Messages

What is Irish culture anyway? Seems to me that large swathes of the 26 counties have a mishmash of West Brit/USA culture.There is now huge cultural differences between nationalists North and South (never mind the huge differences between both and unionists).The influx of foreign nationals to both jurisdictions seems to have further muddied the waters.

In the unlikely event of getting any substantial portion of unionists to agree to a United Ireland (that still no Dublin Govt wants) the absolute minimum requirement for them is that the current British subvention will be matched.

All these factors make a United Ireland not only unattainable but totally off the radar.The British and Irish Government have no attachment to the North and no vision other than peace (or an absence of violence).Why does anyone here owe any allegiance to either of these two governments?

What are these huge cultural differences?? Not sure i see them as clearly as you do.

Tothefuture in terms of sports i also follow team gb though "team ireland" first. England in rugby and soccer i like to see beat though the main reason is the media as they would sicken you.the rest i am happy enough to see do well.

We can not have common identity etc with dup in government. In reality sf either. The other reality is there is no viable party who would promote ni. Alliance were promising in that regard but dup sold them down the river with lies and people fell for it. 

We are stuck with what we have for the time being at least.

I honestly do believe the majority of the DUP/SF rhetoric is a front to keep themselves in power. nothing gets you votes like blaming themuns. you mention Alliance, what make you thin it was a DUP river sell (Any decision in particular), interested as a current AP member? Would you be keen to see main parties like Labour, FG, FF etc contest elections in NI?

I agree about dup and sf. I honestly think stormont is one large gravy train for those guys. The dup weren't going to stay in government as they were unsure about the ira council/ existence of ira etc etc. What happens then... It is confirmed so what do they do... They come back in!!

A further farce was the continued resignations however.... No resignations the week they were going to cut the number of aides so less money from the gravy train. Then the next week back to resigning! Health service etc falling on it's arse but the only week with no resignations was when less money was potentially going to go to their pockets.

The ap were sold down the river by the dup convincing people of the lie that they were the ones that got the flag removed from the city hall. They convinced an electorate and in addition long lost her seat due to them combining their seat with uup in east belfast of the back of that. The only good thing was at least long got more votes last election. Alliance party members could have died on that lie.

Anything that would promote real politics i would be keen on. I would still hope the ap can do something. I would also say that if the sdlp had a leader they could be a more real option but mcdonnell has done nothing,literally, for them.  Voting is purely tribal at present leading to apathy among people who wouldn't vote on those lines and tribalness winning on account of this.

Whether you do or don't favour a united ireland it will be a long time coming and in the meantime we have to live with, and pay for, the decisions of these clowns. It is infuriating and at current rate I don't think is sustainable because they will bankrupt us.

That being said i would prefer no tory candidates

(I was hopeful ni21 could have been a real option until it turned out basil was a sex pest!)

I don't think the Alliance Party where sold down the river, We made a decision, the right decision in MHO. The people who voted for Robinson who had previously voted for Naomi are the ones sold down the river by a lie as you said. On the whole at the last election the Party grew their support and it'll be interesting to see what votes we get at the next Assembly elections. I would suspect that we will see NI21 running for a number of Constituencies, however with Basil still in charge the brand is toxic to many.

What is Irish culture anyway? Seems to me that large swathes of the 26 counties have a mishmash of West Brit/USA culture.There is now huge cultural differences between nationalists North and South (never mind the huge differences between both and unionists).The influx of foreign nationals to both jurisdictions seems to have further muddied the waters.

In the unlikely event of getting any substantial portion of unionists to agree to a United Ireland (that still no Dublin Govt wants) the absolute minimum requirement for them is that the current British subvention will be matched.

All these factors make a United Ireland not only unattainable but totally off the radar.The British and Irish Government have no attachment to the North and no vision other than peace (or an absence of violence).Why does anyone here owe any allegiance to either of these two governments?

What are these huge cultural differences?? Not sure i see them as clearly as you do.

Tothefuture in terms of sports i also follow team gb though "team ireland" first. England in rugby and soccer i like to see beat though the main reason is the media as they would sicken you.the rest i am happy enough to see do well.

We can not have common identity etc with dup in government. In reality sf either. The other reality is there is no viable party who would promote ni. Alliance were promising in that regard but dup sold them down the river with lies and people fell for it. 

We are stuck with what we have for the time being at least.

I honestly do believe the majority of the DUP/SF rhetoric is a front to keep themselves in power. nothing gets you votes like blaming themuns. you mention Alliance, what make you thin it was a DUP river sell (Any decision in particular), interested as a current AP member? Would you be keen to see main parties like Labour, FG, FF etc contest elections in NI?

The best thing at present is to maintain the constitutional status quo (there is no other option) but instead of the divisive politics of unionism and nationalism, promote common Northern Irishness.

Indeed, and this shouldn't be a threat to anyones right to class themselves as Irish or British. We have loads in common, and obviously lots that we don't, but that should be celebrated not used to force apart

Interesting to read this. Would there now be competition between the GAA and Rugby for the Middle class?

Ye're only choice is between being an unwanted boil on the UK's arse or being part of an All Ireland political entity.
A go it alone independent 6 Cos. is a total non starter.
An bhfuil Gaeilge agat a Antòin.

Couldn't agree more in relation to an independent NI. Just not feasible. At present however how do you try to entice people that a UI will be better for us all? To be honest I definitely need convinced of the positives of a UI.

Quite an interesting read this topic for someone who would be deemed to be from a Unionist Working class Background. A few points to note. The introduction of the Civil rights movement has improved the life of many in Northern Ireland and was needed due to the terrible actions of the Unionist Government from partition. To say however that NI simply exists now to treat those who are Irish as 2nd class Citizens is just false. I call myself N Irish as my nationality. This encompasses I believe a mixture of being Irish and British, It might be a different Irishness than What SF want and a different Britishness than the DUP want but thats who I am.  I don't as a N Irish person spend my time being bigoted as was mentioned by a poster on this topic.
I find it disappointing to read comments about towns being classed as Sectarian holes. to categorise a whole town like Lisburn like this smacks of sectarianism in itself.
As for the idea of voting. I have voted for a Unionist Party once in my life (young and naive) and really can't see why anyone would want to vote for a Party like the DUP. However lets not fool ourselves into thinking that only Unionist parties are Sectarian. SF are as Sectarian a party as the DUP. They just have better PR at covering it up.

Genuine question...

What aspects of britishness do you embrace / want to embrace?

I suppose I have a lot of family through marriage who live in GB and although I don't class the Scottish, Welsh or English as fellow Countrymen I have always felt a closer affinity to GB than to the ROI. I dislike immensely the flag waving element that now comes with Nationality these days. When it comes to the Olympics etc it has always been team GB that I have looked out for. Recently however i really have explored my Irishness more.

Not a Protestant and certainly not delusional!!! I agree fully with your comments regarding the DUP. You really believe SF are not Sectarian?

Where the Counties not brought in by the Brits as well? Do they make no sense?

Quite an interesting read this topic for someone who would be deemed to be from a Unionist Working class Background. A few points to note. The introduction of the Civil rights movement has improved the life of many in Northern Ireland and was needed due to the terrible actions of the Unionist Government from partition. To say however that NI simply exists now to treat those who are Irish as 2nd class Citizens is just false. I call myself N Irish as my nationality. This encompasses I believe a mixture of being Irish and British, It might be a different Irishness than What SF want and a different Britishness than the DUP want but thats who I am.  I don't as a N Irish person spend my time being bigoted as was mentioned by a poster on this topic.
I find it disappointing to read comments about towns being classed as Sectarian holes. to categorise a whole town like Lisburn like this smacks of sectarianism in itself.
As for the idea of voting. I have voted for a Unionist Party once in my life (young and naive) and really can't see why anyone would want to vote for a Party like the DUP. However lets not fool ourselves into thinking that only Unionist parties are Sectarian. SF are as Sectarian a party as the DUP. They just have better PR at covering it up.

Cant see Sammy running for Leadership. The DUP have never had a head to head for Leadership and I really can't see that changing. Wonder if Arlene as leader and First Minister will see any change in Party Policy at all.

[in my life I have never been encouraged by the organisation to come and give it a go and my local club is a mile out the road.]

There is zero triumphalism involved in flying the tri colour or playing the national anthem inside a gaa ground.

Parading behind a band and playing the national anthem at the more important games adds that bit of pomp and ceremony to the occasion. That's about the height of it.

Any nationalist would want the Orange and Green to find a togetherness. The GAA is a fantastic local resource that could help break down a lot of barriers and improve community adhesion.

I can definitely see how community based an organisation it is. I do however feel that the organisation if it really wanted to reach out could do more. I don't mean to be having a go, in my life I have never been encouraged by the organisation to come and give it a go and my local club is a mile out the road.

Just out of curiosity, but what exactly do you mean by your not being encouraged by the organisation to give it a go at your local club? What form should that encouragement take exactly? Do you want them to come to your front door and engage with you personally? Have you wanted to go down to your local club, but people specifically told you not to?

It would be fair to say that The area I come from never really had the best of community relations in the past but has definitely improved. I was involved in the local Soccer youth team set up and we actively tried to encourage a greater cross community involvement. This involved us going into the local Catholic Primary School to advertise the club and by holding open nights in different areas to encourage involvement. I don't expect People to come and knock on my door but outreach is certainly needed I believe.

I see you are an Armagh man. I know as an Armagh City man that there is now a great deal of young Gaelic players also playing with Armagh City and Armagh Rugby club. There is also a lot of people involved in helping out across 2 or 3 of these too. I would be surprised if you did not get a warm welcome in any GAA club.

The Rugby club on a Saturday morning really is fantastic to see with kids from all communities getting stuck in. Long may it continue.

Number of points I had on the show.

I have to say I was completely embarrassed at the pride that Arlene Foster seemed to take in Our need for handouts from the UK government. Day by day I become more complexed by the ability of the DUP to actually get the amount of votes they do.

As someone who in the last few years has had a growing desire to explore my Irishness on top of my Britishness it is clear why we had The lower than expected number of those in favour of a UI at present in NI. For me this has to be down to the fact that both SF and SDLP have really failed to sell the benefits we would have from joining a UI.

Another point really not mentioned was the very low % of Protestants in support of UI. There is a reason that only 3% of Protestant people would want a UI at present. For many its simply down to Culture however for others who might well have contemplated it, the worst thing to ever happen in trying to achieve it is the aggressive politicking of SF up North. SF have a conception of Irishness that they believe we must all sign up to. Im very proud now to call my self Irish/N Irish but I feel that SF have created a stereotype of what they deem acceptable to be that i.e Tricolour, Irish anthem etc and this just isn't my type of Irishness.

Finally the most disappointing thing about the whole show was the fact that the NI poll was separated into Protestants and Catholics. How can we really hope to get away from sectarian headcounts  when we continue to promote them.

[in my life I have never been encouraged by the organisation to come and give it a go and my local club is a mile out the road.]

There is zero triumphalism involved in flying the tri colour or playing the national anthem inside a gaa ground.

Parading behind a band and playing the national anthem at the more important games adds that bit of pomp and ceremony to the occasion. That's about the height of it.

Any nationalist would want the Orange and Green to find a togetherness. The GAA is a fantastic local resource that could help break down a lot of barriers and improve community adhesion.

I can definitely see how community based an organisation it is. I do however feel that the organisation if it really wanted to reach out could do more. I don't mean to be having a go, in my life I have never been encouraged by the organisation to come and give it a go and my local club is a mile out the road.

Just out of curiosity, but what exactly do you mean by your not being encouraged by the organisation to give it a go at your local club? What form should that encouragement take exactly? Do you want them to come to your front door and engage with you personally? Have you wanted to go down to your local club, but people specifically told you not to?

It would be fair to say that The area I come from never really had the best of community relations in the past but has definitely improved. I was involved in the local Soccer youth team set up and we actively tried to encourage a greater cross community involvement. This involved us going into the local Catholic Primary School to advertise the club and by holding open nights in different areas to encourage involvement. I don't expect People to come and knock on my door but outreach is certainly needed I believe.

There is zero triumphalism involved in flying the tri colour or playing the national anthem inside a gaa ground.

Parading behind a band and playing the national anthem at the more important games adds that bit of pomp and ceremony to the occasion. That's about the height of it.

Any nationalist would want the Orange and Green to find a togetherness. The GAA is a fantastic local resource that could help break down a lot of barriers and improve community adhesion.

I can definitely see how community based an organisation it is. I do however feel that the organisation if it really wanted to reach out could do more. I don't mean to be having a go, in my life I have never been encouraged by the organisation to come and give it a go and my local club is a mile out the road.

As someone new to showing an interest in GAA in the last few years I have to say I welcome Jarlath's comments. I come from Co Armagh and grew up with no knowledge of the Sport. Having seen however through my Career the huge benefits that GAA can have on young people I have toyed with the idea of getting My own children involved in Our local club.

I have to say however my concern is whether it would encompass any political outlook. I have no interest in my Children attending sports clubs with flags etc and have been lucky in that the coaching or clubs in other sports they have went to have involved none of this. I fully expected GAA to be the same however having families members attend a GAA awards night at a different club I noticed Tricolours up for the Childrens ceremony. Would this be the norm in most clubs?

No a gaa club is as apolitical an organisation as you will probably see throughout ni.  Just case away any hang ups ye might have in yer own head. Welcome aboard and start improving your kids lifestyle now!!

Thanks for the reply, Ill head myself to a club game and take it from there.

[As someone new]

As someone new to showing an interest in GAA in the last few years I have to say I welcome Jarlath's comments. I come from Co Armagh and grew up with no knowledge of the Sport. Having seen however through my Career the huge benefits that GAA can have on young people I have toyed with the idea of getting My own children involved in Our local club.

I have to say however my concern is whether it would encompass any political outlook. I have no interest in my Children attending sports clubs with flags etc and have been lucky in that the coaching or clubs in other sports they have went to have involved none of this. I fully expected GAA to be the same however having families members attend a GAA awards night at a different club I noticed Tricolours up for the Childrens ceremony. Would this be the norm in most clubs?

What

I think you are someone 'old' i.e. not a newbie.

I don't get it?