Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "Post-Brexit border reignites tensions in Northern Ireland | Focus on Europe" video.

  1. They don't have a veto on a united Ireland though.
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  2.  @markaxworthy2508  Under the GFA, it is Dublin's job to speak up for NI nationalists. Dublin did that. London's job is to speak up for Unionists. It betrayed them. Stop blaming everybody else, Brexit is the problem here not the Protocol.
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  3. That should work. After all, the two ethnic groups in Northern Ireland are famous for working together and having excellent relations.
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  4.  @markaxworthy2508  It is covered by the GFA, it is the whole point of one of the strands of the relationships outlined in it. One of the roles of Dublin is to use its position to represent the best interests of Irish nationalists with London. Unionists would not trust Dublin to represent their interests with London, and why would they? They view the Irish as the cause of all their problems through existing. See the strand that deals with Dublin -London relationships (east-west I think it is called in the agreement). I think it is strand 3. It is difficult to see how how Dublin and Brussels could have saved the DUP from themselves when they explicitly sought the hardest of hard Brexits, a view that was not in keeping with the majority - NI voted to remain after all. Remember, the DUP did not support the backstop, which would have avoided all of this nonsense. They never supported the GFA either, but its the agreement that is saving them from being abandoned by London. I guarantee you Dublin did not 'forget' the unionists. We watched them, awestruck, as they continued to dig a deeper hole for themselves and increased their hostility towards Dublin for having the cheek to defend the open border in Ireland. They provided confidence and supply to the May government and enjoyed their influence, thumbing their nose at civic nationalists. Their strategy was to get that border hardened at a time when nationalists were at the cusp of becoming a majority, it didn't cost them a thought. It was a major strategic error and now the DUP is on its last legs, by the look of it, because it all backfired when Boris lied to them. There is nothing wrong with the Protocol in terms of the Act of Union, the British courts have told us that. The problem is Brexit and the decision to leave the Single Market and Customs Union. It means in NI there has to be a loser and that makes it incompatible the constructive ambiguity of the GFA. Tories are too thick to know about stuff like that, but the DUP knew. Some moderate unionist voted to remain because of it. One of the characteristics of Brexit, or at least its supporters, is that the problems it throws up are always for somebody else to solve. The problem with it is that others who had nothing to do with it are required to sacrifice their best interests in order for it to work smoothly. Either the EU sacrifices its Single Market or Ireland leaves it. Nobody in Ireland or the EU voted for that. It won't happen. 'The newly introduced fly in the ointment was the EU's requirement to protect its internal market, which required border checks regardless of the Agreement.' You cannot have access to the Single Market and have regulatory divergence at the same time. World trade is more about aligning regulations than removing tariffs these days. On of the fundamentals of world trade is the requirement of checks with third countries. This was not 'newly' introduced, Brexiters in their pompous arrogance believed they could have their cake and eat it. They engage in whinging victimhood when they discover they can't have their cake and eat it.
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  5. Under the Good Friday Agreement, the English cannot give back Northern Ireland. Only the people of Northern Ireland can make that decision.
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  6.  @eb6303  'An island which speaks the same language from North to South, but still manages to have its oppositions on a relatively small area: the entire island of Ireland North + South is 84,421 km2 and doesn't even manage to feel united... But we're going to be united in a EU of 4 476 000 км² with dozen of diferent languages, different religions, and identities... Interesting.' Wow! Nice touch of Gallic arrogance there - I won't be accusing you knowing too much about the subject that is for sure. How could you not know the problem in Northern ireland revolves around two identity groups contesting over the same territory? Unionists in Northern Ireland have a British identity. The rest of us have an Irish identity. The reason Ireland speaks English is because of colonisation and the Unionists are the last vestige of the colonisers. The peace process in Northern Ireland was founded on the notion that people can identify and as Irish or British, or Irish and British but would share an overarching European Union identity built on shared values. That was working - a younger generation was breaking down barriers with their peers - until Brexit disrupted the process, Brexit forces people to choose a side. The EU membership of Ireland and the UK was the cornerstone of the entire project, now one party is gone. Your post is an example of what happens when you start with a conclusion and work backwards. Who is seeking a 'Celtic unity'? I have no idea what you are talking about there.
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  7. They can be British and Irish in a united Ireland.
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  8. When the British from NI go to England they are treated like Irish people and they hate that.
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  9. Because loyalists believe if they say something, then it must be true. Evidence and facts are not required.
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  10. Ireland does want to integrate, but it wants to do it properly. It is it done properly, there will be no security issue. Brexit is not the right context for unity though.
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  11. If you think the problems in Northern Ireland are religious, then you don't understand NI at all. It is about identity.
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  12.  @eb6303  I understand that euroscepticisim is not uniquely British (in Britain is mainly and English issue), but that does not mean that eurosceptics across the bloc want to LEAVE the EU or to break it up like the Brexiters do. Brexit makes a united Ireland more logical and likely over time. Any united Ireland would have to be agreed by the people of both parts of the island and Unionists, who would oppose it, would have to be accommodated - that will be no easy task. But they face a perfect storm: disinterest from London in maintaining the union if it means not getting Brexit; the nationalist population becoming the majority in Northern Ireland (though most are happy to stay in the UK for now); economic unification with the republic of Ireland; and the break up of the United Kingdom which is actually taking place very slowly right now. I'm from the republic. I also wish a peaceful solution will be found. The European Union and the United States will be important players in facilitating a united Ireland in the future.
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  13.  @markaxworthy2508  No, I can't, but unionists would not want Dublin speaking for them. The whole point of strand 3 is to give government to government lines of communication for the two sides in NI
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  14.  @markaxworthy2508  Nationalist interests and Unionist interests contradict one another, and while unity is an aspiration, preservation of the GFA is paramount. In that regard somebody needed to speak up for nationalists. The DUP and London did not do it, but somehow it is Dublin job to square the circle for unionists and Brexiters. Brexit creates only winners and losers in NI. Post partition thousands of protestants left the Irish Free State with the outgoing administration, others left because they could not tolerate living under Irish rule while many left for economic reasons, just like Catholics. Today the protestant population is on the increase in the South, and it is a progressive forward thinking society. Protestants are far from being the oppressed minority often portrayed by the unionists. Besides, Brexit is hardly the context for Irish unity in any case.
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  15. No, they'll kill Catholics. Loyalists always kill Catholics when they feel threatened.
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  16. Their only issue is that in supporting Brexit, they assumed it was nationalists who would be the big losers not themselves.
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  17. Loyalists would be treated as equals in a united Ireland. They would never tolerate such oppression.
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  18. They're British.
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  19.  @bushtrash2286  They call themselves British. Has the British army lost its love of shooting civilians in the back?
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