Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "Channel 4 News"
channel.
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
@bellascott6478 Since the end of the Troubles, Irish families have been researching their ancestors who were in the British Army in the Great War - almost every family seems to have some connection. Some of these families also had family members in the IRA during the War of independence. So you can see how complex things were in the south, they were not as black and white as they are in NI.
I have to say, under the old Stormont regime, up to 1969 or whatever, there was a great deal of discrimination against Catholics in NI. There must have been, as the Catholics never accepted partition and that is why they were seen as a threat. It is not like that now of course, there is much more equality. In Irish culture, we take every opportunity to better ourselves when we get it. I'm not sure that exists in Unionist culture. For reasons I don't understand, it appears that there some sort of 'shame' attached to doing what the nationalists do. It could a 'British thing', because British visitors to Ireland would often sneer at Ireland seeking transfers of money from the EU to improve the infrastructure of the country, and there was always a sense they saw it as shameful. In the run up to the Brexit vote in the UK, it became apparent to me that even in Labour held councils in the North of England there was a resistance toward applying for European money to improve and develop their cities for their people. Instead there was resentment towards the EU and even resentment towards Ireland for having a 'begging bowl'. I sense there is the same resentment in Unionist culture towards Irish nationalists for improving themselves instead of being stoic about their. Today, Irish people a proud that Ireland is now a nett contributor to the EU and others are benefitting from us.
Having said all that, near where I live in the republic, a large number of Catholic refugees from Belfast settled in the early 1970s. An old boy who worked with the Council in those days told me that the Belfast people were very forward in speaking up for their rights and entitlements, and were much less easy going the provision of services than the local population. Here put it down to Belfast people having to fight for the entitlements in NI. Maybe its a Northern thing.
If there is going to be a united Ireland, nobody wants it right now. Brexit is not the context for it. Left to its own devises it would be way off in the future, maybe after our day. But as i said in my previous post, there are other factors at play now. It will have to be confronted sooner or later.
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2