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Tell us more! I don't know anything about it either. Couldn't the UK have ceded it to Ireland? Or would the problems just have gone another direction?

deleted 2mo ago
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dofm 2mo ago
There are two largely different concepts/epochs separated by more than 40 years. The negotiations and partition of Ireland and the establishment of Northern Ireland as a self-governing province (rather than being governed from Britain): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Ireland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Ireland And then the Troubles, which were a sectarian conflict between Catholics and Protestants within Northern Ireland itself, that stemmed from Protestant oppression of Catholic rights protests (patterned after the US civil rights movement). The Wikipedia pages are really good, but the top level page is great because it covers the early days so well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles
- ExoticPearTree 2mo ago
  This does not answer my original question: why doesn't Britain give the north of Ireland back to the Irish? Why does it cling to it? Didn't Britain cause enough suffering for the Irish already?
  - foldr 2mo ago
    Because (depending on the exact poll) either a majority of plurality of the people of Northern Ireland favor remaining in the UK, so it’s not that simple politically. The Good Friday Agreement has provisions for a change in the future status of Northern Ireland based on a referendum, so if/when a majority of its population want to join the Republic of Ireland, this can happen. Northern Ireland receives heavy subsidies from the UK government. I imagine the UK would be quite happy to cede it to the Republic of Ireland were this politically feasible and not likely to kick off another round of sectarian violence. Ireland may want the six counties in principle, but might be a little unhappy with the bill.
  - emptyfile 2mo ago
    [dead]
  - deleted 2mo ago
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  - dofm 2mo ago
    It does answer your question, or at least the linked articles do. To get any further into it, you'd need to characterise your understanding of Northern Ireland and the Northern Irish in 2026. There is no way to answer your question otherwise.

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dofm 2mo ago

There are two largely different concepts/epochs separated by more than 40 years. The negotiations and partition of Ireland and the establishment of Northern Ireland as a self-governing province (rather than being governed from Britain): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Ireland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Ireland And then the Troubles, which were a sectarian conflict between Catholics and Protestants within Northern Ireland itself, that stemmed from Protestant oppression of Catholic rights protests (patterned after the US civil rights movement). The Wikipedia pages are really good, but the top level page is great because it covers the early days so well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles

ExoticPearTree 2mo ago
This does not answer my original question: why doesn't Britain give the north of Ireland back to the Irish? Why does it cling to it? Didn't Britain cause enough suffering for the Irish already?
- foldr 2mo ago
  Because (depending on the exact poll) either a majority of plurality of the people of Northern Ireland favor remaining in the UK, so it’s not that simple politically. The Good Friday Agreement has provisions for a change in the future status of Northern Ireland based on a referendum, so if/when a majority of its population want to join the Republic of Ireland, this can happen. Northern Ireland receives heavy subsidies from the UK government. I imagine the UK would be quite happy to cede it to the Republic of Ireland were this politically feasible and not likely to kick off another round of sectarian violence. Ireland may want the six counties in principle, but might be a little unhappy with the bill.
- emptyfile 2mo ago
  [dead]
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- dofm 2mo ago
  It does answer your question, or at least the linked articles do. To get any further into it, you'd need to characterise your understanding of Northern Ireland and the Northern Irish in 2026. There is no way to answer your question otherwise.