Northern Ireland Thread
- Thread starter Gaz.
- Start date
DUP will completely shit the bed over this presumably.
News this morning of a female police officer escaping a partially exploded car bomb on the outskirts of Bangor. Scumbags 
Edit: Not a police officer and thankfully not a bomb apparently.
Edit: Not a police officer and thankfully not a bomb apparently.
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Is it likely that violence will return if the border question isn't sorted out well ?
Hard to say. There's a tiny minority currently involved in dissident activity and they have very little support however people have gotten very used to there being effectively no border particularly in the border areas like Derry, Strabane, South Armagh etc which also tend to be very much republican strongholds so any change to the current status of the border will no doubt be actively resisted, not necessarily violently but I can't see cameras that read number plates surviving too long for example, especially without the massive border infrastructure of the pre Good Friday Agreement era. Any sort of fortified or policed infrastructure going up at the border will no doubt play into the hands of anti-GFA Republicans too. On the other hand, people have also gotten used to the relative lack of violence so can't see much support arising from the nationalist community for a return to the kind to stuff we had in the past despite their justifiable worries about a post brexit border.
Yes.
If the Good Friday Agreement is invalidated, either by direct rule, or a hard border, then there will likely be violence.
It sows the seeds for a potential return to violence one day, because it drives a wedge between unionists and republicans again, and again surfaces issues of identity that the GFA blurred.
no
violence on the republican side would have no support in communities - it would be idiotic
there would be no violence on the loyalist side as they are a group of drug dealers with no cause - what would be their incentive?
If there is a hard border it will kick off, you be naive to think otherwise. Growing up in a border town in the north, while living close to one in the south now I can definitely see it. Only if there is a hard border, which I doubt will happen. Brexit is a shame after the progress made in the North, it feels like an unnecessary problem nobody seen coming. That's in regard to trade, freedom of movement and moving on from the past. The memories of check points linger, and they don't bring back positive memories for many(including myself as a child). I think so much progress has been made in the last few years in communities. It only take a few to drag others back to the past.
Here's my solution to the border.
Put hard border in place and the UK pays everyone £10 & a free ice crean to all who uses it.
Who does not want free ice cream
Put hard border in place and the UK pays everyone £10 & a free ice crean to all who uses it.
Who does not want free ice cream
The power sharing government not being active is a big problem on top of a hard border being introduced.
Its a series of decisions being dictated to people that they largely voted against.
The current conservative governments record on Northern Ireland has been pretty shocking tbh.
Should never have gone into government with the DUP,
every political party in Ireland for a couple of decades has emphatically ruled out ever going into government with Sinn Fein repeatedly and loudly for good reason.
Them doing it while the power sharing government in Northern Ireland is suspended is just ...
Their total inability to offer any kind of concrete policy on the border in NI during the 2 years of campaigning and implementing Brexit is farcical.
The attacks on the Good Friday Agreement just top the whole thing off.
Whether violence would break out if a hard border was introduced is entirely dependent on how its introduced
The conservatives have a lot of work to do to sell it.
Its a series of decisions being dictated to people that they largely voted against.
The current conservative governments record on Northern Ireland has been pretty shocking tbh.
Should never have gone into government with the DUP,
every political party in Ireland for a couple of decades has emphatically ruled out ever going into government with Sinn Fein repeatedly and loudly for good reason.
Them doing it while the power sharing government in Northern Ireland is suspended is just ...
Their total inability to offer any kind of concrete policy on the border in NI during the 2 years of campaigning and implementing Brexit is farcical.
The attacks on the Good Friday Agreement just top the whole thing off.
Whether violence would break out if a hard border was introduced is entirely dependent on how its introduced
The conservatives have a lot of work to do to sell it.
A hard border would not only re-spark republican vitriol, it would also present a symbolic and physical target for republican terrorists. Beyond that, border smuggling would immediately become highly profitable too, which would directly benefit those republican groups.
It would be naive in the extreme to think violence & republican paramillitary activity wouldn't immediately increase upon the introduction of a hard border.
If the border returns, that’s the Good Friday Agreement, the reason for peace here in tatters basically so more than likely some sort of conflict/action will kick off, remains to be seen if it will be anything like before, although hopefully it doesn’t come to that stage.
You’d be surprised. The border is a massive issue here for Republicans and any sign of a British presence, border checkpoints etc wouldn’t go down too well here.
maybe I'm not gauging the feeling in border regions - I'm from Belfast myself
I'm not expecting a hard border though and I think it's highly unlikely we will end up with one
Brussels, London and Dublin have all said or suggested there will be no hard border - the only people who seem to want a hard border are the DUP as far as I'm aware
I know the DUP have threatened to pull support and some senior Tories have suggested there be a hard border but it would collapse the Government and be political suicide to impose it.
I don't see a hard border happening hence the lack of motivation for armed conflict - May has a job getting it through though but I think she will be under considerable pressure to impose a soft border which is common sense.
I'm not expecting a hard border though and I think it's highly unlikely we will end up with one
Brussels, London and Dublin have all said or suggested there will be no hard border - the only people who seem to want a hard border are the DUP as far as I'm aware
I know the DUP have threatened to pull support and some senior Tories have suggested there be a hard border but it would collapse the Government and be political suicide to impose it.
I don't see a hard border happening hence the lack of motivation for armed conflict - May has a job getting it through though but I think she will be under considerable pressure to impose a soft border which is common sense.
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The problem is that Unionists would rather be flushed down the shitter wrapped in a Union Jack than stand on a mountain of gold anywhere near a tricolour. Hell will be frozen over by pigs flying planes with ice ray guns before a Unionist agrees to a United Ireland. Its just not part of their identity.
It wouldnt be British soldiers patrolling the border like the past. It would be customs officials same as any port in Ireland. Ordinary joes, locals most likely.
what a clown...Thers no birder because its the same city in the same country you dipshit! Imagine him as prime minister. Feel sorry for British voters.
Hope not, but thats the problem with extremists, they are unpredictable.
Throw in some jelly and I think it'll work!
Loyalists yes that is true - Unionists - at least the ones I know are a more pragmatic crowd. Many perhaps would much prefer to remain in the UK however if the UK totally goes down the shitter the thought of a united Ireland will become more appealling. The problem is that many Unionists end up feeling forced to vote DUP despite mostly hating their policies and general attitude because they see a vote for another broadly Unionist party as a wasted vote due to the system being so polarised now which then leads the DUP to then be the voice of Unionism which is actually mostly not the case - every single Unionist I know hates the DUP.
For the record I have never voted for either Sinn Fein or DUP in my life.
Sinn Fein, on principle do not take their seats in Westminster- but they must be tempted to do so, just this once to negate the influence of the DUP, and, in the process, make hard Brexit an impossibility
They are not tempted in the slightest as it goes totally against what they believe.
I can almost guarantee it unfortunately.
It does but sometimes we need to put our principles aside for more important issues, alas they wont.
I agree - it would be a good move for them to do it however I guess if you do it once what is stopping you from doing it on other important votes - I guess they just think they have to make a stand and that's it.
If they do take their westminister seats and it still goes tits up they would be destroyed as a party and lose all credibility with the public and their hardline support. Its the same as this debacle within the DUP at the minute. The OO and the UDA/UVF stopped them in their tracks from doing a deal with the ILA involved right at the last second and now the DUP are looking like lying idiots.
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There is no appetite for a return to violence.
Correct - plus the dissidents in Belfast recently announced a cease fire - there is still a problem up around Derry though and there remains a hardcore support for the armed struggle there in some areas with the dissidents still being relatively active so my guess is that there would not be a sudden increase in violence around the country as virtually nobody wants that but you might get a few morons trying something on the Donegal border.
I wish that were true but thats not the case.
It is the case though for 99% of the population.
Yeah I struggle to see how it can increase much beyond current levels. Tensions would increase but I imagine more in the form of large scale protests and perhaps civil disobedience, defintely not a return to the level of violence and terrorism seen before.
I know mate, but its always been the 1% that took up arms.
We are entering dangerous territory with BREXIT but I still do not believe that any group that took up arms now would have much, if any, support from the population - that is the difference now and as a result it would never become more than a few guys taking pot shots at people rather than a full blown conflict.
There are a few republican dissidents but they are on their knees and with only the smallest of local support.
.
In my opinion there is absolutely no desire in mainstream republican support ever for a return to violence.
Now what the response of the loyalist terror groups to closer North /South links in the future would be is a different question.
Balaks I am not wanting this either mate I just know of certain noises coming out of certain areas if the UK should somehow prevail in their shitbaggery, which they normally do. I dont want it because Id probably end up going back to the states.
Okay Edgar, whatever you like pal!
Much less than 1% , but rightly or wrongly there was a measure of sympathy/support for the campaign.
That is gone now, people have moved on along way from those days.
We still have lots of bigots around and the empty vessels still make the most noise.
Sure lets go with that.
Well all I know is that if the shit starts up again big time I'm buggering off to Spain - and I dont even speak Spanish!