Sorry Tim, but the facts coming out now show that it was the BA that precipitated the problem and initiated the firing. Get the facts right, please, as best as can be done. That is based on the testimony of the soldiers present. While I tire of uninformed, or propaganda posting such as saoirse's, I will not allow statements such as yours to go unanswered either. To suggest that that the Catholics in the North don't need protection is ludicrous. Just watch the activities around Catholic Churches on 12 July and then post. As far as our friend from Galway, I find your response to be typical of Irish people who have never lived in the North, for whom anti-Catholic bias is something they read about in the papers, and who have no more right to comment than the "little plastic Paddies" that they so disdain. I do agree with her that the solution may very well lie in The North of Ireland being a separate and unique state, but the people that live there will determine that. My guess, based on her "Trad Music" signing of her name is that she doesn't consider the songs of rebellion to be part of the tradition. As another Galway man who greatly influenced my life said, "How can these people claim to love Irish Traditional music, and ignore the 800 years of history that shaped it? Irish Rebel music is one of the forms of the Irish Musical Tradition." He was born and raised in Galway. Point of the rant? To simply point out that your biases show clearly and they are just as wrong as those you rant against.

Mick