@Jack Moss: so the UVF weren’t spraying ‘peace or protocol UVF’ all over Belfast? Simon Coveney didn’t have a bomb hoax when he went north, then had multiple threats? Unionists politicians didn’t stand in front of angry crowds for months and spout rhetoric like ‘nationalists take and unionists give, and we have nothing left to give’? Just so you know, a customs check isn’t a border, as the courts ruled. However, physical infrastructure on the partition line contravenes the good friday agreement.

@Eoin .h: The only people that wanted a border was the EU . It’s a EU border . The Uk would have free trade with anyone . The border was put up by the Irish state in 1923 when they added tariffs to all goods imported from the UK. Up went the border custom points so the 26 counties could make money . The British and unionists were against a border . They believed the 26 counties would eventually come back into the UK and any border would prevent that from happening. 90 odd yrs later the Irish state demands that there can’t be a border on the island that they insisted having in 1923 to make money for the new Irish state .

@Jack Moss: haha jack you got absolutely rinsed here you couldn’t refute one of Eoins points, he made you look like the deluded clown you are!

@Jack Moss: complete rubbish

@Jack Moss: are you on drugs

@Jack Moss: burn everything except the coal

@joe moody: Jack Moss, or Tommy Whelan, as he is also called, gets his brain handed back to him after every debate on here. He’s an ex British soldier that has been conditioned to think of Queen and Country. He thinks the British civilised the word with their empire. Rather than pillaging it under the banner of the butchers apron.

@Pat Corr: *world, not word.

@Pat Corr: 100%..They planted their silly flag in the soil of another countey after conquering them, exploit the people, enslave them, drain their resources and if they were lucky they would build a school or hospital and say they civilised the country.

@Jack Moss: Ah if things were only that simple. The customs post was to show clearly that the Free State was a separate country to the UK.
Tariffs were added by the UK and responded to by the Free State government.
UK wanting free trade, it had free trade and walked away from it.

@Troll Hunter: They drew a line under and moved forward to cushy jobs as MLAs. Both laughing at their electorate that they had instilled sectarian hatred that would see them elected. In the 50s and early 60s the two communities were coming together particularly the younger generation. The damage done by Paisley, McGuinness and Adams will take a long time to heal.

@Vincent Alexander: don’t forget the loyalist paramilitaries Vincent,and the British army, and the British secret service while you are at it

@Jb Walshe: It was mainly SF/PIRA followed by DUP/UVF that prevented peace being achieved prior to the GFA. Paisley, McGuinness and Adams also got too much media attention to spew their sectarian propaganda.

@Jack Moss: I suppose it would be grand if Russia invaded England, partitioned a part of it to keep it yeah ?

@Troll Hunter: I didn’t fight to keep anything British myself and my comrades served in NI to make it a safer place and stop people from getting killed by terrorists. Never did I or my comrades ever go out onto the streets of NI to kill people . 21 bomb disposal officers were killed in NI . Many of them were killed in Nationalist areas dealing with IEDs that was left by loyalist terrorist organisations . Many more were left blind and seriously injured. Soldiers served in NI to suppress a terrorist insurgency and defend the rights of the people of NI to self determination by a democratic process .

@Troll Hunter: Both islands was invaded and colonised by the Normans in 1066 and 1169 . The Normans ruled Ireland to 1541. There was no 32 county Irish nation before 1169 . It was an island divided up into 5 provinces that was broken up into 150 kingdoms that was knocking the Sh.t. Out of each other . It wasn’t even likely that Ireland was to become one country because it never was one country before 1169 . Ireland only became a 32 county Irish nation in what is the UK today . Every country that exists in the world has a history that involves other countries. Fifty yrs after independence you voluntarily gave your sovereignty to s foreign power in Europe for financial gain . You didn’t even last 50 yrs as an independent sovereign nation .

@Jack Moss: Ffs Jack Catholics in NI did not have democracy until the GFA, the GFA was a result of the Catholic fight for freedom.
Believe it or not, I have huge respect for anyone who puts on a soldiers uniform in any country, especially if they believe it’s for the right reason.
Also believe it or not, I don’t hate you, nor British soldiers and not even the SAS. I do despise many things they have done, prob will never forgive some, but also totally accept reality and unfortunately very few good things happens in wars. It’s a nasty business that never should happen. But for most normal people once war is over they accept the peace and get on with it. Is the objective of war to win and have peace ?

@Jack Moss: Shouldn’t have put a border there in the first place then. Britain went on to use these tactics in their other former colonies when they saw it was all falling apart so that they could cut and run and leave the mess that they had left behind them.

@John Moore: They didn’t put up the border the new Irish state did in 1923 to make money . Read comment above .

@Jack Moss: you have a very sad revisionist version of history. You seem to enamored by the British, a country that had been one of the major contributors to slavery, to illegal occupation of countries across their so called British Empire.

@Jack Moss: you and your geographically challenged kind will eventually get the message that you can’t go into other countries terrorise, murder, enslave anymore.

@Jack Moss: if you actually believe that Jack, you really need help

@Jack Moss: south Antrim UDA are still active,still selling drugs,still terrorising their own community.
Loyalist paramilitaries did not decomission

@Jack Moss: you can feck right off ,you were a occupational force whose sole job was the surpression of the catholic community.
A shocking stain on your own history

@Troll Hunter: The unity project is valid, only if it is clearly progressed on the basis of full respect for both cultures, with no hangover of domination either way. The descendants of the plantations are here to stay, and need to be reassured that they and their kin can preserve their British status, if they so wish, and all that goes with that.
And that is not a huge problem, as it has been done ever since 2022, in the Free State/ Republic, and no one was obliged to swear an oath to abandon their British heritage.
So this fact just needs to be highlighted to those who need that reassurance. Plus the reality, that the combined economy actually needs the enlarged population to thrive for all who live here, regardless of creed or colour.

@damien leen: Was St Patrick not taken as a slave to Ireland?

@Jack Moss: wrong, wrong, the people of Ireland were Irish, under British rule, the people were upset because their lives were turned upside down, but when the British killed the leaders of 1916, the people felt guilty and angry with the British empire, it reminds them of the length a empire will go to stay in power, when they send general Maxwell the queens right hand man military, to kill the Irish leaders, he by the way has my family name, I done my research, the Irish are correct, the British empire about taking other people’s land alway has my friend,

@Jack Moss: move on from the past,on here spouting your nonsense regularly

@Jack Moss: I hope you are back in England now,they are very welcome to you !

@Jack Moss: The Gerrymandering involved in the shape of the 6 counties was political and financial. That is all they cared about.
They had lost the island with the executions and the Black and Tans killing whoever they pleased to.
But they kept the main industrial hub and made sure there was always a Loyalist majority!

@Vincent Alexander: are you being serious? You need serious help if that is where you need to stoop to to engage in a debate, pathetic.

@offside again: It does if the majority north and south want it to be. It’s called democracy.

@offside again: only if you are a southerner

@offside again: no it not, I lived in Germany when it became united, it cost a lot of min tax payers money and both sides working towards a new state were eventually everyone will respect each other, with a fair vote, that’s Ireland of course more complicated due to the planting of ulster Scottish 16 century Scottish loyalty to the crown sent to Ireland to grow in number, anyway we get the point, work together for a new nation and everyone is happy

@sean weir: Not the way the GFA is written it is not!

@Jack Moss: You don’t get it do you? You should never have been or had reason to set foot on this island ever. The British army then took it upon themselves to gun down innocent unarmed people on the street who were merely protesting for equal rights such as the right to have a job, somewhere to live or maybe even a vote in their own country. That did wonders for the IRA now didn’t it?

@John Moore: Actually the Irish were the British army . The British army was formed up on both islands . There was 21 Irish infantry regiments in the British army . Many of them were older than English regiments. The Irish involvement in the BA goes all the way back to the early days of the armies history which is about 340 yrs old . The Irish were pro British and pro empire . They played a part in the creation of the empire and profited from the empire . Over the last one hundred yrs the Irish have rewritten their his history into a 800 yr victim story . Ireland is the only country in the world were the people that live there are not accountable for anything that happened their over the last 800 yrs .

@Jack Moss: Jack 10 mins of All Murray would debunk 99.999% of your junk.
Yes there was Irish in the British Army, there were Irish in many armies, even were on both sides of American Civil War, they were well used by all those other countries. And yes there was ‘Irish Regiment’ in the British Army, but none were controlled or ordered by an Irish Government under an Irish Flag.
Many Irish fought in WW1 and when they got back to Ireland they were disgusted how their country men were treated by the British, astonished how the British kept the events of the 1916 Rising from them and were almost broken from that betrayal. Almost all joined Collins and then fought for their own freedom.

@Jack Moss: again you can’t refute one point put to you, you just spew nonsense!
Every generation on the island had a revolution against your barbaric occupation no matter how much you delude yourselves about your horrendous colonial past we understand full well what the vast majority of people on this island fought and died for!

@Jack Moss: get a life will you…Irish people being spit on, treated as second class citizens by the British IN OUR COUNTRY…Britain made the IRA possible, history is full of freedom fighters to get countries like Britain the hell out of thier country and you can spin it whatever deluded way you want to but it is as simple as that.

@joe moody: Actually the Majorie of countries got their independence without violence. Australia , New Zealand, Canada , Jamaica, Sierra Leon, India , Pakistan, Qutar , Belize, South Africa and so on . 54 ex British colonies voluntarily join the commonwealth.

@joe moody: Actually the Irish fought for Britain for over 300 yrs . The Connaught Rangers , The Dublin Fusiliers , The Royal Irish Regiment, The Royal Munsters , The Royal Leinster , The Royal Irish rifles , The Inniskillens , The Ulster Rifles , The Royal Tyrone regiment, The Royal Irish militia. There was 21 Irish infantry regiments in the British army that served the UK for over 309 yrs . It must be hard for you to accept who really were in history .

@Jack Moss: holy god you seriously believe your own delusions! Have you ever asked yourself why countries would need to gain independence from Britain??
Would it be the fact you forcibly colonized and brutalized vast amounts the worlds population?? Please accept reality, your demonic empire was responsible for pillaging and murdering its way through history…

@Jack Moss: there has been a colonial loyalist presence in Ireland for centuries during your many plantations where you attempted to eradicate the Irish culture and ethnically cleanse the island, it’s no suprise there is a small percentage of west Brits on the island..

@Jack Moss: the lads were in columbia on holiday jack, everyone knows that

@joe moody: Actually it was the Scot’s that was responsible for the plantations of Ulster in 1609 . The Scots (Stuart’s) held the throne between 1603 and 1714 ruling over England and Ireland . There was 7 Scottish monarchs that ruled over Ireland and England . James the first was the first Stuart monarch . He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and responsible for the plantations of Ulster in 1609 . The Scots also created the Union UK in 1707 when they merged the English and Scottish parliaments together to form the Union . The 32 counties was created between the 13th and 17th centuries. Wicklow been the last county in 1608 . The only time Ireland was an all island Irish nation was when it was part of what is the UK today .

@joe moody: It was soo horrible that 54 ex colonies voluntarily joined the commonwealth with the Queen as head . Today there is 56 countries in the commonwealth with another 4 countries waiting to join .

@Troll Hunter: Don’t forget the Brits also invented Concentration Camps!

@Jack Moss: More nonsense because you can’t actually refute anything put to you..
When referring to BRITAIN that means the British island, Scotland included why try and hide the fact the fat oligarchs and royals in London decided to carve up Ireland and treat it as their own personal farm!

@Jack Moss: those nation’s where so pillages and utterly dependent on Britain after centuries of colonization and oppression! You literally looted the world and raped the peoples resources it’s historical fact you can not change it, just spend ten minutes reading about the British made famines world wide or what you did to china with opium etc. endless barbarism that you simply can’t justify.
Makes you seem like a true demon.

@Jack Moss: the biggest terrorist is the British empire as history goes, we have to move on as people face facts

@Jack Moss: That was after South Africa and Ireland worked very hard to get the Empire closed and Britain no longer the head of the group!