60 Comments

• seanomelb | Jan 09, 2013, 05:35 PM EST

  Your killing me IN cannot take much more.

• IrelandNorth | Jan 09, 2013, 03:50 AM EST

  Kilsally! The United Kingdom (UK) (as currently constituted!) consisted of four nations: England - Wales - Scotland and Ireland (subsequently Northern Ireland (NI)). Ergo NI is part of the Irish nation as even recognised by the current British proper, ie English & Welsh and Scottish, and properly only one quadrant of the red diagonal Saint Patrick's Cross saltire should be included in the union jack (UJ). Articles 2 and 3 of Búnreacht na h'Éireann/Constitution of Ireland, 1937 (as amended) were replaced by consistant reference to the Island of Ireland, apropos Good Friday Agreement (GFA). Thomas 84! Although strictly true, the UJ term also derives from King James/Jacobite/Jacobian. Freres Jacques? Jacques de Unione, et al. Or in Gaelic/Irish An Aontaithí Sheamus! Since the original UK congealed around two female monarchs - Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth Queen of Angles, (with Grace O Malley/Pirate Queen of Connacht subdued by neither), surely the UK is a United Queendom (UQ)?

• FallsRNat | Jan 08, 2013, 07:15 PM EST

  don't worry seano there are enough bigots on our side of the fence as well, there never be peace in ireland, until both the loyalists & republicans accept that there can never be a winner, only 2 sides living together in an uneasy peace

• seanomelb | Jan 08, 2013, 06:46 PM EST

  The unionist thugs are now trying to involve the nationalists by singing bigoted sectarian songs as they pass nationalists areas. They are spoiling for a fight the morons,1969 all over again.

• AlunPalmer | Jan 08, 2013, 04:59 PM EST

  Belfast is only doing what is normal practice in England, where the Union Jack has been flown only on certain days of the year for as long as anyone can remember. Get over it! FYI, I am from England, but my mother's family came from Cork.

• Thomas84 | Jan 08, 2013, 04:11 PM EST

  Can someone tell the onionists that its only called a union jack if its on a boat. They know that reconciliation is coming and they also know that good relations with Ireland is far more important to to the British government now than the wises of a bigoted minority. In other words their ship is sailing along with their union jack

• FallsRNat | Jan 08, 2013, 03:09 PM EST

  seamus - not saying that at all, the loyalists riots are here & now, the use of baton rounds etc are the perogative of the police, however, they have a duty not to escalate the violence, i'm sure some loyalist paramilitaries would like to provoke a crackdown as this would play into their hands.

• ancavker | Jan 08, 2013, 09:46 AM EST

  Falls: The Scots do no want anything to do with their cousins in the north.

• Kilsally | Jan 08, 2013, 07:59 AM EST

  Several inaccuracies in your article Niall - The Loyalist Shankill Road, like most place, town and townland names and Anglicisied spellings of Irish names. Secondly the Good Friday Agreement expressly recognises that Northern Ireland is part of the UK - it is not part of the Republic. The flag of the UK is the Union flag. The GFA provided the right to an Irish or British passport or both.

• IrelandNorth | Jan 08, 2013, 03:55 AM EST

  We need to get away from the majority vs minority narrative. The world is a far more complicated than black and white perception. Not just 40 shades of green. But 40 shades of grey too. NI Household Survey, 2011 (NIS&RA) reported 40% British only - 25% Irish only - 21% Northern Irish only - 14% none/neither/not stated/other, (ie 25% ave). In an overall Ulster provincial context, percentages would alter less or respectively, as also in an All Ireland (AI) context. Though the 40% constituency above would become something like 16.5% in a UI, that would be approx 6.5 more than they are in the currently constituted UK. In an AI context, their numbers are also 6.5 more than a generally recognised critical mass. Hmmm! Far more influentual than they give themselves credit for. Think proportionately rather than otherwise.

• seamus60 | Jan 07, 2013, 10:52 PM EST

  Fallsnat. So you`re saying people couldn`t have cared for the safety of Nationalists or how it would inflame those current events in years gone by. Otherwise so many would not have been killed by this weapon.Can you actually believe that the police now identify an individual and give them fair notice by way of loud speaker that clearance has been given to fire at them. No such proceedure has been witnessed till now because the targets have been Nationalists. Containment ??? they are moving all over the place at their leisure.

• FallsRNat | Jan 07, 2013, 07:27 PM EST

  Seamus - the figures are there in Lost Voices & both sides lost people to use of plastic/rubber bullets, however, the arguments on this board for the use of them against the loyalists now, shows a complete misunderstanding of current events, the loyalists can muster between 50-200 rioters on the streets, if a stray bullet was to kill a passerby then the situation could be enflamed well beyond the current events, you don't fan the flames of sectarian conflict, you do as the PSNI are doing now, containing a very small minority of people who coalesce around any grievance to show their contempt for law & order. Part of being in the UK means the English will continue to fund NI, if of course, Scotland becomes independent, then they may wish to take their NI cousins with them, then the fun will really start

• Curitiba | Jan 07, 2013, 06:55 PM EST

  As long as the no-strings attached billions keep flowing from London to Belfast, the Unionists don't have to get used to anything. Cut their funding and let's see if Unionism is a viable economic entity.

• warrenpoint00 | Jan 07, 2013, 10:57 AM EST

  Remember DarraghS that the GFA and the new Ireland agenda provides for equality and not power distribution.Power distribution was part of the old Stormont regime the one that Niall alludes to.The protestant parliament for a protestant people is confined to history and all the protests in the world will not change that.Time now you and your british unionist friends adhered to democracy.

• darragh S | Jan 07, 2013, 09:00 AM EST

  "Remember we are not talking about flying the tricolor side by side, which would be warranted given the fact that the population numbers are now equal and Belfast City Hall has a Nationalist /Alliance majority." This is Belfast City Council your talking about. And the power distribution is about 75% in favor of Unionists in Belfast. Its not that hard to check your facts either because its all online in the Ulster Elections webpage, with Visual Aids to.

• seamus60 | Jan 07, 2013, 06:46 AM EST

  Fallsnat. Your post on the use of plastic bullets ( lethal force) although wrote in a gentle manner , does not reflect the reality of the present or the past. The most these loyalists can expect on the street in real time as events unfold is a wash. Even though plastic baton rounds have been used we are missing the tally of injured or dead protesters that normally accompany the unleashing of this weapon. How many loyalists have been murdered by plastic bullets, we won`t even get down deep and ask how many loyalist children where amongst them. They should be banned the world over regardless of who they are being used against.

• seamus60 | Jan 07, 2013, 06:15 AM EST

  We won`t here Dannys take either on why students are lobbying the SF education minister and his department at Stormont today in relation to the cutting of education maintenance allowance that was to help students from low income families.

• seamus60 | Jan 07, 2013, 05:16 AM EST

  Redbranch. Yet another of Danny bangers articles shot to hell. But if Nial persists in endorsing the liars writings he will no doubt get some fleas. Great article Danny done on the 350 catholic families deprieved of badly needed homes via a pact between the DUP and SF. I think the place is called GIRWOOD.

• RedBranch | Jan 07, 2013, 04:26 AM EST

  'Nice job Danny:' Quite so Niall, your choice of course to promote arguably the finest propagandist in the republican movement, although I wonder if you'd be so quick to use him when he lays into Kennedy over Chappaquiddick (Irish Tribsman March 24 2005) An article so derisive that it reputedly almost cost Adams his US visa. However in the spirit of the Peace Process next time you're over I'd like to invite you to a cup of tea at SD Bells cafe in the East of the city (the 'loyalist' side) My treat, directions on a separate post below....

• IrelandNorth | Jan 07, 2013, 04:00 AM EST

  It's also worth bearing in mind that the unconstitutional deconstitutionalising of the lawfully constituted Grattan's Parlaiment (1800/'01) in Dublin's College Green, (a Protestant parliament for a landed gentrified people), was bribed an peeraged out of existence by Brittania in order to knobble a serious commercial competitor on the world stage. And the gundshot seperation or divorce to such a dubious constitutional nuptials (1920) was to preserve imperial hegemony in an increasingly democratising world.

• Gearoid4 | Jan 06, 2013, 08:49 PM EST

  @Redbranch, You have captured beautifully the underlying Irish Gaelic place-names which characterize so much of the north around Belfast and beyond. But try telling that to the culturally illiterate hordes of unionism who want to obliterate the only truly indigenous culture in the north of Ireland.

• curtisjohnson | Jan 06, 2013, 08:48 PM EST

  @curtiba - the loyalist would have been wiped out without the backing of the terror state. Historically, they have shown little to no willingness to fight on their own against Irish combatants (most of the attacks of loyalist paramilitaries were on unarmed non-combatants; they weren't even that active in support of bill the orange). @falltheratThe ancestors of the Ulster Scots were oppressed by the anglo establishment both economically and in terms of religion (they were originally excluded from the OO) before they emigrated to the US. They formed some of the earliest and fiercest opposition to the british terror state in the US. Therefore, their sympathy to this "britain" thing is not as 100% certain as your portray.

• Gearoid4 | Jan 06, 2013, 08:45 PM EST

  Nicely put, Niall. The unionists seem trapped in a time-warp and appear to be una ble or unwilling to adapt themselves to the considerable changes that have happened in the north. They still react in the same recidivist way as of yore. No-one of any vision among their ranks seem to be present and they still rely on the same loyalist terrorist muscle to enforce their will. It seems that they are like petulant, spoiled children who expect everything to go their way and want to change the rules of the game when it is going against them. But it is about time that they reconsider their political strategy and relationship with the rest of the population in Ireland as it will be soon as case of diminishing returns for them.

• FallsRNat | Jan 06, 2013, 06:25 PM EST

  Curitiba - i think you assume to much, the irish like the jewish community are very vocal on the rights of Ireland & Israel respectively, however, ulster scots make up the 2nd largest community in the US after the Germans, they consider themselves US citizens 1st, if the US voted to support a UI, which no president inc Kennedy has ever done, then you may not end up with the result you want, it would be to preserve the status quo, that there will be no change to the political situ of a country without the support of the majority of people, this position is also supported by the SI state under the terms of the Anglo-Irish agreement (nice one Garret) & the GFA

• Curitiba | Jan 06, 2013, 06:12 PM EST

  Warrenpoin00: Put it this way, if you were a Loyalist and had the whip hand over the Nationalist, why would you give that power up voluntarily? Nationalists have been trying to wrest power from the Unionists since 1922 and have been completely unable to since they control none of the state apparatus up until now. Until you see Nationalists dominating politics, the police force and the other levers of power, they will not be in a position to dictate anything. The mistake was made when the Unionist were allowed to break away from the rest of and form a statelet out of the counties in which they were the majority, becuase the Irish feared a full-scale war between the Loyalists and those who favoured an independent Ireland. Had the Irish called the Unionists' bluff (having secured American backing)and insisted that because they formed a minority on the island of Ireland they had no mandate to dictate to the majority, there may or may not have been war, but it was their only chance of imposing their will on the Unionists. That was one of the great missed opportunities in history.

• warrenpoint00 | Jan 06, 2013, 05:38 PM EST

  I should think that like all foreigner living in Ireland the british unionist community should have a little respect for their adopted country of Ireland and stop trying to impose the oppressive and tyrannical rules that they brought here.

• FallsRNat | Jan 06, 2013, 05:30 PM EST

  seano - you are advocating the use of rubber bullets on the loyalist crowd, given the volatile situation, this wouldn't be the right thing to do, at the moment the small number of rioters are still contained by the police numbers. The use of rubber bullets would enflame a delicate situation & give rise to increased loyalist paramilitary, there are no upsides for the use of these types of weapons & there would be no political support either side of the divide for enflaming the situ. The PSNI are quite capable of containing the minority of rioters & through the oxygen of negative publicity these will slowly fizzle out. If you read books on the troubles, there are numerous incidents of plastic bullets used on both Catholic & Protestant mobs, 2 wrongs don't make a right & to use these weapons now could easily escalate a localised problem.

• Curitiba | Jan 06, 2013, 04:09 PM EST

  Unionists and Loyalists win time and time again because they are superbly organised, have a common purpose, sponsor and belong to organisations such as the OO, control the apparatus of state, such as the police and have have hardman politicians who are not afraid to kick heads in London to maintain the tsunami of cash for their economically unviable Volkstaat. They don't really have a diaspora because they have made NI a very comfortable place for Loyalists to live in. Nationalists, and Irish people on the other hand are split in their loyalties between the mass-immigration luvvin' Shinners and the various other nation-wrecking parties of Ireland, an increasing hatred of their ancient religion, denying the existence of their diaspora, no common purpose, no real sense of nationalism and tribal loyalty and an urge to replace their entire nation with foreign citizens. The Loyalists whole reason for existence might be anti-Irishness and anti-Catholic and anti-everything I believe in, but you have to admire their sense of destiny and their determination to maintain their culture (even though it is wholly artificial). If the Irish people had a similar sense of purpose and empathy for each other, both at home and abroad, they would be a force to be reckoned with. Not a doormat for Unionists.

• Madeliene | Jan 06, 2013, 03:04 PM EST

  No, because they would want to fly the Union Flag side by side, and not a little under the Irish Flag! Not a solution I believe they would go for.

• RedBranch | Jan 06, 2013, 02:12 PM EST

  OK Niall Here are the directions. Start on the east side of the Lagan (Gaelic: Low Lying) and make your way onto the Newtownards Rd. (Gaelic:peninsula of the Ulstermen), on your right would be the Short Strand (Gaelic: Beach), why not pop in and pray at St.Matthews, just one of a number of Catholic churches in the East. Make your way past murals glorifying Cú Chulainn, cross over the Connswater River (named for Conn O'Neill), Carry on through Ballyhackamore (Gaelic:townland of the mud flat). Just on your right is Van Morrison's childhood home (he of the Celtic Heartbeat). Looking up you'll see the Castlereagh Hills (Gaelic: Greycastle) and the inspiration for CS Lewis' Narnia. A few blocks south and you'd be into the Cregagh birthplace of George Best (Gaelic: Rocky Place, and they say Protestants get all the best land). Another mile or so and you're in Knock (Gaelic: Hill), SD Bells on the left just before you get to Stormont. Its the route Martin McGuinness travels every day to administer British devolved rule and receive his Queen's shilling in payment. With all those Irish placenames in the heart of 'loyalist east Belfast (Gaelic: sandbank ford). Perhaps we should conduct our conversation in Irish...– Is mise etc., Red.

• jacersagain | Jan 06, 2013, 02:08 PM EST

  The tone of Niall’s article above is not a whit helpful. The “Loyalists” born on the island of Ireland protesting against the reduced number of days that the flag of the United Kingdom flies over Belfast City Hall haven’t a whit of knowledge about why the number of days was reduced. They have assumed that it is to do with reducing their influence over a growing number of non-loyalists. What rubbish! Will a few members of other UK local Councils please fly into Belfast and tell these yobos why they don’t fly the flag everyday over their own UK-loyal offices in Britain? Cool it, you Irish UK loyals… it’s not what you think. Not a whit...

• warrenpoint00 | Jan 06, 2013, 01:21 PM EST

  ToryTory you crazy brit, "Christ who is this tit" Christ is no tit he was a good christian man born in Bethlehem, Paisley was a trouble maker wanabe christian born in the white supremacist bigoted brit enclave of Larne Co Antroim.This is the same Larne that was pillaged and planted with the seeds of destruction that produced Mr Paisley by your british thieving friends many years ago.Yes indeed Mr Paisley would be one of many british seedlings that hold the rank of Grand Wizard of terror in Ireland

• Portia_O'Neill | Jan 06, 2013, 12:02 PM EST

  What would Jesus say...oh wait, Jesus isn't involved with any of this.

• curtisjohnson | Jan 06, 2013, 10:03 AM EST

  In substance, the occupied statelet has never been anything other than a violent supremacist regime similar to apartheid South Africa (the reason the terror state so adamantly resisted the application of the MacBride principles to the statelet). The real beliefs of the unionists are similar to their cousins in the Ku Klux Klan as demonstrated by their vile behavior when threatened with even a minor dimishment of a symbol of supremacism. Keep in mind if the indigenous population engaged in similar behavior there would be massive internments, tortured confessions, SAS assassinations of unarmed non-combatants (particularly children), draconian restrictions on media coverage of state abuse, round the clock searches and harrassment of the indigenous population at checkpoints, etc.

• ToryTory | Jan 06, 2013, 08:22 AM EST

  Paisley started the troubles? Christ, who is this tit?

• ToryTory | Jan 06, 2013, 08:20 AM EST

  >>I’d almost feel sorry for the Loyalist protesters complaining about their Union Jacks no longer flying proudly over Northern Ireland were it not for the fact that they had it so good for so long -- and still do in terms of lording it over nationalists when it comes to symbols.<<< It's the flag of the State you complete moron. You're too partisan to even have a valid opinion on the subject.

• shuvonn | Jan 06, 2013, 06:51 AM EST

  One can only blame oneself IF one CHOOSES to be incited :-)

• Portia_O'Neill | Jan 06, 2013, 01:44 AM EST

  When the fighting and bombing begin creeps like Niall O'Dowd will be far away from the danger his opinions incite in others.

• seanomelb | Jan 06, 2013, 01:29 AM EST

  Falls 1000 yobbos rioted yesterday water cannons were used three police shot at and three rubber bullets were used. Imagine the rubber bullets used if it were a nationalist demonstration. Remember bloody sunday you fool. Then again as an ex brit soldier maybe you were there shooting at children.

• bobby | Jan 05, 2013, 11:38 PM EST

  @Ron go blow your fooking tin whistle in loyalist areas. A so called loyalist yourself you see the 12th of july a joke. I agree with you. you lot are messed up....

• seamus60 | Jan 05, 2013, 10:29 PM EST

  Ron that would be brilliant. Except for the fact that Nationalists don`t give a monkeys about their twelth parades as long as they don`t trod through Nationalist area`s.

• Ron | Jan 05, 2013, 10:09 PM EST

  How about a trade-off? The loyalists get rid of their stoopid 'glorious twelfth' marches which inflame tensions, and let them fly their Union flag over City Hall.

• seamus60 | Jan 05, 2013, 09:55 PM EST

  Lausane. Its obvious you stayed in a Nationalist area of Belfast as your hosts most likely explained the reason for the gate closing etc. I sincerely hope they also explained to you that the number of these big walls have increased since all our great peacemaking politicians got together and formed THEIR peace process.

• seamus60 | Jan 05, 2013, 09:06 PM EST

  The whole flag issue is nothing more than a load of balloney. With the more the so called loyalists protest, others claim it as some sort of great breakthrough to a UI. All deflection from more important issues such as Internment and discrimination that are as alive as any street protests.

• Lausane | Jan 05, 2013, 09:05 PM EST

  I spent a few days in West Belfast before Christmas, just as all this flag nonsense started hotting up. I got caught in a bomb scare in Central Belfast...very scary. I've a no of friends from Belfast-from both sides of the divide- all living abroad- never to return. So much for the Good Friday Agreement-it will take decades for real change to happen there-they are living in a time warp-unempolyment is high and from what I could see there has been very little money put into the area I stayed in. There is still this high fence they call a 'wall' that is locked at night to stop Unionists from coming into Nationalist areas-I came home to Dublin and told everyone to thank their lucky stars they were born this side of the border! It's very sad to see how little has changed after all this time. They should fly both flags all the time and be done with it!

• FallsRNat | Jan 05, 2013, 07:57 PM EST

  seano - mad ranter, the water cannon has been used on loyalist protesters during these riots, get out from your cave & start reading the news, it's been reported on BBC, irish newspapers. The use of plastic bullets is strictly controlled & unless major rioting breaks out, is unlikely to be used against small mobs numbering in the 10s, not 100s.

• ePHraimAg | Jan 05, 2013, 05:54 PM EST

  Do not forget that is not Right the American Flag should fly alone too... by all rights.. the Flag Of Mexico should be flown ensemble in Southern California to El Paso. When it comes to The United Kingdom... Irish Americans and Nationalists have no say seeing it was Our Fathers that Lie upon the Somme with many a few from The Royal Dublin Fusiliers. But did Dublin hail the return of those heros who aided their neighbours and friends in The North...No.. they could not get Jobs and many left Homeless By Dublins so called Pro catholic and neutral government.

• bobby | Jan 05, 2013, 04:58 PM EST

  @seanomelb, If it was Nationalists protesting the plastic bullets would be used. And it would be well over.

• seanomelb | Jan 05, 2013, 04:38 PM EST

  I find the bitter and twisted logic of drolls like kilsally or ex brit army stickies like fallsrdnat objectionable and you can add a moron like paradigm to the list.Where are the warer cannons and the rubber bullets?or are they only reserved for nationalists protests. The PSNI/RUC is a cold place for nationalists and they should not join.

• Kilsally | Jan 05, 2013, 03:26 PM EST

  Inaccurate as usual Niall. The Good Friday Agreement vted fir by iverwhelming majority bith sides if the border recognises Northern Ireland as part if the UK, hence why Union flag flies. Belfast City Council new policy to fly on designated days is also common in English Councils. As to Irish names, again showing your ignorance - most place names & townland names are Anglucanised spellings of Irish words - the Loyalist Shankill Road, Belfast and most other towns based on Irish or Ulster-Scots

• glounlathan | Jan 05, 2013, 02:18 PM EST

  This is all so very sad. Is there a flag of decency that could be raised because obviously either the Tricolour or the Union Jack will cause problems. Any nation will not be united until the conflicting sides decide to become neighbors.If there is such fear in the Unionist ranks they should look at how well the loyalists were treated in the South when it became independant. Was there a blood bath in South Africa despite all that had happened in the past when things changed there? There are so many questions here. I really do not know the figures but how much does Northern Ireland costs Britain? If there was an united Ireland how much would that cost the Irish Tax payer and would Northern Catholics get the same benefits as they currently enjoy in the North? Is Northern Ireland more of a social and civil rights issue for many Catholics than it is that of An United Ireland issue? A United Ireland did not do much for many who had to emigrate---Many had to emigrate to England itself since the formation of Eire. Would unity also effect the Catholics of Northern Ireland financially if it happened? Has there been any figures on all of this? I guess a vote will decide this one day.

• FallsRNat | Jan 05, 2013, 02:00 PM EST

  i'm all for all flags to be flown, i assume that our cousins in the South will reprocicaly apply the new rule & stop flying the tricolour or better still fly the union flag in concert with the tricolour to show that Ireland is an all encompassing country. I see that Willie is leading a loyalist match in Dub next week, as a former member of the official shinners, i'm perturbed, but not surprised by the reaction of the CIRA, to keep loyalists from marching, something that isn't in tune with the ideals of an Irish Free State that the country is open to both peoples of this land, surely another episode of rioting plays into the hands of the NI who wish to remain part of the UK who will point to CIRA's actions as a UI, but only for the RCs.

• IrelandNorth | Jan 05, 2013, 01:51 PM EST

  Given that there are now three minorities in the North, it's not for any one minority, (even if it is the largest one), to dictate to the other two what flag flies where, how often, and for how long. Proportionately, they could be allowed fly the UJ Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun - the Irish tricolour (ITC) Tues/Thur/Sat - and the Ulster/NI (UNI) flag Wed/Sat. Alas, imperial (ie undemocratic) unionists are unlikely to see the merits of this proportional representation, and will likely need extra tuition. All the hullaballou about flying the flag of the neighbouring island, and not a word of flying the flag of the one they cohabit. Where else in the world would you get a group of belligerent immigrants demanding that a part of the host nation be a part of the country they emigrated from? Can we imagine Irish emigrants to Boston or Brisbane agitating for them to be called Western and Southern Ireland. There were shots fired at PSNI officers by "loyalists" (sic) paramilitaries after a protest march in Belfast this afternoon. Unionist leaders have done a very bad impersonation of Carson, and now can't get the genie of loyalism back in the bottle.

• pilib04 | Jan 05, 2013, 01:05 PM EST

  Niall, the most important of the "limited flag arguments" is that the Union Jack flies over Westminster (Parliament) the same number of days that the BCC has voted. The same is true for most public buildings throughout the so-called UK. Same is true for Stormont, home of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Flying the UJ on a daily basis is an act of antagonism towards the nationalist majority in Belfast. Now the real question should be, upon a United Ireland, can we expect Parity of Esteem when it comes to the flags? And how would that work?

• Jacob | Jan 05, 2013, 12:26 PM EST

  The Union Flag includes the cross of St Patrick!

• Tooreenagrena | Jan 05, 2013, 10:25 AM EST

  Paradigm - How does a loyalist find a site such as this - you must be looking for it. What a saddo.

• BrendanDunphy | Jan 05, 2013, 10:22 AM EST

  The North is no longer "a Protestant State for a Protestant people". I often wonder if the Loyalists will still be filled with such hatred and bigotry when they inevitably become the minority in the six counties and find that they are not receiving any discrimination from the very people they cruelly discriminated against for centuries.

• lecorri | Jan 05, 2013, 10:13 AM EST

  Errr Paradigm, 80 years? really? it took unionists more than 800 years to recognize nationalists in their OWN country. The Free State had separated from the union, so 80 years doesnt seem very long when one considers what was done to nationalists in the north for centuries.

• bobby | Jan 05, 2013, 09:57 AM EST

  @Paradigm, you are wrong, the Irish flag flies above government buildings on designated days only. These people will be disappointed when they find out that there won't be any flag flying over Leinster House next Saturday. The irony of it.

• Paradigm | Jan 05, 2013, 09:01 AM EST

  Typical O'Dowd short memory - he forgets that the Irish Free State took 90 years to even begin to recognise the British who remained there after independence. That is why unionists are defensive. Does the tricolour not fly 365 days a year on the Post Office and other Government buildings in Dublin? Yes let's have equality.