GAA must 'reach out' to unionism

[armaghniac]

Oh, and Armaghniac, here's me thinking only Loyalists referred to the 6 counties as Ulster!

The term Plantation of Ulster is the usual one. And how many orangemen in Monaghan tog out for a GAA club?

The point is if you are in favour of a place being ethnically cleansed and its people shunted off to Connacht or wherever and replaced with people whose loyalty is not to that place but another country, then you are not exactly in keeping with the pride in the parish concept that underlies the GAA.

[Maguire01]

Oh, and Armaghniac, here's me thinking only Loyalists referred to the 6 counties as Ulster!

The term Plantation of Ulster is the usual one. And how many orangemen in Monaghan tog out for a GAA club?

The point is if you are in favour of a place being ethnically cleansed and its people shunted off to Connacht or wherever and replaced with people whose loyalty is not to that place but another country, then you are not exactly in keeping with the pride in the parish concept that underlies the GAA.

Armaghniac, stop trying to back-peddle.  British occupation relates only to the 6 counties in relation to what's being discussed here - we're not talking about the plantation - ou slipped up, admit it. 

As for 'ethnic cleansing', who mentioned being in favour of that? Please provide the quote from anyone at this thread supporting eithnic cleansing, either explicitly or implicity. There's no nead for sensationalism.
What does that comment have to do with the GAA reaching out to Unionism?  It's not about one group of people replacing another!  It's about people living together in a pluralist society, about people who live side by side integrating with each other, something that's clearly a foreign concept (no pun intended) to a number of people here.

Oh, and i don't know if any orangemen tog out for Monaghan, or any club in Monaghan (i don't really see your point here,) but if they were up to the job, they'd be more than welcome.

[Main Street]

Most Unionists in the 6 counties don't see themselves as Irish and most have no pride in their Irish identity. Not only not Irish at all, not Irish as a second or even third choice identity.
Those figures are borne out by research/surveys done over the past years.
That's a sad situation. No pride at all in Irish music, Irish culture or Irish sports.
4% are very proud of Irish identity and 24% have some pride. Even amongst those, where would Gaelic Games fit in there?  still something to be despised or just about tolerated.
The only real  scope for GAA games to spread out more is for it to be played in all schools, to be actively on the sports curriculum.

[Yes I Would]

No surprise that the GAA and Irish culture  in general is seen by many unioinists as alien, considering for decades Irish culture and northern catholics were oppressed and subject to constant suspicion and ridicule. Cant expect this mindsight to change overnight, but it will, prob be the next generation though, who will perhaps have a  greater sense of Irishness, than previous ones who were raised on insecurities concerning all things Irish.
hopefully this can be reflected in their participation in Gaelic games.

[Maguire01]

Most Unionists in the 6 counties don't see themselves as Irish and most have no pride in their Irish identity. Not only not Irish at all, not Irish as a second or even third choice identity.
Those figures are borne out by research/surveys done over the past years.
That's a sad situation. No pride at all in Irish music, Irish culture or Irish sports.
4% are very proud of Irish identity and 24% have some pride. Even amongst those, where would Gaelic Games fit in there?  still something to be despised or just about tolerated.
The only real  scope for GAA games to spread out more is for it to be played in all schools, to be actively on the sports curriculum.

But for one million Unionists, the 4% = 40,000 (Monaghan, Fermanagh and Cavan all have populations of just over 50,000) and 24% = 240,000, a population the size of Belfast.  That's pretty significant, even if only a minority of this minority would ever consider getting involved with the GAA.

[orangeman]

For decades members of rge GAA have been abused going to matches by the unionist population who uphold the right of Britain to treat us like 2nd class citizens and as people who they believe to be subversives. This same unionist population still see us as a threat, see us as republicans who want to obliterate them.


So Maguire, wake up, smell the coffee - unionists DON'T want to integrate with us.

[orangeman]

Most Unionists in the 6 counties don't see themselves as Irish and most have no pride in their Irish identity. Not only not Irish at all, not Irish as a second or even third choice identity.
Those figures are borne out by research/surveys done over the past years.
That's a sad situation. No pride at all in Irish music, Irish culture or Irish sports.
4% are very proud of Irish identity and 24% have some pride. Even amongst those, where would Gaelic Games fit in there?  still something to be despised or just about tolerated.
The only real  scope for GAA games to spread out more is for it to be played in all schools, to be actively on the sports curriculum.

But for one million Unionists, the 4% = 40,000 (Monaghan, Fermanagh and Cavan all have populations of just over 50,000) and 24% = 240,000, a population the size of Belfast.  That's pretty significant, even if only a minority of this minority would ever consider getting involved with the GAA.

Maguire, why not start a thread on how we should embrace the eastern europeans / migrant workers who are here in even greater numbers than the protestant population ??

[Maguire01]

Is that not happening already?  I'm all for it.  I'd say giving out free tickets to said immingrants for last year's Railway Cup Final was a good start (despite the uptake), but let's keep it up - it would be an important means of integrating these people into our society.  Open the doors to anyone who wants to become involved!

I just thought that this thread was about the barriers, real or perceived, to Unionists becoming involved. (Just out of curiosity, are there more than a million immigrants at this stage?)


EDIT - i googled it! (and there's more protestants, at the minute at least - not that it really matters)

It is predicted that by 2020 the population of Ireland will have grown from 4.1 million to 5.3 million. The number of immigrants will have risen from 400,000 to 1 million and will account for 19% of the country's population.

[orangeman]

Is that not happening already?  I'm all for it.  I'd say giving out free tickets to said immingrants for last year's Railway Cup Final was a good start (despite the uptake), but let's keep it up - it would be an important means of integrating these people into our society.  Open the doors to anyone who wants to become involved!
I just thought that this thread was about the barriers, real or perceived, to Unionists becoming involved. (Just out of curiosity, are there more than a million immigrants at this stage?)


EDIT - i googled it! (and there's more protestants, at the minute at least - not that it really matters)

It is predicted that by 2020 the population of Ireland will have grown from 4.1 million to 5.3 million. The number of immigrants will have risen from 400,000 to 1 million and will account for 19% of the country's population.

I'd say there is easily a million immigrants !


Open the doors to those who WANT to become involved - I've no problem with that but unionists simply don't want to be involved with us at this point in time ( if they EVER do ).

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Most Unionists in the 6 counties don't see themselves as Irish and most have no pride in their Irish identity. Not only not Irish at all, not Irish as a second or even third choice identity.
Those figures are borne out by research/surveys done over the past years.
That's a sad situation. No pride at all in Irish music, Irish culture or Irish sports.
4% are very proud of Irish identity and 24% have some pride. Even amongst those, where would Gaelic Games fit in there?  still something to be despised or just about tolerated.
The only real  scope for GAA games to spread out more is for it to be played in all schools, to be actively on the sports curriculum.

But for one million Unionists, the 4% = 40,000 (Monaghan, Fermanagh and Cavan all have populations of just over 50,000) and 24% = 240,000, a population the size of Belfast.  That's pretty significant, even if only a minority of this minority would ever consider getting involved with the GAA.

You believing propaganda, where you get 1 million from?

[Maguire01]

Most Unionists in the 6 counties don't see themselves as Irish and most have no pride in their Irish identity. Not only not Irish at all, not Irish as a second or even third choice identity.
Those figures are borne out by research/surveys done over the past years.
That's a sad situation. No pride at all in Irish music, Irish culture or Irish sports.
4% are very proud of Irish identity and 24% have some pride. Even amongst those, where would Gaelic Games fit in there?  still something to be despised or just about tolerated.
The only real  scope for GAA games to spread out more is for it to be played in all schools, to be actively on the sports curriculum.

But for one million Unionists, the 4% = 40,000 (Monaghan, Fermanagh and Cavan all have populations of just over 50,000) and 24% = 240,000, a population the size of Belfast.  That's pretty significant, even if only a minority of this minority would ever consider getting involved with the GAA.

You believing propaganda, where you get 1 million from?

A very rough calculation - 2001 Census for Northern Ireland notes a 'population of 1.7 million' with a Unionist majority.  1 million is also generally the rough figure used to in the media when referring to the number of Unionists in Ireland. It's not scientific, but it's a bit better than...

I'd say there is easily a million immigrants !

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0329/census.html - that's as good as i could find from a reliable source, but yes, it's slightly out of date, referring only to the Republic, and numbers will be up on that.  But does all this number crunching really matter? You'd never be convinced anyway Orangeman, so it's all a bit pointless, pedantic and off the topic.

[SammyG]

Most Unionists in the 6 counties don't see themselves as Irish and most have no pride in their Irish identity. Not only not Irish at all, not Irish as a second or even third choice identity.
Those figures are borne out by research/surveys done over the past years.
That's a sad situation. No pride at all in Irish music, Irish culture or Irish sports.
4% are very proud of Irish identity and 24% have some pride. Even amongst those, where would Gaelic Games fit in there?  still something to be despised or just about tolerated.
The only real  scope for GAA games to spread out more is for it to be played in all schools, to be actively on the sports curriculum.

Where did those figures come from? Genuine question.

[Main Street]

Where did those figures come from? Genuine question.

As distinct from your disingenuous questions 

http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/results/polatt.html#identity

[orangeman]

Where did those figures come from? Genuine question.

As distinct from your disingenuous questions 

http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/results/polatt.html#identity

This is getting ridiculous ! 

[SammyG]

Where did those figures come from? Genuine question.

As distinct from your disingenuous questions 

http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/results/polatt.html#identity

Very interesting link but I can't see any mention any of the figures you've quoted. Can you tell me what section they're in?