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Irish Unity Watch Thread

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Well, given the size of our armed forces, it's too late now. :)

when a tyke i asked my father, does ireland have an army? his instant answer was "yes, and you wouldn't know what 'tis for." he ssid this with some amount of heat, which surprised me.
 
In other news Arlene Foster is *allegedly* having an affair with her chauffeur and is currently holed up in a hotel because the husband found out. Super injunctions all over this one apparently.
I really hope (though am certain it's just internet getting carried away with itself) that the rumour he's Catholic is true :D that tv doctor doesn't give a single shit either. Hilarious.
 
was at home for Xmas, all the blue shirts were dusting off their grandfathers RIC uniforms, the most daring were tanning up with great excitement for Leo’s big We fought for the union jamboree, a big Apron day out burning down Cork again!
 
I’ve never seen the Irish people come together on one issue as much in my life. I’ve read hundreds of comments online about this and less than 5 were in favour of it.

Eejits complaining will probably still vote them back in though. GE 2020 anyone?
 
I’ve never seen the Irish people come together on one issue as much in my life. I’ve read hundreds of comments online about this and less than 5 were in favour of it.

Eejits complaining will probably still vote them back in though. GE 2020 anyone?

I think there has to be, as the confidence and supply agreement has reached it's end. I think initially the posturing was for Easter election then over xmas, June was mentioned but given that Simon Harris will be up for a vote of no confidence soon, it may be sooner than that.

Will people vote FFG again? Probably. It's noticeable the Varadkar has upped the talk about 'People who get up early in the mornings' again, a real reference to how the middle class see themselves, and no doubt there will be more shit about the 'booming' economy and not putting that at risk.

I'm not sure how it would go, probably a FF/Lab/Soc dems/Green mash up. Either way none of it will contribute to Irish unity.
 
The fallout is quite spectacular, Flanagan attacking the advisors, Diarmaid Ferriter quite stringent in blaming the Government saying that he and the other advisors had meant that an academic conference should be held concerning the RIC. Quite how they got from a conference to a national commemoration is strange. Part of me thinks this was a ploy by FG to rile up the shinners before an election.
 
Just had a read of this article that states that a service has been held every year since 2012. Quote below...

"The interdenominational service has been held every year since 2012 and was organised by the Historical and Reconciliation Police (Harp) Society set up by a group of ex-gardaí, led by Jim Herlihy. They sought to remember the 640 RIC and DMP men who died in the line of duty between 1836 and 1922 of whom 555 were killed during the War of Independence, mostly by the IRA. The Harp society did not seek to honour the role played by the Black and Tans or the Auxiliaries. Neither was Mr Flanagan in the now-postponed State event in Dublin Castle this month, but that fact has got lost in the mists in recent days. Significantly, Flanagan was not the only Government figure to attend the Harp commemoration in September, since Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was represented too, by his aide-de-camp Commandant Caroline Burke.Having met descendants of some of those killed, Flanagan justified his presence by stating that for the last century the men who served in the two police forces were known as “traitors and disloyal citizens”. In remembering the policemen he stated he was acting as a “pluralist who believes in the co-existence of peoples of different traditions on the island coming together”.





Mind boggles...
 


The Independent..

Looks like there were objections at meetings but these were not shown in the minutes.
Nuts.

I am only surmising, but there may have been a view that remembering the RIC might impress the Unionists in an effort to show the country had moved away from civil war politic and towards a sort of "remember everyone had losses" mindset...perhaps trying to show that reunification wouldnt be a threat to unionists.
Flawed thinking if that's the case because "commemorating" a group that worked in tandem with the black and tans was never really going to be anything but putting salt in a wound.
 

Cant figure out how to post a youtube clip on this new site..

Anyway.
Here are the lyrics in case anyone wants to sing along


I was born on a Dublin street where the royal drums did beat,
And those loving English feet they tramped all over us,
And each and every night when me father came home tight
He'd invite the neighbors outside with this chorus:
Come out ye Black and Tans, come out and fight me like a man,
Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders,
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away
From the green and lovely lanes of Killashandra.
Come tell us how you slew them poor Arabs two by two,
Like the Zulus they had spears and bows and arrows,
How you bravely faced each one with your 16-pounder gun,
And you frightened them poor natives to their marrow.
Come out ye Black and Tans, come out and fight me like a man,
Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders,
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away
From the green and lovely lanes of Killashandra.
Come let us hear you tell how you slandered great Parnell,
When you thought him well and truly persecuted,
Where are the sneers and jeers that you bravely let us hear
When our heroes of '16 were executed?
Come out ye Black and Tans, come out and fight me like a man,
Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders,
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away
From the green and lovely lanes of Killashandra.
Well the day is coming fast and the time is here at last,
When each yeoman will be cut aside before us,
And if there be a need, sure me kids would sing, "Godspeed, "
With a verse or two of Stephen Behan's chorus:
Come out ye Black and Tans, come out and fight me like a man,
Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders,
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away
From the green and lovely lanes of Killashandra.
 
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Oh yeah. NANCY BLAKES is definitely still there and is a big Irish music pub.

We used to drink in there fairly regularly, but one night a week in particular, it was THE place to be - the Irish trad night, when musicians seem to be at every table & in every corner, someone would start a tune/song & 20 - 30+ musicians would join in :cool: , I've never experienced anything like it, before nor since. :(
 
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