Keith
"...against the will of the people."
Ireland was partitioned in 1922 at the point of the gun, against the wishes of the vast majority of the Irish people. The partitioning was intended to be temporary and a Civil War was fought in the 26 counties on the issue, the Pro-Treaty section arguing that its temporary nature meant that Ireland would eventually be re-united. The 'temporary' State will shortly be celebrating its 90th aniversery.
The border was drawn deliberately on sectarian lines, giving a two thirds majority to one section of the population of the new six county state on a sectarian basis; the voting system was altered to give that majority sole charge of running the state, in essence, disinfranchising the minority third - far nearer 'fascism' than anything I've ever suggested.
GSS has provided enough examples of the Conservative Party's continued collusion in all this right up to the present day.
The intervening period since partition has been filled with unrest, violence and death both in Ireland and on mainland Britain; this being constantly fuelled by the same aggressively sectarian marches you have persistantly supported (see 'Have a Glorious 12th July' thread) - as I said, never put in writing anything you might want to disassociated yourself from at a later date.
In the light of all this, your professed love of Ireland rings about as true as the "Some of my best friends are black, or Jewish, or Asian" that I have been listening to all my life.
The relevance to this particular thread is that, following the troubles in the 60s, 70s and 80s, the warring parties were all but bombed to the conference table where some progress was made towards power sharing, if not re-unification. In the light of recent events, all that now stands to be lost as, inevitably, recession always leads to different sections of the population grouping with 'their own kind' in defence of their jobs and way of life - I saw it often enough on the docks in Liverpool, with firms only employing Protestants or Catholics during lean times.
Jim Carroll