Of course Unionists will keep their identity for generations, and our aim should be to win them over to supporting the republic, not allowing unionism to drag on indefinately. If unionists were to stand in an all Ireland assembly, they could take 10% of the vote on a good day, if they stood in a 9 county Ulster election they could take up to 40%. Which scenario would give the unionist movement more credibility, thus increasing its lifeespan? BTW check out my post above for a break down of how the various councils will run under the proposals in Eire Nua, I think there is a lot of needless bureaucracy, and the cost of running these legislatures, along with the civil service would bankrupt the state...

The Brits have the biggest trump card of all. If we tried to do it (end the illegal occupation in the North) through direct dialogue..enough said. Talking does nothing. If we try to force the Brits out through the U.N. all they have to do is veto anything brought up at the Security Council. Being a permanent member of the UN security council they can veto anything. The only thing that will end Brit occupation is force. It is the only thing they respect. Need examples? The best example I can think of is America. I find it hypocritical that the U.S. brands the IRA terrorists, yet, America gained independence with "revolutionaries". I cannot advocate force if I do not have to live in Ireland. It's easy to advocate violence if it does not affect you. What do we do to unite Ireland and throw the Brits and any "Loyalists" out?

you know it took me to age of 18 to first realize their was a document called EireNua. Politics was the last thing on my mind. I grew up in west belfast what i thought to be a republican/nationalist community, we have several murals in our street as well as memorials to fallen volunteers. Going up and down from the town i saw the image of volunteer bobby sands on the wall of the PSinn Fein office. We never had the internet in our home. My life up until the age of 18 was mainly focused within Belfast. One can say just up to the year 2000 this was due to heavy censorship of the establihment north and south as well as those new reformists that Eire Nua and RSF was not widely discussed. I am ashamed now when i think about it, while i was in NYC on 9/11 and i said to my south african friend i think it was the palestinians he laughed and said its that arab Bin Laden. bin who, i said. I was so nieve , so nieve. let me say near being wiped out that day quickly made me wake up. I kept saying how could i be so nieve all these years being so Ignorant. When i was able to use the Internet and found out about RSF, 1986, EireNua I was shocked to say the least. I researched my history and read and read. When i started to speak to family about the Eire Nua document they were like ah we have heard it before , i was like how fuck did i not know. It was like everyone around you the whole community complicit in suppressing this stuff. I was discusted. Ever since then i have been spreading the word of Eire Nua to each and every one i can. I travel and when people ask me about Ireland i make sure they know about 86 and the path the Provos took. Alot of this suppression can be blamed on the provos and the establishment censorship. But in 2007 their is no excuse with the technology available to us, YouTube , Google Video, dailymotion. The internet is in most peoples homes, most kids now have computer classes at school now, unlike when we were at school. Social networking sites are the biggest searched for thing on google last year, this tells us that young people are using the internet more and more rather than listen to the crap that comes out of the media. How many more people stilll living in west belfast going about thinking that what they see and hear about republicanism is correct , getting fed what the leadership hands down or is piped through the Andersonstown news. How many young people are gonna grow up and get fooled by the same stuff. When i was in america and we were a meeting to discuss the Eire Nua document and the current situation in Ireland i was pushed to ask a question as the presentation was being given by a young lady and it was being video taped and i said , i have lived their all my life (west belfast) and yet im only hearing about Eire Nua 3000 miles away. How are you gonna get this to the people on the street their where it matters. I have to give it to her because she had a good response , she said well something like are you going to go back and tell people about it and i said sure. Then she said at least one good thing will come out of this then. The document is excellent , We need to be getting the information and awareness out direct to the people not expecting the people to one day find the RSF web site, make use of the technology thats available saturate the internet with republican ideals, positions, view points and analysis. Theirs no excuse nowadays, it costs absolutley nothing , ZERO, nil to setup and maintain an online radio station that can be streamed worldwide. Opensource and freesoftware is widely available. Republicans can broadcast our own station with our own guests, music and topics, important shows can be looped continusly overnight. I honestly dont see why its not happening.

I think what MacLiam means is that it's a token parliament. It has limited powers in relation to relatively minor issues. The secretary of state, a member of the British parliament and not elected by people in the occupied counties of Ireland, has the power to pull the plug on the Stormont assembly - as has happened numerous times in the past ten years. Hence, the Stormont executive lacks autonomy. The unionist population, as a percentage, will remain unchanged at about 18% of the population (both now and in a United Ireland). I don't think the unionist population have anything to fear from Irish unity. Relations between the Catholic (traditionally nationalist generally speaking) and Protestant (traditionally unionist generally speaking) communities in the south are testiment to this. The Proclamation of The Irish Republic states: "The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past." The removal of British rule from the 26 counties has clearly had a massive impact on removing the "differences carefully fostered by an alien government". And any overhang of this in the south currently, I believe, is due to perceived differences among some southerners directly relating to the British presence in the 6 counties. While their presence persists all indications are that communal relations will at best be tenuous, when there's no reason why they shouldn't be good. The British presence has brought little or no benefit to Ireland. A small glance at our history, or even at our present where people of different heritage are protected from each other through 'peace walls', show this to be true.

An act instigated by whom and brought into being by whom? You can dress it up as whatever you like, but the London government rule the six counties, not those in the puppet assembly. Those English politicans, elected by the population of England, can ultimately decide the fate of yourself and your neighbours. thats because we are part of the UK, a united gov for all 4 countries and its the same for all 4 countries, polits from each have a say in the other. its not a big deal. sure polits from dublin have a say in my country, big deal. on a larger scale politicians from all over euro have a say in the uk and a say in the roi. so the destiny of you and your neighbour is ultimately controled in europe. as to your proclaimation claims, tell me the difference in the attitude of the police and judical system presently in the north and south ? I'm not sure what you're asking here. i'm saying your proclamation and its ideals - in reality terms, there is no difference in the attitude of the law and judical system of the roi and ni. I disagree. As I've pointed out it's the British government who control the north. Percentage-wise the population of the six counties accounts for about c.2 - 2.5%? of the entity to which they belong, and unionists about 1.5%? (1 million in an entity of c.65 million). And while Unionists elect MPs who sit in Westminster, the government there is wholly British. So in effect Unionists (i.e. those who consider themselves British) make up a tiny minority of the British population and have no governmental authority either here (as it's not a real autonomous body) or in Britain. Now in that light, compare the Unionists' current significance to the potential significance it could weild in a United Ireland where through the Éire Nua proposal it would have control at local level in many areas in the north, would make up a large minority in Dáil Uladh, and in the event of a coalition at the convening of the third All-Ireland Dáil (with an 18% share) would hold the balance of power and actually be part of a sovereign, independent and autonomous government with real power. unionists are the 4th largest party in the uk gov and do and can hold the balance of power in the uk as to wether a lab or cons motion gets passed. you offer the something equivalent, fair enough, we'll mind that. what else do you offer thats beats 50% now, more self determination for our area, and a border thats handy for trade ? All of the above and hopefully an end to artificial divisions among the Irish people with real permanent peace with justice. hopefully ?? i doubt it. the current divisions may fade if the power sharing arrangement is left to work without impatient extremeists trying to spoil it. its a matter of building confidence in the relationships so i'm not convinced a ui tomorrow will magically end all division. so waht else are you offering ?

Surely you know that unionists are in majority because of a gerrymandered border. That still doesn't mean you wouldn't have any say in an all Ireland Republic! Yes, I agree, you wouldn't have your majority status, but bear in mind that this status is the result of a commission of British imperialists who decided where to draw the border. The fact of the matter, no matter how you see it, or what you will get out of it, is that the border was drawn to make unionists the majority. I understand you don't want to loose this, fair enough, but I'm pretty sure you understand that you're a "artificial" majority since the border was drawn to make you the majority. What if someone all of a sudden decided to re-draw the border so that you have no say at all? What would your moral highground be? "We cheated first"?

I said this to you before, Jane, on P.ie, but I really think the ones who will benefit most from a UI will be the Ulster Protestants. Somewhere down deep, there will be a sigh of relief that the curse of holding Ireland for the Crown has been lifted off them. Ireland and Britain are so secular now that I really dont think religion will be much of an issue. Im not asking Unionists to be absorbed into the free state. Thats the last thing I want for anyone. Brand new structures are needed. I really dont think Unionists will ever vote for a UI, any more than, say the French in Algeria would have ever voted for the French to leave, but holding back the tide must be an aweful straign on any community.