How do the Irish feel about the United Kingdom owning one-sixth of what I think should be Ireland?

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Dingleberry

I think it will - and it is - slowly resolving itself. While NI (or anywhere else) should never be pressganged into changing its status against the expressed wish of a majority of its people, the demographics are slowly starting to tilt against unionists.

Over the last 30 years, the nationalist community has grown while, relatively speaking, the unionist population has shrunk. In more recent years, this process has been accelerated by the flight of many educated young unionists to England for better jobs and standard of living. (You might also speculate that they know what's coming down the line in the long-tern).

The RoI certainly has enough on its plate at the moment with the recession to even give a moment's thought to reunification. It'll come, maybe in 20 year or maybe in 50, but it's coming and everyone knows it.

Soul Jacker

What 'I should be doing something else ^' said. The UK does not own NI and it certainly can't be given to anyone.

The majority of people in NI who consider themselves British are descended from people who've been living there a good 2 centuries before the Americas were conolised.
So if we're to follow your thinking all those descendants from Europe should really give America back to the original inhabitants and no longer be known as the US.

As it stands today the majority of people in NI want to remain in the the UK.

Edit:

@ Anteck. So do the wishes of the people of Northern Ireland count for nothing!?

Ï‰Î¦Î®LÎ˜Î½Îµ

Im from the north n would consider myself a nationalist.I agree to a certain degree what you are saying but the fact is most unionists were born here to and they are entitled to their opinion as much as those who consider themselves Irish.I would love to see a united Ireland but I am prepared to consider it a long term goal.If Britain gave the north back to Ireland now I can guarantee you that many innocent people will be murdered.despite the peace process feelings here still run very deep and sectarianism is still a major problem.To unite Ireland now would result in almost definite civil war.something that the majority of both sides have had enough of.I do not agree that Irish americans are the only people that care about it.nationalism here is just as strong as it always was and the main goal is still a united Ireland.It is just that most people of this opinion are realistic enough to accept that this is a long term goal.I think that we must accommodate unionists and offer them an Ireland where they are treated equally to nationalists.An Ireland where they feel welcome and their concerns are treated like any other Citizen.There is still a lot of suspicion from unionists that will take a long time to change.You have to remember it has only been forty odd years since the civil rights movement at a time when unionists were running the show and nationalists were regarded a second class.We have had over thirty years of hatred and violence.In my opinion the biggest obstacle is segregation.I find that the most hardline are those people who have never talked to someone from the"other side" n even in this day and age some people in the north have never done that.A united Ireland at peace will only be achieved with the support of the unionist community and unfortunatly this could take generations to achieve.I do believe that one day this will happen,hopefully in my lifetime(Im26) and I look forward to seeing it,until then we have lot of obstecles to overcome

I should be doing something else

The UK does not own Northern Ireland.

The UK is a sovereign state consisting of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

None of these countries own each other.

Rory M

We have peace now, is more killing what we need?

AobhrÃl (Suburban Fairy)

Mixed opinions nowadays, before, well just google 'ireland the troubles' and you'll see how we felt. While I definitely want the six counties back as do a good few people in Ireland, the majority in the North dont. Most of them are Scottish planter descent and so want to remain in the uk, which I find odd considering most Scots people in actual Scotland arent thrilled about still being called 'British'.
However i do believe that we will be reunited, and soon

Friedrich Wilhelm

Adverse reactions.

slipstreamer

As you can tell from the answers so far, it is more complicated than you thought . Given the Catholic/nationalist birthrates growth, at some point N. Ireland may vote to rejoin. For now, the republic does not want the financial burden, and I doubt the North wants to give up it's healthcare and social services.

Northern Ireland is doing fine. There is a power sharing government and peace. Let things evolve as they will. Only the people of N. Ireland should have a say in this.

And can you all stop the knee-jerk American/Irish-American bashing? It is not as if no one from Ireland has ever voiced an ill informed political question about another country's politics, assured that they know best.

Chris Brown is the man!

because some irish people dont want n. ire. back. Northern Protestants are irish too, they want to remain part of britain, whats wrong with the way things are now, Dublin and Westminster have nearly equal say in n. ire. and thats the way it should be.

Leaine Ni Loingsigh

In an ideal world, of course I would like Northern Ireland and the Republic to be united, but it's far more complicated than that.

AnteK

i definitely want the North back
if it was meant to be part of the UK, it wouldn't be called Northern IRELAND, would it?
and Scotland, Cornwall, Mannin and Wales should all leave also.

@Rory:who says reunification has to involve violence?

Aisling xx

I think there has been too much bloodshed over the whole thing for N. ireland and the rep. to just join up anytime soon. Too much history, too many changes.

To be honest i'm not in any rush for the North to join with us. The UK can keep them.

Flying mop dog

1: The UK does not own Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is an independent country that is an equal member of the UK.
2: I think that it is up to the people of the Northern Ireland to decide what they want not up to us in the Republic.
3: National boundaries have always changed. The Republic demanding the North reunite is like Britain demanding that the US become part of the Commonwealth.
4: The Irish in the Republic generally don't want the North back because we can't support it and it would cause us too much hassle.

The only people whoever go on about a united Ireland are the "Irish" Americans.

lish

haha i feel that yes it should be a part of Ireland, but to go changing it now would jsut cause another war and the irish people are sick of violence,esp in the north cos they got the brunt of it. There are a majority of protestants in the north and they wana be part of the UK so therefore it will remain that way. Its not fair but its life unfortunatly. And no amount of giving out about the british will ever change it. at least we got out 26 counties, otherwise we'd ALL be english.

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