of Brexit. It matters not, what you think or feel. 'Interesting you don't argue with the huge extra support 'England' gives to 'Scotland', 'Wales' and 'NI'.' I have no interest in what Brexiters consider charity to another part of the UK. The next stage in English nationalism will be to withold this money also, and perhaps it will be the English who will finally dissolve the union, grow a pair and finally become a nation.
3
@GH2618 Many NI nationalists were happy in the UK until Brexit, but they can see the perfidy of Brexit and how it will lead to a hard border even though most NI people voted to remain. This will lead to a border poll sooner rather than later. Brexit has polarized the two communities in NI at a time when its at the cusp of a nationalist majority.
3
There is going to be a hard Brexit because the UK took Ireland for granted. It simply assumed that Ireland would leave the EU because it had no choice, and as one Brexiter told me, 'you joined when we did, you will leave with us'. Everybody in Ireland knows that. Little Englanders underestimated how much the Irish value their sovereignty. There was no way the Irish would mimic the craziest contortions of their former rulers by throwing themselves on the pyre of Brexit. Ireland is commemorating its War of Independence from the UK at the present time. Irishmen and women fought to get out of the UK because they were being ruled by people who expected Irish people to sacrifice themselves for the ambitions of Englishmen. We're not going to volunteer to do that again.
2
The banks will not move back to London as they need base in the EU. Agriculture employs 5% of the Irish workforce of 2.4 million. It is not the backbone of the Irish economy. The MERCOSUR deal is considerably less harmful to the Irish economy than Brexit is.
2
Again, I think you might have sent this to the wrong person.
2
@James-nw1oj Famous last words... On what do you base that nugget of insight? Positive thinking?
2
'Ireland’s days as a tax dodging location are finally coming to an end. Brussels is right to intervene in Ireland’s tax matters and the extra jobs coming to the UK will be well received.' So, you guys are leaving the EU because the you perceive the EU as 'oppressive' and resent it 'telling you what to do'. But you advocate they do just that with Ireland. I am so glad Ireland left your bitter little union a century ago.
2
Bollox. Ireland is obliged to pay into the EU pot just like every country. In recent years Ireland has been a net contributor to that that pot.
1
'Listen to the mouse roar. Ireland could’ve worked with the UK and use its veto vote to demand no border on NI but of course they have to look out for their German master’s interests.' The ignorance of how the EU and international trade works is perfectly encapsulated in this post, as is the arrogance of behind Brexit. Ignorance and arrogance. An unfortunate combination.
1
I think you might have sent this to the wrong person.
1
Have you see him there?
1