indeep said:
I don't honestly know that much about the whole situation, but it seemed like there was a simple answer that no one could see. 1921 was 84 years ago ya know
. I guess I've always seem it as being kind of a war of independence.... in a way, not that it is a justification for the violence, but... yeah. Is this the last vestiges of the British empire?
hmmm...
Nope, not at all. 2004 saw the last independent survey I can find.
http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/2004/Political_Attitudes/NIRELAND.html#religion
59% wanted to remain part of the UK
22% wanted to join Eire
11% wanted an independant State.
Interestingly the split is on Catholic/Protestant lines, with 85% of the Catholic
minority desiring union with Ireland. In 1920 Catholics comprised a small minority, but a higher brith rate means that in a couple of centuries tehy may represent the majority in N.Ireland. However the 2004 survey seems pretty clear.
These figures for 2004 were up on 2003 when the results were
55% wanted to remain part of the UK
24% wanted to join Eire
7% wanted an independant State.
2001 showed
50% wanted to remain part of the UK
28% wanted to join Eire
6% wanted an Independant State.
So over the last 5 years the actual move has been towards remaining British and away from unification, with the 'alternative Ulster' indpendent State option gaining in popularity.
Source:
http://www.ark.ac.uk/about/vision.html
A project by the Northern Ireland Universities to provide sociological data.
As to claims of Empire, sorry, successive British adminstrations have desired nothing more than to let Ireland reunify. The people of Northern Ireland have democratically expressed their opinions repeatedly, against this option.
cj x