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

  1. Actually, it is the other way round. During the summer of 2016, Irish officials visited every EU capital and explained Ireland's concerns regarding Brexit and the border. They asked for support for Ireland when they went to the EU Commission to put it national interests front and centre of the negotiations with the UK - they got that, because the rest of the EU backed them. The Irish people north and south, including some unionists, do not want a hard border on the island of Ireland because an open border with the republic was the 'win' nationalists got under the GFA, a trade off for the NI remaining within the UK. Everybody was happy. Nobody is punishing Britain. The NIP was the UKs solution to avoiding a border on the island of Ireland. You will remember that the protocol was negotiated, signed, and ratified without much analysis by Parliament, so that Boris Johnson could claim Brexit was done. He then used that slogan to win a general election with a huge majority. However, he had no intention of implementing the NIP. Brussels and Washington have run out of patience with London, and are not falling for the chicanery required to deliver Brexit. The UK is not being punished, it has been stonewalled and had its bluff called. The UK is impotent. Poll after Poll has demonstrated that while Irish people aspire to a united Ireland, they do not want it now and they certainly don't want it in the context of Brexit. Unlike the GFA, Brexit means there has to be winners and losers, and unfortunately the Unionists are the losers because of Brexit - even though they generally supported it. Brexit is likely to bring Northern Ireland and Ireland closer together, economically, socially and politically over the next century and this is likely to lead to unity in due course. Nobody betrayed you regarding Brexit. Brexit died at birth in June 2016. The Brexit you were told to vote for could never have been delivered in the real world, and never will, because it requires the EU to act against its own self-interest. That is just not going to happen. The EU 27 do not need the UK more than they need the EU.
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  2. You can trade away with your neighbours outside the the EU, but you can trade better with your neighbours if are inside the EU. Don't forget, the border in the Irish Sea is a BRITISH SOLUTION to a BREXIT problem. It was agreed to so that Boris Johnson could win an election - he never intended to implement it.
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  3.  @brianterry8317  You are welcome to be outside the EU if you don't trust it, or as it seems, because you trust the ruling class in the UK over the EU Commission. However, Brexiters should not blame the EU for the consequences of Brexit, or because the UK is now a rule taker. That is what you voted for.
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  4.  @markwelch3564  The Rules are decided by the member states. Many of the rules of the Single Market, indeed the idea of the Single Market itself, were suggested by the British...
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  5. Culture war against the people? You people are delusional. The only reason Spiked hates Varadkar is because if stood up to the lies of Brexit and stopped a hard border appearing in Ireland.
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  6. Absolute Rubbish. The cynicism and bad behaviour came from Brexiters, who thought they could execute some sort of perfect Brexit without taking Ireland or the EU into account. They never expected Ireland to defend its national interests and wipe the floor with the UK diplomatically. It is difficult to see how Ireland is responsible for any negatives in this process when it is the UK that was orchestrating change, not the Irish.
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  7.  @davidpryle3935  Why would the Dublin (or any Irish) media be anything other than Pro-EU? 80-90% of their consumers are also pro-EU. And the Irish can see the benefits. There is of course “sure the paddies couldn’t have done it themselves” going on.
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  8.  @windowman929  Thank you.
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  9. Couldn't have put it better myself...
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  10. There is no 'prevailing narrative' in relation to the Nice and Lisbon treaties. There are just facts. Unlike the UK, referendums are a normal part of political life in Ireland. During the 2000s, they were used by the public to give the Irish government a kick in relation to domestic issues. In both cases, Ireland got protocols from the EU guaranteeing Irish military neutrality - that's just a fact; the Lisbon treaty was rejected, in part also, because the minister in charge of delivering it said on live radio that he had never bothered to read the treaty and could not explain why Irish people should vote in favour it. In fact, there was no information about the Lisbon treaty made available for the Irish people to base their decision on, so the Irish people rejected it. Having given the Irish government the kick it needed, the Irish public got the concessions they required from both their own government and the EU: the government provided the text of the treaty and an explanation as to why it was in Ireland's interests to vote in favour; the EU put a protocol in the Lisbon treaty with the support of other member states guaranteeing Irish neutrality. They then voted in favour, with a higher turn out than in the previous vote. That, my friend, is Direct Democracy in action. Not a 'prevailing narrative'. Farage laughed at our democracy, while we looked upon it with pride. In the UK Parliament is sovereign; in Ireland, the people are.
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  11.  @markwelch3564  The Single Market is fine.
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  12. What woke stuff?
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  13.  @ThatGuy-ky2yf  LMAO! You think de Valera was a liberal?? LMAO!
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  14. What you call 'gaming the system' is actually known as 'democracy' internationally. When was the last time you had a constitutional referendum in your country?
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  15. What's Anglo about him?
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  16. Its a commonly held myth in the UK. Certainly some roads and infrastructure was paid for by EU money, but not all of it as you correctly state.
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  17. If its an non-issue, why is it being celebrated?
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  18. I think she was against the GFA...
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  19.  @chriskost7291  Thanks.
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  20. That was when he came the first time. When he returned as a Bishop, he was a migrants. You sound like one of those people who confuses a four leafed clover with a shamrock.
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  21.  @alexdavis1541  I'm Irish, you can't bluff me. The Shamrock has three leaves, which makes it central to the St Patrick story. A four -leafed clover is not a three leafed one, is it? The real point here is you have no idea what you are talking about, and I don't even like Varadkar. At least know something about Ireland if you are going to critique it.
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  22.  @alexdavis1541  He was Roman-British, not that is nationality, if he had one, was in doubt. Your ignorance of Ireland indicates you are not Irish. And I look forward to your supporting evidence about being botanically confused.
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  23.  @alexdavis1541  Romano-British is a culture - he was essentially Roman born in Great Britain. His origin is essential to the story of Patrick. You tried it on about being Irish, and I know you're not, but if you want to believe otherwise, knock yourself out. If you have anything intelligent to say, get back to me, otherwise, this is your chance to slink off...
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  24.  @alexdavis1541  Its okay, we know what you are. Varadkar is no Indian, he was born in Ireland to an Indian father and an Irish mother. Way to go with the racism. Unlike, you I don't plan to engage in any hate speech against any minorities. I punch up, I leave punching down to the populists.
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  25.  @alexdavis1541  Ah yeah, Britsplaining again. The only damage Varadkar has done is through his ideological refusal to building social housing. Next year this government will be replaced and that problem will begin to be resolved. In the meantime, the toxic discourse that has become all the rage since Trump made it fashionable will be criminalised in Ireland. I'm fine with that.
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  26. I think you should ask yourself 'what am I talking about'?
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  27. The Irish took steps to protect themselves from people like you. The border will be in the Irish Sea.
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  28. ​ @gerhard7323  No, we will not be agreeing to differ here. You are wrong and you know it. Then you throw a dead cat on the table: It is none of my business what systems other countries put place to govern themselves - unlike Brexiters I understand that sovereignty doesn't just apply to my country, other countries are sovereign also. What business is it of mine, for example, that the UK has an unelected HoL with Bishops in it, no codified constitution that any citizen ever voted and an archaic FPTP electoral system in a multi-party state, which then lectures others on democracy. None, as long it does not effect me.
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  29.  @gerhard7323  I don't know a single Irish person who claims to a 'forensic knowledge' of EU treaties. But I'm sure I can find plenty who know more than you about them, so perhaps it just felt that way because you are so ignorant? Just a thought Do you envy Ireland's unique constitutional position in the EU? You certainly mention it a lot. What do you know of the Irish Constitution? Did you guffaw aloud when Farage announced that the 'Irish were made to vote again', as you were aware that to be made to vote again 'until you get the right result' is impossible under the Irish Constitution? I bet you did. 'I'm not a fan of the unelected HoL as it happens, but it is NOT a legislative body.' I would have thought that if you care about legislative bodies you would said something about the FPTP system because it is the legislative body. But no. Another dead cat, another distraction. Given the democratic deficits in the UK and the apparent democratic deficits in the EU, I would have thought the UK would feel at home in the EU? No? Perhaps the decision to the leave the EU was an exercise in displacement? Perhaps the English left the wrong Union? Discuss.
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  30.  @truckerfromreno Not according to the facts.
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  31. If Ireland has been hostile to the UK since its creation, why does it have reciprocal rights for UK citizens in Ireland? Brexiters have damaged the UK, not the Irish. They did nothing except defend their own national interests like any other sovereign country would. Brexit means that Irish people living in the UK actually have more rights than British people, because they hold Irish passports: the right to free movement in the EU being one of them. British people living in the Ireland are taking out Irish citizenship in their droves as a result.
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  32. If the Tory party is destroyed by Brexit, then leaving the EU for fake promises will not have been for nothing.
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  33. That's the whole point of the border in the Irish Sea, the Irish don't want a border in Ireland.
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  34.  @hayleylongster4698 Well, it was a bunch of Brexiters that got conceived, negotiated, agreed, signed and truncated the parliamentary debate on the NIP in the first place. Then they declared it a travesty and blamed the EU. You prefer them?
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  35.  @mogznwaz Sorry, but I didn't. The EU Single Market has rules by which everyone must abide - for example you cannot put barriers up to trade with your neighbours and expect free access for your own goods. Every trading bloc has rules. That does not make it a Single Country - you are confusing that with being in a Single Market for trade. Norway is outside the EU but is in the Single Market, for example. In due course, perhaps in another generation, this will be the landing zone for the UK.
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  36.  @brianterry8317  You should have started at home 1) reform your electoral system - find a version of PR that suits you. It is a multi-party state, after all. 2) An unelected house of Lords? With Bishops in it? In this day and age? Seriously? Reform it, or better still, get rid of this feudal hangover. 3) You need to codify your Constitution in one place and publish it. Every home should have copy. 4) The people are not sovereign the UK, Parliament is. Perhaps have a debate about that. 6) Devolution for England. 7) Do something about your print media. It does not inform you of the news, it promotes one political ideology or another. Your problems were caused by decades of poor domestic governance, for which the EU was scapegoated. You left the wrong union.
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  37.  @gerhard7323  The UK government is in the process of failing to deliver Brexit through negotiation with the EU. Anything Varadkar says is carefully choreographed with Brussels and it is obvious they were preparing the ground to soften the blow on the Brexit cult of the NIP concessions the UK is making.
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  38.  @gerhard7323  Ah yes, the mythical 'No Deal Brexit'...Brexit died at birth in June 2016. I also wish the UK had taken the no deal option, but it was a bluff that Brussels and Washington called. Logic dictates that there needed to be a hard border between two customs areas. In 2015, Ireland began too prepare for a hard Brexit, and asked your then PM how it intended to keep an open border if he lost the referendum. He and his civil servants laughed it all off. There was no 'Private bricking it' - this was the topic of conversation in Ireland. We hoped for the best but tried to prepare for the worst. You won't know this of course, because you don't get Irish media in Britain. But we get yours. That is why Ireland was better prepared for Brexit. There was actually a plan prepared. 'Barnier had already all but stated that peace in NI was a very poor second to the preservation of the EU's single market.' See that? This is a lie. Barnier was the EU point of contact during the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, so he understood better than anyone in Brussels what was at stake. It was understood that a particularly reckless and deeply ignorant wing of the Tory party had taken over in London and that its effects needs to be controlled. Ireland went to Washington in March 2017 - half the government and civil service was over there for the St Patrick's Day celebrations it seemed - and they got the ear of the cross-party Irish Caucus. Their influence saw the US soon reel in its rogue vassal. Are Brexiters that thick that they really believe that Irish-Americans who know they are Americans today because of a previous time the English shafted the Irish, would stand by watch the UK shit all over a peace agreement in Ireland that the Americans considered to be one THEIR great foreign policy successes? From that point on, you had a better chance of finding a Brexit unicorn than getting your mythical 'no deal'. This will be very difficult to swallow for you. You already know the Irish wiped the floor with the UK diplomatically, and you can't back up your dismissal of it, Like Brexit, its just 'wishful thinking'. One of those 'we will have to agree to disagree' moments you employ when confronted with facts. Brexiters thought they could force Ireland out of the EU, or they just assumed Ireland would up and leave. Some Brexiters like Lord Digby Jones thought Ireland sent 90% of its exports to the UK; Ben Habib thinks Ireland was 'all ours once' - a possession of the UK, in others words. It was all power politics. We in Ireland said 'f*ck you'.
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  39.  @gerhard7323  Yes, when the Irish stand up for themselves they are 'anti-British', Irish am familiar with the trope. You don't have any response when confronted with facts and straight talking rather than emotions. You do what all Brexiters do: kick up some dust and run way. 'Shame'. indeed.
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  40.  @gerhard7323 You only feel that way because you're not used to Irish people being right.
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  41.  @davidpryle3935  Well, I don't think the Irish media needs to dispel the myth to the Irish people, if that is what you are saying. The British don't get the Irish media, and they're the ones who believe it.
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  42.  @bbbf09  I disagree. I think we know exactly how Ireland would have done outside the EU. What point are you badly making?
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  43.  @bbbf09  Then I am in total agreement.
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  44.  @KJ_2020  the failure of the last two referenda to be passed.
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  45.  @KJ_2020  What are you talking about?
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  46.  @KJ_2020  They are celebrating all over social media.
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  47. What authoritarianism? The Irish people literally got to vote on it. Ireland is not the UK. Who says the Hate Speech Bill is unpopular? Is there a poll I am unaware of?
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  48. Hardly, NI would not have to contribute to the UKs defence, and the funding paid over to NI does not take into account the VAT and other taxes NI itself generates.. Most economists agree that it would be possible for the Republic to fund NI at a cost of about 2% of GDP. Ideally, if the NI develops economically over the next decade or two, because of its access to the EU market, it could significantly reduce or eliminate the cost of of NI to the Irish taxpayer.
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  49. You think you live in a democracy?
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  50. Best of luck with that.
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  51. It is in the UK. It is an archaic democracy, where public opinion is controlled have billionaire-owned newspapers.
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