Gerry Adams pushes for united Ireland referendum in US speech

Again, no problem with your comment, Barney. But it seems that some sections of loyalism are still mired in the sectarian dungheap and have never really managed to extricate themselves from it, as exhibited in the recent scenes in Belfast.

Down the road to freedom Barneyjoe? Now will that be the A5 to Dublin or the road past St Patricks and St Matthews churches in Belfast?.Just curious as too what and where your route to freedom goes.

Why does he not give speeches like this when he's present in Ireland..

@Gearoid4 - I clearly recall Gusty Spence reading a Statement from the Combined Loyalist Military Command at the outset of their announced ceasefire in 1995 in which they offered "abject and true remorse" for the deaths of "innocent victims" at their hands ( their words) I'm sure you could google to find it' its worth the reading.

@ancavker - in reading your posts I'm wondering if the names Mullylusty, Carrontreemall, and Gortatole mean anything to you :) ?

@Citizen69 - It is merely fate that it was not I born into the working class community in Belfast which you describe, and that you were not born into the rural mixed community which at least began to form my views of the world. In our "war" and as a young man, I was confronted with any number of reasons for joining in the struggle against the power and hegemony held by by the majority Unionist community over my own. I can assure you that I had every reason to hate, and to despise, and regrettably, I was foolish enough do so, for a time. That war came to visit my own family, and I had to help bury loved ones who became casualties of that war. What stopped me from hating though was when I was confronted with the death of a friend, a protestant fella who lived near me and who I had grown up with from childhood. He too was a casualty of the war; someone who through no fault of his own was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and paid for that with his life. I made the decision to visit his home to offer sympathy to his parents and siblings. I found that the pain and anguish in that family was exactly what I had experienced in my own previously. Those experiences changed my outlook and my views of those on "your side of the wall" totally. Since that time, I have been on a journey that has led me to the views that formed and shaped my outlook in so many ways. You yourself are on a journey; similar, but unique to yourself, that includes encounters with others in this and other forums which will take you a little further along the way. If I may, can I conclude with lyrics from Paul Brady's song "the island" which in essence are his own views on hatred, conflict, and ultimately reconcilliation; "And the twisted wreckage down on the main street, will bring us all together in the end, and we'll go marching down the road to freedom, freedom!!" As good a wish for us all as you will find I think :) !!

Smyrian: I lived in and visited other countries too and am fully awake, a UI at present is not a desire for the majority of my fellow countrymen. So perhaps, it is you who lost touch and needs to wake up.

@Citizen69 The IRA atrocities were roundly condemned by nationalist politicians and Catholic clergy alike during the Troubles, in stark contrast to the silence of unionist politicians and protestant clergy in the wake of terrible crimes committed by loyalist terrorists. The re-emergence of the IRA grew out of the ashes of the burn't Catholic homes and the fleeing of thousands of nationalists from Belfast, in the wake of the depredations of loyalist mobs. Violence was not inevitable back in the late 60's and could have been averted if the very reasonable demands of the Civil Rights movement had been met by the unionist establishment. But unfortunately this was not to be. It is ironic that you mention that a considerable percentage of the planters who came to the north of Ireland in the 17th century had gaelic surnames. But it is the irony of ironies that many of their modern day descendants despise the indigenous language, namely Irish Gaelic, that gave rise to the vast majority of names(now anglicized) which once described the settlements, mountains, rivers and loughs of that part of Ireland.

Leah - you have been in Ireland too long . Lost your vision and your way Ireland united is as alive a goal ad ever. Wake up.

@ancavker: Many Ulster-Scots have surnames that are Highland and/or Gaelic in origin. The UlsterHeritage com DNA project also confirms that R1b-M222, the so-called 'Niall of the Nine Hostages' gene is quite prevalent in Ulster-Scots. The gene is thought to have originated around the 5th century and is most common in Northern Ireland & Lowland Scotland. The Plantation also included Catholic planters settling in north Antrim and west Tyrone but the Plantation was only the beginning of Scots migration to Ulster in the modern era. Far larger numbers came in the 1690's from all over Scotland. There was another wave as a result of the Highland clearances... But it goes deeper than that... The main cultures in Scotland were Gaelic to the West, Pictish to the Highlands & the north and Celtic Briton to the south, later Angles & Saxons settled upto the Firth of Forth but these dominant tribes didn't settle in large numbers and they didn't displace the original inhabitants. Most of the genetic make-up of the British & Irish remain the indigenous Mesolithic peoples of over ten thousand years ago. These people first entered Ireland through Scotland, these are our main ancestors on these isles. This is why i regard myself as indigenous, not some colonist from a far of land.

Seanmor, you're too long out of Ireland ever to understand what the present generation of IRELAND think. Ireland is not the same place as when you left.The people have changed too. I agree with Citizen69's comments. We cannot cope with a dysfuntional province like Ulster, either financially or mentally. If you don't live her, you can't understand how we feel. We better off apart and being friends instead. If there was a UI tomorrow, the Unionists and Nationalists would still fight and ruin the whole of Ireland. You've got to face facts. nobody wants it. Your mist eyed dreams are just that - dreams.

citizen: I understood that the Gallowglasses were a Scots/Viking mixture that as you said fought for whoever paid them. Whatever back and forth migrations of people between these two Gaelic areas is not in question in my opinion. What is in question is the Plantation of Ulster with Scots primarliy from the Lowlands of Scotland these wer not a people who were Gaelic in culture, as the Lowlands were heavily colonized by Anglo-Saxons fleeing the Norman invasion of England and the influence of Queen Margaret who was English/Anglo-Saxon. That being said of course there was also some settlers from the Scottish higlands during the Ulster plantation, but by and large it was overwhelmingly the Scottish lowlands whp provided the settlers. As far as some of these peoples you mention from the Book of Invasions, scholars believe and it woudl make sense after reading the stories, that many of these peoples were myths, like the Firblogs and the Formonians, one or the other of these 2 groups lived underneath Ireland we are told.

citizen: I am not advocating it at this point in time. In fact it would be impossible. I am simply pointing out a number of things. One, if the south is ever able to turn it around economically, it would make sense that the two entities could be better together than apart. You are right, at this time the north offers nothing for the south and vice/versa. However, more importantly I simply state that a day may come when England or whatever is left of the UK, or new reorganized UK, may simply want to be rid of northern Ireland. That is a real possibility. And even you don't deny that the north contributes nothing to the UK economically. Also every day English people could care less about your loyalty. As far as Ulster demanding it (partition), yes they did with a threat of violence. Ulster could have said yes or even maybe prior to saying no. Finally I might even have supported a temporary partition of the country had it turned out the way that it was envisioned by Collins, after he mistakenly took Lloyd George at his word. Had the temporary partition been done correctly, Tyrone, Fermanagh, west Derry and south Armagh never would have been included in what became northern Ireland. Of course we are having a history discussion here, and whats done is done as they say. I do say it is a silly border, because in my home place it has affected us the most on both sides. As I said we are the same people. When I cross from Blacklion Cavan into Belcoo Fermanagh, it is still Ireland. Yes I aspire to Irish unity one day, and I understand that it will have to be by consent. But I stand by my belief that partition ruined Ireland, both parts, and that if it had to be done, it never should have included those above mentioned areas. It was a land grab by Carson and Craig. And the rest as they say is history.

Leahkinsella (Sept 25): During the American War there were probably some who were bored by Abraham Lincoln when he spoke about reuniting the divided American nation, but thank God he succeeded.

citizen: And that was true anywhere in the world. People that are described as Slavic, are mixed, just like the Gaels who arrive in ireland whether they came via what is now Spain, or from north Africa as some historians now believe. Whatever peoples were living there 3 thousnad to 5 thousnad years ago we are told by historians were small populations, and were easily absorbed. Also as far as the Book of Invasions, those various peoples they refer too were most likely tribes all culturally the same at that point, as people self identified as tribes first.I would also like to point out that this was the same in many places in the world, even in England.