IRA researchers at Boston College file suit against US govt

kilsally - 99.9% of the SI protestant vote in the south goes to the tory Fine Gael, the least nationalist party excluding the unionists on the Ireland. They wouldn't want to lose this vote & they would look to another party who have similar views to their own. The 'wet' tories in the DUP would be itching to form an alliance with them, how ironic it will be to see Peter Robinson as the PM of Ireland, i'll piss my pants watching the comfort of my London home. Wouldn't be long before the euro was ditched for sterling.

SirPeter - do you think unionists are just going to disappear in a United Ireland? The UUP frequently calls the DUP little Ulster Nationalists and that is exactly what they would become in a United Ireland quite probably with devolution remaining exactly as it is with Stormont continuing to run. The Southern parties are bound to move North and take Sf share of votes in any UI. Add to that 1 million unionists / protestants in Irish elections and presidential elections and I`m pretty sure the unionist / ulster protestant bloc would be the pivotal ones since Ireland nearly always has a coalition government and the two big southern parties aren`t too keen on marxist Sinn Fein.

you need to stop reading GA & Tim Pat Coogan's bastardised version of irish history, no terrorist organisation was the victor in the north with the possible exception of the UFF. PIRA gave up violence because the US finally came off the fence & declared them a'terrorist' organisation to be included in their war on terror. whoever, decided to go & train the FARC did so much damage to the republican movent that i'm surprised that gerr hasn't tried to blame a brit 'spy' for all of their bluster & so called power, they are working to create a UI from within the state of Ulster, was this worth 3000 lives, i don't think so, the paramilitaries lost because the monetary value in their violence dried up.

By the way.I know power sharing was not the aim of the IRA.But power sharing was not the aim of the Unionists either and never was.The paramilitaries inadvertently forced power sharing.Maybe that's a better way of saying it

Fallsers I don't know how you make out the DUP (the anti-gay party) would hold sway in the country for many years with FG.The DUP in a United Ireland situation would be a much smaller party then Sinn Fein.For starters you can hardly have a Unionist party if there is no union.FG were gone a few years back and now they are in power.FF will make a come back like FG and you can be sure SF the way they are going they will be in power with FF soon enough.By the way Fallsers nothing naturally happens easy in NI.Anyway there is no point in looking back.NI is now moving forward and away from the straitjacket of violence and I fully believe it's only a matter of time before there is a UI.NI can't support itself within the UK and the Brits will always invest closer to home.Ireland gets American investment because of our low corporation tax.NI is stuck in between all the time.

the aim of the provos was never to force power sharing that would have naturally happened in Ulster. They tried to assasinate numerous SDLP leaders because they were happy to share power with the unionists. Wake up as Harris et al predicted in the late 60s when OIRA moved to take the marxist non violent route, that another armed campaign was doomed to failure as most irishman while willing to subscribe to a UI by violent means were never to be found when volunteers were called for, they valued self preservation first, this was proved in the years 1972-74. The provos whole justification for their campaign was the dismantlement of the british state in ulster, they lost when they signed up to powersharing hey, they may as Gerry said haven't gone away, but neither have the brits, there still here & in charge. SF will never hold the balance of power while an Irish Labour party exists, the irony for the republican movement is if the country was united, then the DUP/FG govt would hold sway in the country for many years. So either way they are fecked.

There is going to be very little coercion for a UI.The majority have to vote for it.I believe they will in time.It's just not a viable statelet.Sooner our later it will just make sense.You wait and see Sinn fein move slowly to the left of center.All these cross border initiatives with even the Unionists taking up the Irish language.haha.As long as there is peace the ties will grow stronger and stronger.See Fallsers a UI is fundamentally the right way to go.Partition was a failure in every respect and it still is because it's to small and a pain in the ass for the Brits.You're watching the percentages but people are fickle when it comes to voting and I reckon given peace in 30 years the border will be obsolete.Catholics are flowing across the border as I type this.It was only the bombing keeping them out.You know Fallsers there is now Power Sharing in NI.Ask yourself was that the vision Craig had for NI?We don't need the IRA anymore they did their job.They forced power sharing.That's the victory and it will also be the start of the end of partition. Fallsers 30 years.*Sings* Another piece of pink left my atlas to-daaaaay.

the provies are a spent force, nobody trusts them anymore, as unlike the OIRA they surrended a UI to live in the UK as long as the filled their sweaty palms with the queen's shilling The CIRA/RIRA will never generate that amount of support anymore as the people are sickened by violence, but whose to say that they wouldn't sell us out either after another violent campaign. In 1972 when the British Embassy was a blaze in the IR, they thought that they could do as they pleased because they were removed from the violence, the Jackal & his cohorts had other ideas & the rest is history. For a UI to suceed there has to be miltary support from the majority pop in the South, after 1972-4 bombings in the south & that was never gonna happen as there was no safe house to hide on the island. how many people have you met from either side of the divide who were/are paramilitaries, i have met dozens, there is no sense of victory from the provies, they recognise they lost, the loyalists on the other hand won, but would commit themselves to another campaign if the coercion for a UI was to be enforced, if i was youse sir peter, i would start worrying about the conclusion to the supergrass trial here, if anything is likely to force the end of a loyalist ceasefire, this may be it. They don't need to attack the North because CIRA/PIRA can't sustain a viable number of terrorists here, as Davy Ervine once remarked to me, it doesn't matter the size of the loyalist bomb in Dublin, the fact that it has been planted will drive the irish into approving the mandate for a UK for the next 100 years, that's the reality of the situation. 99.9% NI protestants who want to live in the UK 44% catholics are happy to remain in the UK 22% RC couldn't give a toss either way 34% RC would like a UI this coupled with the 78% who in the IR voted for the GFA, ensures the status quo. Carry on living the dream, that will all the UI will ever be.

Fallsers & Scotchtommy. The fact is ye both don't know.Since when did youse boys start believing what the provos say about anything?If I were youse boys I'd concentrate on keeping the peace,if that's what ye REALLY want.It will be YOU and your kids and your kids-kids will pay the price if it all goes pear shaped.I'm down in Cork far far away from the bombs and riots,weather NI remains part of the UK or not.How much is a line on a map worth when you are picking up your kids shattered fingers."They still haven't gone away you know" Use your big NI square head for once and see the bigger picture.I'd be very worried for NI if things go wrong.It's really not about a United Ireland at this stage.

scotchtommy - agree on all, but 1 thing, the provies structured their organisation on strict lines, they could ill afford the antics that the OIRA & OSF got up to, I should know as I have/had family in both organisations - you wouldn't have believed some of the bitter rivalry that took place in the late 60's as the move towards non violent means took place. No PIRA murder was sanctioned without the leadership's knowledge, Mrs McConville fitted PIRA's target - a protestant woman living in a nationalist area that gave relief to a dying man, what they didn't realise was that 99% nationalist pop in that area were outraged by her murder, so the smokescreen of her being a spy was formulated. Unfortunately this story is still believed by diehard republicans such as sirpeter, as I said my previous post, if somebody as powerful as Gillen or Hughes acknowledged this as wanton savage murder, than who do we believe - 2 battle hardened provos or no blame Gerry?

Couldn't agree more FallsRNat.God help poor ould Ireland while there are people like sirpeter.God knows there were many loathsome characters on the Loyalist side but Jean was murdered for saying a prayer with a British soldier as he lay dying.That night she was abducted and killed.It was only after the wave of revulsion and disgust from BOTH side of the divide that the IRA rushed out a statement that she was an informer.I don't believe the killing was ordered by Adams and the higher IRA command.Some IRA mad dogs killed her and the High Command rushed in with some PR work claiming she was an informer

so everybody in your eyes is a spy because they gave comfort to an injured person, sirpeter, not even PIRA believe that Mrs McConville was a spy - Copeland, Gillen, Hughes to name but a few - you really do show yourself for what you really are - a very sad bigot. Ireland will never be united until people like youse are long gone.

Fallsers can't be done.Given in good fate by the paramilitaries on both sides.You only want them to be released to see if there is any sh*t that will stick to Gerry.The IRA were at war with the Brits.She was a spy and spies are shot during war.

What fool would tell an academic about terrorist activity? What fool would help to document a crime they committed? What fool would allow incriminating documents to end up in the United States...a country locked in a death struggle with terrorists?

Speaking of the Globe and Times roots, go to The Times archive 7/16/1871 and search on the "Irish Character". Before you start reading recall that the most infamous mayors of the NYC in that era, Boss Tweed and and Fernando Wood, were gentlemen respectively Protestants with Scots and German roots. Nevermind that Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy but a few years before The Times offerred its toughts on Irish character, was a Protestant of good British stock.