Brexit.

[yellowcard]

Guardian

Foster swiftly put out a statement insisting that she would not accept any special status for Northern Ireland as the UK left the EU in March 2019.

Speaking at Stormont, she noted the speculation emerging from ­negotiations. "We have been very clear," she said. "Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the United Kingdom. We will not accept any form of regulatory divergence which separates Northern Ireland economically or politically from the rest of the United Kingdom. The economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom will not be compromised in any way," she said.

Charge of the Light brigade 2.0

Except for the fact that they want harmonisation of corporation tax rates and don't want laws supporting abortion and gay marriage. Hypocrites.

[Targetman]

Why do RTE have that wee bigoted prat Bryson on tonight, can't stand him for obvious reasons!!

[OgraAnDun]

I cannot think of any situation when Unionist obstinacy or threat etc actually was detrimental to their cause.They don't care who likes or dislikes or ridicules them,all settlements are invariably on their terms (during the GFA negotiations a United Ireland wasn't even on the table for discussion) and they have preserved the statelet on their terms for almost 100 years.

May cannot even push this through with their consent,even if it was forthcoming.To do so sets a precedent for Scotland and the City of London etc,which in effect would mean no Brexit.

I would bet money that there will be timber back on the border and after the usual huffing,puffing,moaning and baying at the moon from the various strains of Irish nationalism,they will settle down,meekly accept the border and more than likely persuade their electorate to endorse it in a referendum as well.

Apart from the clause stating that it can happen when a majority in the 6C want it.

[yellowcard]

Why do RTE have that wee bigoted prat Bryson on tonight, can't stand him for obvious reasons!!

RTE really should know better, he has no mandate yet receives a disproportionate amount of air time. His utterances are comical at times nonetheless.

[randomusername]

I cannot think of any situation when Unionist obstinacy or threat etc actually was detrimental to their cause.They don't care who likes or dislikes or ridicules them,all settlements are invariably on their terms (during the GFA negotiations a United Ireland wasn't even on the table for discussion) and they have preserved the statelet on their terms for almost 100 years.

May cannot even push this through with their consent,even if it was forthcoming.To do so sets a precedent for Scotland and the City of London etc,which in effect would mean no Brexit.

I would bet money that there will be timber back on the border and after the usual huffing,puffing,moaning and baying at the moon from the various strains of Irish nationalism,they will settle down,meekly accept the border and more than likely persuade their electorate to endorse it in a referendum as well.

Well they went from running the place by themselves to sharing power with the SDLP and then sharing power with the Shinners. It's only gonna get worse for them.

[sid waddell]

With no border deal, there is no trade deal.

The only way to keep a somewhat open border in that case is under WTO rules with the UK deciding not to implement tariffs on goods and services from the Republic.

My understanding is that under the WTO's "most favoured country" rule, if the UK then continued to have no tariffs for the Republic of Ireland, it has to have no tariffs for the rest of the world? That would absolutely cripple the UK's economy.

But this is a one way thing, and the UK would still have to pay tariffs?

Can anybody more expert in this area tell me - is this so?

[yellowcard]

I cannot think of any situation when Unionist obstinacy or threat etc actually was detrimental to their cause.They don't care who likes or dislikes or ridicules them,all settlements are invariably on their terms (during the GFA negotiations a United Ireland wasn't even on the table for discussion) and they have preserved the statelet on their terms for almost 100 years.

May cannot even push this through with their consent,even if it was forthcoming.To do so sets a precedent for Scotland and the City of London etc,which in effect would mean no Brexit.

I would bet money that there will be timber back on the border and after the usual huffing,puffing,moaning and baying at the moon from the various strains of Irish nationalism,they will settle down,meekly accept the border and more than likely persuade their electorate to endorse it in a referendum as well.

You must have been asleep for the last few weeks.

[T Fearon]

Not worth the paper it's written on.The UK and Dublin Governments will not even contemplate allowing a border poll,even though unionists are in the minority In Stormont currently.

An even worse scenario for Dublin than a hard border would be to take the North on board.

BTW I know one Catholic up here who is as staunch a Brexiteer as you will find,and I'm sure there is a lot more too.

Unionists "shared" power but always exercised a veto,hence Sinn Fein's decision to walk away

[OgraAnDun]

With no border deal, there is no trade deal.

The only way to keep a somewhat open border in that case is under WTO rules with the UK deciding not to implement tariffs on goods and services from the Republic.

My understanding is that under the WTO's "most favoured country" rule, if the UK then continued to have no tariffs for the Republic of Ireland, it has to have no tariffs for the rest of the world? That would absolutely cripple the UK's economy.

But this is a one way thing, and the UK would still have to pay tariffs?

Can anybody more expert in this area tell me - is this so?

I'm far from an expert but to the best of my knowledge, that is true. They could leave no border here and implement a border for everywhere else in the world, breaking WTO rules and leaving themselves open to retaliation from everywhere. Or leave no border here, and open the UK up to tariff and quota free trade from every other country in the world.

[Itchy]

It never ceases to amaze me how Northern Unionism always prevails.It's a concept I dislike as well.The Northern statelet itself (you know the one that the Brits intended to be a temporary arrangement) will soon be one hundred years old.They don't care who likes or dislikes them,and more importantly they stick rigidly to principles,even in the face of ridicule,criticism,insult etc.


In a perverse way their resilience and determination is almost admirable.

They haven't prevailed they have committed suicide and they deal will be done

[HiMucker]

Not worth the paper it's written on.The UK and Dublin Governments will not even contemplate allowing a border poll,even though unionists are in the minority In Stormont currently.

An even worse scenario for Dublin than a hard border would be to take the North on board.

BTW I know one Catholic up here who is as staunch a Brexiteer as you will find,and I'm sure there is a lot more too.

Unionists "shared" power but always exercised a veto,hence Sinn Fein's decision to walk away

I'd have no doubt you run in some weird circles.  I have yet to meet anyone like the "nationlists" you describe. 

[Rossfan]

Unionists "shared" power but always exercised a veto,hence Sinn Fein's decision to walk away

The ultimate veto by SF then.
One good thing to come out of this will be less and less Catholics/Nationalists happy to vote for the status quo.

[Therealdonald]

Unionists "shared" power but always exercised a veto,hence Sinn Fein's decision to walk away

The ultimate veto by SF then.
One good thing to come out of this will be less and less Catholics/Nationalists happy to vote for the status quo.

Why? Arlene Foster is doing and saying exactly the type of things that SF always accused her of? This will only strengthen SF's mandate and vote. Her bigotry is being played out in front of the whole of Europe if not the world. Again SF should just let her keep talking. And the whole status quo argument wears thin about Catholics and Nationalists when you look at the Nationalist representative results.

[Rossfan]

Could you explain your last sentence?

[Therealdonald]

The Westminster results.