Ahhhh, the old shift the premise to move away from the facts.......neat trick, Richard. But your prejudices creep through. I note that you make no mention of any "terrorists" other than the ones that fought against your position. Neat little bit of clouding of the facts, Barrister. But transparent.

I will accept your assertion that one man's terrorist is another man's patriot. No problem with that. And I will also accept that Cromwell was victorious. He may have conquered, but the Irish were never totally subjugated. They rose time and again against the crown. Never stopped the quest for some form of either Home Rule or independence. Again and again they hurled themselves. As for your assertion with regard to the 'vote', well of course the unionist position won. They had been planted there to make it so.

The tactics of the Republicans have been a response to the tactics of the Crown forces from the very beginning. We all know that both sides of this issue have used propaganda for their own ends throughout. Far too many of my own countrymen have succumbed to it. My feeling is that they have caused this conflict to be lengthened in their blindly buying the bullshit. But that does not take away from the legitimacy of the struggle. The majority of your countrymen do not even buy into your governments policies in the North of Ireland. Amnesty International has concluded that the actions of the British Army and the RUC have violated the civil rights of the citizens of the north on untold occasions. They have even taken part in political assassination.

But at this point it is all a moot point. This peace process is going to work. It is my feeling that in the end reunification is inevitable. It will happen because it makes sense. It will happen because your own government knows that the economics of the current situation don't work. They need to get the economic millstone of the North of Ireland off their neck. And it will happen because like it or not, the people that live there are Irish.

And by the way Councillor, perhaps you could cite the parts of the consitution of Northern Ireland that give the British government its rights in the North? Oh, there is none.......

By the way, most of us that watch these things in our country have already supported Native Americans in this fight. Check out the archives for stories of Russell Means, Wounded Knee, AIM, and the FBI attacks on reservations.

Mick