Northern Ireland is in more danger since Brexit

It is awful to witness children being egged on to throw petrol bombs and fireworks; to an adolescent with nothing to do it is exciting and dangerous, they have not experienced the reality of living with the day in day out violence and there was some hope that a generation had grown up without it. It was obvious to anyone, even without knowledge of the difficulties of Ireland, that Brexit was going to be a massive trigger, and frankly, anyone in government who voted for Brexit is either responsible for the re-start of the predictable violence or too stupid to understand the implications; either way they are unfit to hold office. Are any of the GN Brexit cheerleaders able to tell us how this will all work out well? Or should NI residents just be told this is a 'bumpy road', stop being negative?

My mother and aunt from Northern Ireland were once Irish , before partition, and thought of themselves as Irish rather than British. My Scottish liberal Protestant father thought of his wife as an Irish girl not a British girl, and they married before partition. However the Protestant rowdies of today seem to think of themselves as British not Irish.

Historically, 'The Irish Question' has always been a difficult one. I despair when I see the scenes on the news but, being born and bred in NI and now living for over 50 years in England, it doesn't surprise me. Anyone from Ireland knows the Peace Agreement has always been wafer thin and both main communities watch one another like hawks for any sign of favouritism or perceived favouritism. It is a scab that is continually picked at.
For those of you interested in the setting up of the North, BBC Sounds are running a 'Year 21' radio programme for the 100th Year celebration which each week tells a different part of the story from all sides. Just type in 'Year 21' on the search on BBC and it comes up. It is not a heavy historical/political presentation, more memories of various events and various participants. A weekly programme, each one about 30 minutes and going, I think, through the entire year. I have discovered a lot I didn't know and it does help you to get a picture of the very difficult situation, historically, that NI presents.
Like Alexa I grew up in a Protestant household and have no problem with a United Ireland either in Europe (which I would prefer) or part of the Commonwealth. However, I won't be bombed into it or accept a one-sided agreement and therein lies the difficulty.

Trisher probably the best plan.

I agree EllanV it's time the cycle of violence and destruction was broken once and for all.

It shows the mentality of the parents who allow their children to commit violence. This is why the country will never be peaceful when you have past generations teaching their offspring to do what they did. Sheer insanity.

On every occasion when Ireland has become once again a focus of violence many lives have been lost before any compromise has been reached. It happened in 1916 and in the 1960s Troubles. The Good Friday Agreement took huge efforts and the dedicated work of Mo Mowlam to bring peace but it did so after huge numbers people were dead or injured. I do hope this can be resolved quickly and peacefully, but I fear it will just escalate once again.
I think at some point in the future Ireland will have to become a united country. We may need to offer Unionists the same sort of deal as we are now giving people from Hong Kong, or ask the Eire government to grant them and their families permission to keep their UK citizenship, with permanent residence in Eire.

Any excuse to create mayhem. Utterly disgusting !

Pathetic Maizie, pathetic. Is all I can say.

Alexa

We knew from the start Brexit was inconsistent with the Peace Agreement for Northern Ireland. I come from liberal Protestant Northern Irish family and culture and I support calls for a united European Ireland. Now that the Roman Catholic Church has relaxed its deadly hold on Eire a united Ireland would be a peaceful , civilised place, and a light to the rest of the British Isles.

But what about the Unionists, Alexa? I think it's a splendid aspiration, but would they accept it?

EllanVannin

This is wanton thuggery when you have young children and teens entering into the fray who certainly aren't old enough to remember previous troubles.

They are being egged on by people who do remember, EV. This is not a spontaneous demonstration.

This is wanton thuggery when you have young children and teens entering into the fray who certainly aren't old enough to remember previous troubles.

We knew from the start Brexit was inconsistent with the Peace Agreement for Northern Ireland. I come from liberal Protestant Northern Irish family and culture and I support calls for a united European Ireland. Now that the Roman Catholic Church has relaxed its deadly hold on Eire a united Ireland would be a peaceful , civilised place, and a light to the rest of the British Isles.

Greyduster

I think this would have happened sooner or later anyway - if it hadn’t been Brexit it would have been something else. Ever since the Good Friday Agreement and the joke that was decommissioning, there have always been those who were waiting in the wings for a catalyst - any catalyst - to kick all the violence off again. The people of Northern Ireland deserve better.

Well, we now have Brexit Extremists, like Kate Hooey, claiming that the rioting is a result of the Protocol, that Brexit hasn't been done 'properly' in N I and the GFA must be repudiated.

Are they truly utterly bonkers?
Or would tearing up the GFA actually improve the situation..

I think this would have happened sooner or later anyway - if it hadn’t been Brexit it would have been something else

Where is the proof of that Greyduster? It sounds like just the sort of throw away line people use to justify their faith in something that has let others down and, without doubt, Johnson has let NI down. He lied. That is the truth of the matter. Worse still he lied because he hadn't bothered to understand what he was doing or, if he did understand, he was planning the breakup of the Union - as the English Nationalist that he is might well do.

Whatever his reason he doesn't have the skills to put right what he has done. Let's hope others do, and that it can be contained while they do it as I do not believe it will end in Ireland.

I think this would have happened sooner or later anyway - if it hadn’t been Brexit it would have been something else. Ever since the Good Friday Agreement and the joke that was decommissioning, there have always been those who were waiting in the wings for a catalyst - any catalyst - to kick all the violence off again. The people of Northern Ireland deserve better.

Biden has warned Johnson to get his act together after having received a brief on NI.

I think that the BBC has been slow in reporting the Brexit riots because no statue of a slave owner has been torn down.

The majority of the electorate in NI, who just want to live in a moderate peaceful society did not vote for Brexit and they have been short changed by Westminster and the DUP.
This will rumble on and on causing more divisions for the people of NI, as if they have not had enough for the past 100 years plus.

Things are so serious in NI that the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation has the riots at the top of the news. A week too late but it just shows how serious these new troubles are.

Brexit will continue to unwind. It will not be good for democracy. With the PM taking a week to issue a tweet on the difficulties I think we can guess whose purpose these issues will serve. More anti-democratic Bills shortly to go through Parliament "just in case" or "because of the current difficulty"? I think both John Major and Tony Blair will be holding their heads in their hands as they both warned us.

Whitewavemark2

The BBC appears to be doing the governments work and ignoring the issue.

The loyalists have been rioting for 7 days without break, citing the Brexit agreement.

Project fear they all said.

There is a long piece on Channel 4 News Whitewave.

3nanny6 people in England/Wales/Scotland May know of N Ireland but few about N Ireland. Yes, the IRA campaign on the mainland, because it affected us, the rest of the time there is a dearth of news.

Unless we get rid of this ultra-right wing English nationalist Vote Leave government soon, we can probably wave goodbye to the United Kingdom and its flag.

Johnson wraps himself in the Union flag whilst at the same time risks breaking up the whole Union.