The IRA won’t apologize to their military victims of The Troubles

@WoundedKnee - See my post below..........then see Citizen69s post below.........then, go figure!!!!!

@barneyjo: I can't talk about grammar. I'm the product of a a bad state school on the Shankill of which not one person in it's entire history went on to third level education (now demolished!).

@WoundedKnee: He may be Irish born but he was born in a different country from where the bulk of the 'Troubles' took place and no amount of word play or denial is going to change that fact. I'm not out to censor anybody, he can comment all he likes but as someone who has probably never set foot in Northern Ireland and who left the Republic of Ireland many a long year ago, he has little investment or tangible connection to the subject matter regarding the modern day situation.

citizen69--Seanomel said he is Dublin born. That means he's Irish. He has every right to comment on the affairs of his country, and worthless little bigots like you can't censor him.

@Citizen69 - bad grammar and sentence structure,and there's always a further thought to include :)

Third time's the charm!

@Seanomelb - Actively involved in the politics of the six counties..... from Australia; thats, what 18,000 miles away? Have you ever been in a situation where you said good morning to your local shopkeeper when you bought sweets on your way to school, only to be told by your Mum that he had been shot during the day when you got home? Ever been out driving your car in a particular locality only to be told later that you had driven over a 400 pound unexploded booby-trap bomb? Ever been called a "Fenian b~~~~~d" by a British Soldier who forced you to sit in a car by the roadside for four hours on your way home from a dance in Donegal, just because he could? Ever seen, or smelt a human cadaver (body part) that has been partially roasted by a bomb blast and you knew that 10 minutes before that cadaver had been part of a 29yr old female who had taught you to swim? Ever felt the elation of feeling the Unionist monolith that had played such a part in shaping your life, tremble with fear for the first time in its history, just because of the way you had cast a vote in a parliamentary by-election? And you tell me that you have been actively involved in the politics of the six counties, from afar?????? Well thats fine; perception is everything I suppose. :)

eanomelb - Actively involved in the politics of the six counties..... from Australia; thats, what 18,000 miles away? Have you ever been in a situation where you said good morning to your local shopkeeper when you bought sweets on your way to school, only to be told by your Mum that he had been shot during the day when you got home? Ever been out driving your car in a particular locality only to be told later that you had driven over a 400 pound unexploded booby-trap bomb? Ever been called a "Fenian b~~~~~d" by a British Soldier who forced you to sit in a car by the roadside for four hours on your way home from a dance in Donegal, just because he could? Ever seen, or smelt a human cadaver (body part) that has been partially roasted by a bomb blast and you knew the person who's body part it was? Ever felt the elation of feeling the Unionist monolith that had played such a part in shaping your life, tremble with fear for the first time in its history, just because of the way you had cast a vote in a parliamentary by-election? And you tell me that you have been actively involved in the politics of the six counties, from afar?????? Well thats fine; perception is everything I suppose. :)

Seanomelb - Actively involved in the politics of the six counties..... from Australia; thats, what 18,000 miles away? Have you ever been in a situation where you said good morning to your local shopkeeper when you bought sweets on your way to school, only to be told by your Mum that he had been shot during the day when you got home? Ever been out driving your car in a particular locality only to be told later that you had driven over a 400 pound unexploded boob-trap bomb? Ever been called a "Fenian b~~~~~d" by a British Soldier who forced you to sit in a car by the roadside for four hours on your way home from a dance in Donegal, just because he could? Ever seen, or smelt a human cadaver (body part) that has been partially roasted by a bomb blast and you knew the person who's body part it was? Ever felt the elation of feeling the Unionist monolith that had played such a part in shaping your life, tremble with fear for the first time in its history, just because of the way you had cast a vote in a parliamentary by-election? And you tell me that you have been actively involved in the politics of the six counties, from afar?????? Well thats fine; perception is everything I suppose :)

Seanomelb: so you are Dublin born and have lived in Oz for decades. You have no connection with Northern Ireland whatsoever then but think your opinion matters?

Barneyjo you need to climb down from your self created high horse. I live In Oz (Dublin born)and the family have been actively involved in the politics of the six counties for the past generation.Your footsteps are no more valid than anyone else's.How dare you look down your nose and state (to paraphrase) "I lived here therefore I know more than you" sounds quite arrogant to me.

The British have done the right thing and apologised for wrongdoings, even holding an expensive inquiry into the Bloody Sunday massacre. The IRA should therefore apologise for the atrocities they committed!

What's the point in these apologies? I have no problems with everybody apologising to each other (which would require an apology from the Irish government as well as the British) but then will it really make a difference? The Combined loyalist Military Command have already issued an abject apology in their ceasefire statement but did it make the slightest bit of difference to anybody? Certainly it's long forgotten. All these media attention-grabbing back slapping 'historic events' don't really seam to make a blind bit of difference to anyone other than the political classes and the media which beam out false perceptions of the peace process. certainly nothing changes in the working class areas of North/West Belfast in which i live in. There is a complete lack of sincerity and effort from the main parties on the ground who seem more concerned with the tribal pot-stirring that guarantees their seats in an assembly where we can't even vote them out of power.

Barneyjo, great post but hopefully the only people who will be allowed to vote here are either those born here or those who live here and not people who got passports cos their granny was from somewhere in Ireland.As you said, what happens in Ireland does not affect these people and there is no way they should have any say in how MY country is run.

@ dissenting posters - to coin the phrase "you cannot understand my world UNLESS you have walked for one mile in my shoes" The difficulty I have with posters from the Gold Coast in Australia, from New Jersey, or from Riverwalk Drive in Chicago is that they have not. Mairead is quite right when she says "you do not know what I have lived and breathed." I do know however what I have lived and breathed; and that is 50 years of living in this place, Northern Ireland, a good part of which involved living on the "edge" guarded in what I said, what I did, where I went, who I talked to, and trying to raise a family in the midst of that. That of course does give me a unique insight into life here that others watching from a distance simply do not have; I'm sorry but there it is. Sir Peter's points about blood sacrafice for Ireland, although inspirational are also aspirational. At no point since the creation of the Irish Republic, has any campaign by the Republican come close to securing a declaration of intent of British Withdrawal from Ireland without the consent of a majority of people in Northern Ireland; ie upwards of 0ne million Unionists, who do not "yet" share the aspiration of a fully sovereign United Ireland. Yes, the financial and moral support from Irish America was critical.Yes the men of 1916 died for the "aspiration" of a free and united country, but the "One More Push" methodology is clearly dated in the minds of all those who voted across Ireland for the tenets of the Good Friday Agreement. And NO, just because of giving Dollars, it does not mean that Irish America should have a say in the settlement of Irish Matters. They dont live here, they dont vote here. Any expectations of a return on their Dollars invested were and are totally misplaced.That of course would change if a decision was ever taken to allow sections of the diaspora across the world to vote in Ireland based plebicites of course, but not until then :)