Oh yeah, but you have to look beyond the theatrical hysterics of the Dáil.
The devil is in the detail
Devil in the detail
In fact I think it was the Labour Party that were the ones who refused the bank bailout... and then they were voted into power!
President of Ireland or President of the Republic of Ireland?
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Oh yeah, but you have to look beyond the theatrical hysterics of the Dáil.
The devil is in the detail
Devil in the detail
In fact I think it was the Labour Party that were the ones who refused the bank bailout... and then they were voted into power!
Duke of Marmalade
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Let's close off this rabbit hole quick!
SF played the populist line all the way through that period, for the depositors, against the banks, against the bondholders, against austerity, against the Troika.
But possibly if in power they would sing a different tune.
Not more subversive, but subversive from a completely different direction.
SF played the populist line all the way through that period, for the depositors, against the banks, against the bondholders, against austerity, against the Troika.
Actually it is not all that long ago that SF were trying desperately for respectability. Remember the water charges, they were in favour before they were opposed.
Now you are getting it.
It's one thing to beat the drum over what the government is doing (that's what opposition is supposed to do) , it's a different matter being in government.
And the track record, if NI is anything to go by, is pretty standard stuff.
Throw in the vote for the bank guarantee and you get a glimpse of the real politik at play.
Like I've highlighted before, Bob Storeys funeral was not an orchestration of PIRA Army Council but a gathering officially approved and sanctioned by the PSNI.
RHI was a SF minister endorsing a DUP public policy scheme.
"The times they are a-changing."
Duke of Marmalade
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There you go. But in fai
No credit for supporting the bank guarantee. David McWilliams' "best initiative ever" was very popular.
Still, I don't want my TDs shouting "Up the 'Ra" even if they are tired and emotional.
Colm Tóbín writes on Northern Ireland in the Irish Times today.
Baby boomer
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Good piece, although I wouldn't agree 100% with him. Incidentally, it was published in the Guardian a few days ago. This seems to be an increasing trend at the Irish Times - sourcing material from such as the Guardian and the New York Times - the big problem with this is that it's often the best material in the paper and its self-produced content is declining in quality.
The Independent seems to be a scrap book of yesterdays newspapers peppered with local opinion pieces.
The Irish Times is increasingly using the same model. That's what happens when newsrooms are operating on a shoe-string because Facebook and other social media outlets have cannibalised their revenue.
Interesting piece no doubt. But it reverts, once again, to the comforts of the partitionist mindset - 'talk of united Ireland is dangerous' , 'who will pay for health service', 'we don't want their sectarian down here keep it up there where us Southerners are comfortable with it'
In 1990's Germany began a process of reunification that was broadly welcomed across the globe.
West Germany, being an economic powerhouse, was landed with an economic basket case, East Germany.
I'm sure there were some in Germany who feared who will pay for it all?
It didn't stop them from realising their ambition of a United Germany. As I recall, the cost of German reunification was a distant second to the realisation of the German people's political aspiration.
The first thing that needs to be established is the principle of the people of Ireland, North and South, wanting reunification. We are still a long way from that, there is no date set for a border poll.
Although a border poll is the subject of much discussion and the notion of a UI has some impetus behind it, by virtue of Brexit and nothing else.
The second thing that needs to be established is what a UI would look like. Its one thing to vote for a UI, but pulling an article 50 Brexit style deadline for reunification would be disastrous.
My best bet would be, in the event of a Yes North and South, would be, along with British government, EU and US a sustained investment programme over a decade or so in preparation for a UI.
Identity issues, individuals sovereignty matters will need to be caressed into a UI. In other words it has to be shown that in a UI the sky does not fall in, Britishness and cultural identity are front and centre protected.
The social and economic issues of health, education, employment, housing etc will be the social and economic issues till the end of time. Identifying a more accessible health service in one jurisdiction while ignoring better incomes in the other is just political musical chairs. If life was so much better than in either jurisdiction it would be evident by people moving into the jurisdiction. I don't think this is the case?
At the time of re-unification the population of West Germany was 66.5 million. The East had a little over 16 million.
Economic, social and political conditions in West Germany were vastly superior.
Germany had been a united country in the modern era. It was re-unification rather than unification.
There was broad support from a clear majority for re-unification on both sides of the border.
Basically it is meaningless to compare the situation in Ireland and Northern Ireland to West and East Germany.
Baby boomer
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I quite agree. So much of the news is just press releases topped and tailed by jack-of-all-trades (and pretty poorly paid) journalists. There's no value in the "quality" broadsheets doing this - it's freely available online and nobody's going to pay for it. Neither is the click bait advertising model sustainable when so many outlets are doing it, and doing it better.
Where the broadsheets could add value - and create a product worth paying for - is through detailed analysis pieces, written by correspondents who know their topic, who can take the international stories of the day, and put them in an Irish context. To take an example, how will the looming Chinese property market crisis impact on the Irish economy, trade, employment, pensions and so on?
The other option to add value is through well-written, thought-provoking, opinion pieces. Again, the Irish Times fails to hit the mark and is disimproving rapidly. And the independent was never great to begin with. Actually, the opinion section of the Irish Examiner is simultaneously coming on in leaps and bounds, so it can be done.
But quality broadsheets are on life support and going downmarket will do nothing except buy a little time.
Duke of Marmalade
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Absolutely meaningless. The partition of Germany was done by the super powers, the wishes of the people were totally irrelevant.
A more relevant comparison is the partition of the Indian sub continent. Pakistan welcomed partition as Muslims were a minority in the sub continent as a whole. The Hindus were against it. This exactly mirrors the attitude of Protestants and Catholics respectively to the partition of our island.
I wonder will we see a poll in those parts about ending the partition.
Though Wolfie is right that for many the economics of the issue are very secondary. I am sure independence in 1921 was not the smartest thing from an economic perspective. Similarly the Celtic Tiger years, when RoI was the poster boy of the EU, didn't persuade Unionists to want to climb aboard.
And what a stunning success that was. Approx. 10 million people displaced, nearly 1 million killed and continuing violence in Kashmir.
The Brits make as big a mess on the way out as on the way in.
A remarkable piece, 'the spectre of Sinn Féin'.
Colm has his own ideas about Ireland and what it is to be Irish, the amazing thing is that he seems not to recognise that there are other visions.
In my view he demonstrates a classic example of what Edward Said calls the colonised mind.
Duke of Marmalade
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Are you arguing that without the partition of the sub continent they would have lived happily ever after? That seems to be the Wolfie stance - all our problems are the fault of partition.
You are sounding like Greta Thunberg. Did you know she blames the Brits on climate change because they invented the industrial revolution.
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@Purple I wasn't making a direct comparison between Germany and Ireland, that would be futile.
Merely making the point, as @Duke of Marmalade acknowledges, that the economic considerations often play second fiddle to nationalistic aspirations.
In Tóibíns case, trotting out the "who will pay for the health service?" is irrelevant unless you take the entire package of what a UI may look like and the overall standard of living.
Merely making the point, as @Duke of Marmalade acknowledges, that the economic considerations often play second fiddle to nationalistic aspirations.
In Tóibíns case, trotting out the "who will pay for the health service?" is irrelevant unless you take the entire package of what a UI may look like and the overall standard of living.
Please!! Don't try put words into my mouth.
Comparing the partition of India as a direct comparison to Ireland is also futile as the direct comparison of Germany.
While the Duke can make a reasonable reference on the religious grounds there is simply, like Germany, an innumerable amount of other variables to consider.
Duke of Marmalade
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I suppose there is no romantic appeal to uniting the sub continent, I doubt whether even Hindus yearn for the possibility.
It seems that just because when you look at Ireland on the map it looks like this cuddly teddy bear with a horribly red head that folk get sentimental for a green UI. But there also those who want to "Up the 'Ra" to the unionist majority who live in that red head.
Article on the costs/economic implications of a United Ireland
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www.irishtimes.com
It makes the point that the standstill costs would be €2-3bn a year, but of course there would not be a standstill, the evolving economic situation would be key.
Northern Ireland’s £9.4bn subvention and the cost of Irish unity
The North was one of nine UK regions to run a fiscal deficit in 2019
It makes the point that the standstill costs would be €2-3bn a year, but of course there would not be a standstill, the evolving economic situation would be key.
Imagine Duke, there wouldnt even be a Ra if the Unionist minority had shown their subservient allegiance to the Crown and not betrayed the democratic will of His Majestys Parliament by threatening civil war in the United Kingdom.
Loyalists? Traitors to the Crown, traitors to Ireland.
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