If they were really any such thing, then they would be dead by now. The PIRA only grew because the OIRA let it, and then the OIRA only survived (which it did) because the PIRA let it.
The failure of the "dissidents", not only to win, but even to contest the West Belfast by-election proved conclusively that Irish Republicanism no longer existed as a serious political force in Northern Ireland, rather than as an annual outlet for the mixture of adolescent levels of testosterone with alcohol and other intoxicants.
The former MP's election in County Louth is only because his party in the South long ago gave up anything more than the merest pretence of attachment to that cause.
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Oddly enough, the union is now more at risk (because of Scotland) than it ever was during the IRA's armed campaign.
ReplyDeleteCatholics in Northern Ireland are now proportionately more Unionist than the English. Scotland might break away, but they won't. Ireland has no oil, and let's not talk about her financial services. The Irish Republic, in fact, doesn't even have an NHS.
ReplyDelete"The Irish Republic, in fact, doesn't even have an NHS"
ReplyDeleteNor will the (rump) UK 20 years from now, not with its demographics.
We'll always have something. It's like the pension: once you've had it, then it is politically impossible ever to stop having it.
ReplyDelete