Northern Ireland's recent elections.

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Just wondered if anyone has any thoughts on the recent elections in Northern Ireland? Personally I think it's alarming that the DUP now essentially have the power to destroy the Good Friday Agreement. Considering the overwhelming support the people of Northern Ireland gave to the Good Friday agreement when it was put to a referendum a few years back, plus the fact that 70% of assembly members still support the agreement, it seems ridiculous that the DUP still have the power to de-rail the agreement. Besides, Ian Paisley seems determined to destroy the assembly, given his refusal to work with Sinn Fein despite the fact that they're the largest Republican party after these elections.

There's a brief article on the subject at http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,9061,1097257,00.html

O if anyone's interested in an informative website on everything to do with the past 30 years of Northern Ireland's history, try www.cain.ac.uk

 

[deep]

This is very alarming


A 'peace' is not achieved on the cheap.


The Clinton Admin. worked hard with the parties involved to get there. It will take 30-50 years, a generation or two to get the parties not to revert back.


The same is true in Bosnia.


This is a major failure of the Bush administration. They have no problem spending money on WAR.

They want to invest little in peace.


War is better politics.

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

This is very alarming


A 'peace' is not achieved on the cheap.


The Clinton Admin. worked hard with the parties involved to get there. It will take 30-50 years, a generation or two to get the parties not to revert back.


The same is true in Bosnia.


This is a major failure of the Bush administration. They have no problem spending money on WAR.

They want to invest little in peace.


War is better politics.

Well I think it's kind of a stretch to blame the Bush adminstration for this.

It's not so much that it's trying to achieve peace on the "cheap" as it's Blair and other influential politicians failing to stand up to the extremist elements within the unionist community. This last year has seen David Trimble (leader of the UUP, a pro-agreement unionist party) face repeated threats to his leadership simply because he's a supporter of the Good Friday Agreement.

Realistically, the Good Friday Agreement is the best chance for peace in that region. It allows all sections of political opinion to be represented in an assembly, it ensures that decisions must have the support of all sections of the community and it has led to unprecedented disarmament by the IRA.

And war might be better politics in your opinion, but if you look at the devastation its caused throughout the North of Ireland in the last half century then I think you'll agree that moving towards a peaceful settlement is absolutely vital.

 

[verte76]

Damn. I'm sorry to read this. As I'm mostly of Irish descent I really should be better informed on the politics than I am. Ian Paisley is a jerk.

 

[bonoman]

Paisly is just as bad or worse then Gerry Adams. Gerry might say one thing and do another but he has a certain level of commitment to the peace aggrement. Paisly see's it one way, Republicans out.

He has said that any member of his party that is caught even speaking to a Sinn Fein member will be fired from his job. How can peace come about when only one side is somewhat commited. What will happen in the next few months is the NI assembly will be again disolved and troubles will start again.

I was havin a drink on Saturday night with a few guys that lived in Belfast and Derry in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Some are very ahrdline Republicans and one man, who was jailed for 4 months and missed his wedding in the internment policies, said that he wouldnt mind seeing troubles start again. He believes that loyalist think that the IRA cannot become strong again. He said he would like nothing more then to see a few incidents happen just to renforce what the troubles were like and to make people relize that they never want to go back to them.

 

[LCK]

Sadly, people let their preconceived prejudices blind them to what the others are saying. I'm of partial N.Irish descent (along with English & Scottish) & have someone very special to me who lives there. My family is both Catholic & Protestant but it isn't a problem here, nobody gives it a thought. I wish ppl over there could see that they're not so different from each other. They've just gotten so used to hating each other, they don't even stop to realize that half the time they don't even know why. I don't mean to sound so simplistic, and I do follow the politics, but this just makes me sad.