A United Ireland referendum

AnCearrbhach wrote: El cientifico wrote: Actually talking about gobsh*tes and Celtic jerseys Was in an Irish Bar in Northbridge on Sunday after the fight. In the jacks going for a piss, fella wearing a Celtic jersey standing beside me…… and as most of ye know I can be a bit of a wind up merchant for all the good reasons and not just to start a row….. Says to him; jaysus ye were lucky to beat us in Celtic Park, we were muck. Your man; Aye Sir you know this is an Irish pub you’re in? Says to him; yeah I do boy, do you know you’re in an Irish pub wearing a British Club jersey…… Your man; Celtic are Irish…… you should be ashamed……. Ashamed! Says to Him; go away ya f**king mong, last time I looked at the map….. Glasgow was in Scotland, therefore Britain therefore the British Isles therefore the commonwealth and btw judging by your dress attire I’d say you saved ur dole money or robbed your neighbours shed to pay for the ticket to Perth. Your Man; (move in close to me) you wanna step outside…… Says to Him; nah (drove my 2 fists straight into his chest and he went flying into the piss tank and he got covered in piss, now I mean destroyed!!)   My 2 buddies stood back watched this and when ur man got up he realized there was 3 of us and stayed in the piss tank. We left and f**ked off up to another bar on the strip. Saw him about 3 hours later in the pub we were in, still in the same clothes the dirty bastard!!   Irish Celtic fans     Celtic fans getting patriotic in a commonwealth country  You come out as a much larger gobsh*te in this story

Roberto Baggio wrote: Jaysus im glad i dont know any "wind up merchants" like yourself in my local.  You were definitely the aggressor there. Why so angry?

God knows! He has a lot of hate in his mind

Edited by Green Devil - 05 May 2015 at 11:34am

dunloybhoy wrote: A boarder poll would be akin to the Scottish referendum. you would have them t**sers Cameron, Farage etc over here whipping up hysteria like they did before and i would nearly bet my life that the north would descend into civil unrest no matter the result.

Would have thought Farage would gladly dump them to save his English taxpayers some money, he's always banging on about money going "north of Hadrians wall" so I'd imagine he has similar opinion on the north. I would imagine the Conservative and Unionist Party would get up to some vote bribing akin to Scottish referendum if they were in power alright.

The Scientist; tries to look hard, looks like an asshole.

We had our vote as part of the GFA. Its a straight 51% in the 6 now.

Nope. Article 3 of the Constitution effectively requires another referendum here before a United Ireland can come to pass. The relevant wording states "recognising that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island". Until that will is expressed democratically (aka by a referendum on both sides of the border, with a majority on both sides voting in favour), there can be no United Ireland.

I think if there was a referendum in the morning in the north it would be no way near the 51% 

Yeah, I'm 100%. Have a read of the full wording of article 3:

1. It is the firm will of the Irish Nation, in harmony and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland, in all the diversity of their identities and traditions, recognising that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island. Until then, the laws enacted by the Parliament established by this Constitution shall have the like area and extent of application as the laws enacted by the Parliament that existed immediately before the coming into operation of this Constitution.

2. Institutions with executive powers and functions that are shared between those jurisdictions may be established by their respective responsible authorities for stated purposes and may exercise powers and functions in respect of all or any part of the island.

***********

I think that makes it clear (the first part, ignore the second bit) that we have to democratically express our preference for a United Ireland before it can come to pass, on both sides of the border. ****However****, I do not believe that it necessarily requires another constitutional amendment, simply a referendum on the question as to whether the electorate want a United Ireland. It may be safer to have a constitutional amendment, of course, and the effective question would be the same, but I'm not sure it is absolutely required.

Interestingly, as things stand, the Northern Ireland Assembly and Oireachtas, under the second part, could propose an all-Ireland basis for dealing with anything on which the Assembly have competence. So, seeing as they are responsible for things like social security and pensions (in theory), along with things like criminal law, education and the environment, we could deal with any of those on an all-Ireland basis. That's a separate matter entirely, of course, but it could be used to operate a stepping stone basis towards a united Ireland where more matters are devolved to Belfast, more matters are decided on an all-Ireland basis and ultimately, everything is decided on an all-Ireland basis. It provides the pathway, at least, but a referendum would still be required to fully unite the two jurisdictions.


Edited by SuperDave84 - 05 May 2015 at 2:40pm

SByrne24 wrote: To quote Patrick Pearse, 'Ireland unfree shall never be at peace' As much as a good debate on this issue would be, you'd have the bible bashers and loyalist scum out preaching about their Scottish routes and ancestors and their fantastic language... Ulster Scots 'Aye' and how I'm somehow 'British'.  Mr Cameron wouldnt bother coming over here.. he couldn't wait to get the North of the books of the United Kingdom as it costs them a fortune i think a majority of the english population would be delighted bar the English Defence league.  They're still moaning over their 'fleg' over the city hall, that thankfully will never return. SF seem adamant about having a referendum on this next year... you also have catholics who will vote to remain part of the UK. Thats the sad reality of the situation, the best case scenario is SF get the same reaction as the SNP have had.