ODDS on for Devolved Power in NI?

[wrsni]

Election outcome - more of the same surely?

[difflock]

Darn it!

I intended "Direct Rule" in my title, not Devolved.

[wrsni]

Two trains of thought on "Direct Rule" Marcus.

 

Firstly, if they don't get the institutions back up again within the stipulated three week window, we could be in for a very long period of direct rule as once it's established there is much less incentive for any of the children (politicians!) to stop being naughty and actually play constructively (govern!). Some observers think that this automatically renders it a non-starter, I wouldn't be so sure, especially if the UK government are prepared to still pay the buggers.

 

There is another train of thought that both sides could sit back and happily hand over the reigns for a while and allow the UK to bring in a raft of legislation that neither side can agree on, same-sex marriage, liberalisation of abortion, Irish language act, welfare cuts, and a new budget. This would then allow both sets of wasters, sorry, "political parties" to take the moral high ground and waltz back in to office in a whiles time with their heads held high(???????) once someone else has sorted out the mess which they've both created over the past number of years.

 

But who knows really!

 

Such a shame for what should be a terrific wee country.

Edited March 5, 2017 by wrsni

[wrsni]

There is another line of thought. Irish unity.

 

Not a cat in hells' chance.

 

I wish the UK government would call the shinners bluff on this and give them the referendum which they claim to want as it would bury the issue properly for the foreseeable future.

 

As for the EU referendum, NI was 55/45, roughly the same as the Scottish independence result, which we are continually told was not a clear victory. Add in the fact that the majority who voted to "remain" only voted on an anti-UK basis (as opposed to pro-EU), Sinn Fein themselves have been strongly anti-EU for most of their history and only changed their stance when they seen it as an opportunity to "brit bash", and the situation there is nowhere near as cut and dried either.

 

My own electoral constituency had one of the highest "leave" percentages in the UK, but then us Ulster-Scots always have been that wee bit more astute!

Edited March 5, 2017 by wrsni

[flatyre]

There is another line of thought. Irish unity. This is gaining traction as Northern Ireland voted to remain. There is also quite a surge in the number of Northern Irish applying for Eire passports so they can retain the benefits of European citizenship.

 

Therefore, is it any surprise that in the election Sinn Fein did well, they campaigned to remain, and the DUP did badly, they campaigned for leave. Or, were the people of Northern Ireland just more disillusioned with the DUP former First Ministers response to the 'burn to earn' scandal which she oversaw but won't take responsibility for and which is costing the man on the street a fortune.

 

Politics is never easy to predict or understand, and politicians never accept responsibility for their actions, at least not sincerely, and they've usually had to be dragged kicking and screaming to make any kind of apology at all to the people they serve.

 

Ed

 

A united Ireland would just create the same bloodbath that ruined this province for decades when Britain ignored the fact that a large part of the population didn't want to be British. An even larger part of the northern population don't want to be Irish, and they have a**holes with guns too!

 

The thing about Northerners applying for Southern passports has very little to do with wanting to be a part of the replublic, its just more convenient, that's the great thing about Ulster, you can be Irish if you feel Irish, and British if you feel British, or take the best of both, and that's how it should be, unless SF and the DUP get their way. As for the results of the vote, Catholics though treated equally now, were for many years treated unfairly (what came first, the mistreatment that lead to republican violence, or republican violence that lead to Catholic mistreatment, depends on which history book you read.) Anyway Ulster Catholics have a lot more respect for the vote than Ulster Protestants, which is why they probably have a much higher turnout, I live in a small Protestant village and half the lazy gits couldn't be bothered to vote yet shout the loudest when SF make ground.