1 Million Voices for Irish Unity

[Applesisapples]

.....and as such I am not a member. I really am sorry if that is a disappointment to you.

I'm absolutely shattered at that news. 
There I was  for years waking up every morning and thinking how great a place the world was with Nally Stand being a member of Sinn Féin.
To have all that taken away from me in one go is too much for any man to bear.

Get over yerself buicín - No one gives a hoot whether you're a Shinner or not. You just seem to know an awful lot about them and their activities and are forever defending them here. If it walks like a duck and all that.
I presume you are also well versed in the doings of the SDLP, UUP, DUPes etc etc and can give chapter and verse of their activities too

I'd love to believe you don't care, but your last two or three posts directed at me, over two different threads, are all about me supposedly being a member of SF. I've told you about a week ago that I'm not a member yet here you are still whining about it....move on like a good man 

Jeez I thought you were wee Barry!

[Milltown Row2]

I think we'll get the United Ireland soon, keep closing the motorway seems to be the best way to do it.

[Maguire01]

I think we'll get the United Ireland soon, keep closing the motorway seems to be the best way to do it.

Yes, look at how well it worked when the last lot did it!

[turk]

Meel-yon voic-ess!!!

[stibhan]

1 Million Voices for Irish Unity is firstly an overambitious project and secondly a complete embarrassment on Facebook and Twitter. They misquote constantly and fill timelines with populist nonsense and quote vague epigrams from figures far removed from any relevance to the debate.

Anyway I think one of the major drawbacks in the reunification debate has been that people see the social, cultural, political and economic systems of the 6 and 26 counties in oppositional terms.

So, when Arlene Foster, who completely bested Alex Maskey in the debate earlier this year on the Nolan Show, decided to mention that the republic's health system was nowhere near as good as the north's (a point hard to argue with prima facie), she failed to recognise that adding upwards of one and a half million people to a political system (especially given that they are used to certain social securities) would drastically affect the makeup of southern politics. It would not necessarily be a system based on either the NHS or the HSE, but a democratically agreed-upon alternative.

[Maguire01]

1 Million Voices for Irish Unity is firstly an overambitious project and secondly a complete embarrassment on Facebook and Twitter. They misquote constantly and fill timelines with populist nonsense and quote vague epigrams from figures far removed from any relevance to the debate.

Anyway I think one of the major drawbacks in the reunification debate has been that people see the social, cultural, political and economic systems of the 6 and 26 counties in oppositional terms.

So, when Arlene Foster, who completely bested Alex Maskey in the debate earlier this year on the Nolan Show, decided to mention that the republic's health system was nowhere near as good as the north's (a point hard to argue with prima facie), she failed to recognise that adding upwards of one and a half million people to a political system (especially given that they are used to certain social securities) would drastically affect the makeup of southern politics. It would not necessarily be a system based on either the NHS or the HSE, but a democratically agreed-upon alternative.

Yes, but it's not about what system you can agree on, but what system you can afford.

[stibhan]

Again, seeing these things in isolation hardly helps either. It is genuinely difficult to envisage what shape an All-Ireland economy would take and it wouldn't just be a simple balance sheet between north and south: even within the current setup, economic forecasts are more hit than miss. So envisaging an Irish national health system would obviously depend on the island's economic make-up also, something which is very difficult to reliably predict.

[armaghniac]

AThe problem is that the 6 counties is a public spending sponge with little in the way of revenue. Anything else is a mere point of detail.

[stibhan]

AThe problem is that the 6 counties is a public spending sponge with little in the way of revenue. Anything else is a mere point of detail.

I think that's a fair observation but it is a failed economic entity because it's a failed political entity. There is no surprise in retrospect that the sectarian government which dominated for 50 years absolutely dismantled the economy and the linen, rope and ship industries collapsed after partition.

For the time being, Cameron, Robinson and Foster can exploit the dividends of the peace process with inward investment and 'the success story' but it's a narrative that will become tired. When the money dries up, as it eventually will, what indigenous industries are there left?

[Maguire01]

AThe problem is that the 6 counties is a public spending sponge with little in the way of revenue. Anything else is a mere point of detail.

I think that's a fair observation but it is a failed economic entity because it's a failed political entity. There is no surprise in retrospect that the sectarian government which dominated for 50 years absolutely dismantled the economy and the linen, rope and ship industries collapsed after partition.

I don't think you can point all of the blame for the economic state of NI at the hands of the unionist government. A few other relevant factors:
1) How many western 'countries' have managed to retain the heavy industries they had 100 years ago?
2) In the 70s/80s/90s, part of the republican strategy was to try and make NI a non-viable entity. Bloody Friday, for example, was hardly hosting an international investment conference with the British Prime Minister.

[stibhan]

AThe problem is that the 6 counties is a public spending sponge with little in the way of revenue. Anything else is a mere point of detail.

I think that's a fair observation but it is a failed economic entity because it's a failed political entity. There is no surprise in retrospect that the sectarian government which dominated for 50 years absolutely dismantled the economy and the linen, rope and ship industries collapsed after partition.

I don't think you can point all of the blame for the economic state of NI at the hands of the unionist government. A few other relevant factors:
1) How many western 'countries' have managed to retain the heavy industries they had 100 years ago?
2) In the 70s/80s/90s, part of the republican strategy was to try and make NI a non-viable entity. Bloody Friday, for example, was hardly hosting an international investment conference with the British Prime Minister.

The first point is partially valid but I would suggest that a large amount of those countries were able to foster different industries in order to offset the balance, something which the north appeared to alleviate by continually swelling the public sector.

As for the 2nd point, I'm not sure you can divide the existence of a republican strategy either from partition or from the Unionist government's strategy. Even allowing for the point that the north was 'made' a non-viable entity by the IRA, their campaign can only be considered a response to the social and economic discrimination that the Orange State fostered. Whether you think that campaign was a logical or proportionate response is irrelevant: it was a 'non-viable entity' for 40% of its population from the start.

[armaghniac]

The objective of republicans should have been to achieve a united Ireland, not just destabilize NI. There wasn't much thinking on actually doing this.

[J OGorman]

Meel-yon voic-ess!!!

brilliant..i sing the thread title everytime I see it 

[turk]

Meel-yon voic-ess!!!

brilliant..i sing the thread title everytime I see it 

Excellent!! Well worth a look at the video - you have to go about 3 minutes in. Ha ha ha it's class

[Jim_Murphy_74]

All of the above parties are in favour of a United Ireland, so more like 4 Million people.

Yep, they all at least say they are in favour of it. Just don't expect the likes of the self-proclaimed "Republican Party" or the self-proclaimed "United Ireland Party" to actually do anything to advance it though.

So 3 Million are in favour of status quo?

/Jim