Irish history and politics

Was de Valera a hero or a villain? Should the north be part of the Republic? What role do the unionists have in the future of the island? Are Fianna Fail a brilliant political party, a corrupt bunch of builder-lovers, or both? All lovers of irish history and politics, go forth and debate!

I'm no weatherman, but...

I attended an Irish wedding once. It was like an Irish wake, but there were a few more drunk people.

Daniel, when starting a topic for discussion it's good form to put forward a few ideas of your own first. Otherwise it just comes across as starting a topic for the sake of starting a topic.

I've seen Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. Michael Flatley is American you know.

keydeck the reason I started it was that the 'life in germany and ireland' topic had become dominated by historical debate, which while interesting and not unimportant, was off the title of that topic. There did not seem any other topic on the site for Irish history and politics. It's a good topic so I thought it might be a good idea to start one. I know it's broad.

But this is a forum dedicated to Germany. Do we need a forum to discuss Ireland and its history?

Theres loads of Irish topics on the board...very funny...looks like they're all negging each other

no, if people don't want to talk about it sarabryd they don't have to. I was just trying to add to the forum, it was just an idea. It was being discussed in another topic so I thought I might just start one on it. I'm not trying to redirect the agenda of the forum or anything. How many international topics are there sara?

. . . If we're truly Gaelic, we must constantly discuss the question of the Gaelic revival and the question of Gaelicism. There is no use in having Gaelic, if we converse in it on non-Gaelic topics. He who speaks Gaelic but fails to discuss the language question is not truly Gaelic in his heart; such conduct is of no benefit to Gaelicism because he only jeers at Gaelic and reviles the Gaels. There is nothing in this life so nice and so Gaelic as truly true Gaelic Gaels who speak in true Gaelic Gaelic about the truly Gaelic language. - Flann O'Brien

Ah yes. Eases the pain.

Seeing as it's friday, I don't think the title or original subject matter of the thread actually matters much - it'll all go flying off topic in various tangents as everyone gets increasingly bored at work waiting for the hometime bell to kick off the weekend.
It'll follow standard procedure - somebody will post a picture of a kitten, katekatekoala will go on about wheeks or some shit, I'll slip in a mention of Gabrielle Anwar, Jimbo will call you all cunts, Keydeck will use the word "fuck" in a curious yet attractive way, like fuckski or fuckity, and eurovol will probably chime in with some comment or other which will net him -10 reputation points regardless of what it was.

My paternal grandparents came from Caherciveen in County Kerry. In the early 1920s there was an insurgence in the town and it was not known who were responsible.

So, the Black and Tans (a brutal bunch of (unfortunately Irish) fuckers) picked out three families and gave them 2 hours to pack what they could and leave. My grandparents had about 6 children (my father was one of 11!!!) at the time. The Black and Tans then blew up their house with the rest of their belongings.

They fled to Dublin, where my father was born and then met my mother and then .......
The rest is history. [*musing* If the REST is history, what is the other?]

Here is a picture of me (right), my sister and my granny.

Friday cute pictures segment

International themes generally relate to news topics. Gruntled or disgruntled Irish are not news, they are normality. And just to prove the Don right:

...oldie but a goodie I was just sent...amongst a few Irish jokes I might add...

@Don..completely agree...it's going to be a long day!!

The priest in a small Irish village loved the rooster and the hens he
kept in the hen house behind the church.

One Sunday morning, before mass, he went to feed the birds and discovered that the cock was missing.

He knew about cock fights in the village, so he questioned his
parishioners in church.

During mass, he asked t he congregation, 'Has anybody got a cock?'

All the men stood up.

'No, no,' he said, 'that wasn't what I meant. Has anybody seen a cock?'

All the women stood up.

'No, no,' he said, 'that wasn't what I meant. Has anybody seen a cock
that doesn't belong to them?'

Half the women stood up.

'No, no,' he said, 'that wasn't what I meant. Has anybody seen MY
cock?'

Sixteen altar boys, two priests and a goat stood up.

The priest fainted.