The insurmountable problem of the Northern Ireland Protocol will be resolved Rishi Sunak blithely assured Joe Biden by the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement next April. No details were forthcoming about how and given the intransigence of the DUP, never mind the EU, there seems little likelihood of flexibility on either side.
The Good Friday chart does have Mars in late degree Aries catching the trapped, frustrating square from tr Pluto through till late 2023 which looks ominously blocked.
The Northern Ireland 7 December 1922 3.28pm Belfast chart looks rattled in early 2024 with the Solar Arc Mars square Uranus which could provoke outbursts of violence; with more shocks and over-reactions in 2024 with tr Uranus square the Mars, which could also have financial implications with the NI Venus being tied in.
There is an argument that Unionism is dying. A 2021 poll showed only 11 per cent of voters would oppose a united Ireland with 30 per cent in favour plus a good many don’t knows. At the recent elections, for the first time Sinn Fein polled more votes than the Unionists.
It would not be an easy transition given the amount of bad blood and actual blood that has flowed and the red-necked dogmatism of the true-believer unionists. But it may come eventually.
The DUP are a motley crew with a former leader being a creationist and the present one having voted against the Good Friday Agreement. They are anti same sex marriage and abortion rights as well as being climate change deniers and regularly sabotage the workings of the assembly.
The Partition of Ireland happened on 3 May 1921 with a Taurus Sun square Neptune; and on a Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Virgo opposition Uranus. Once tr Uranus clears the square to the Mars by 2025 there may be less heat and it moves towards a Uranus Return by 2028 which could be an indicator of a return to status quo.
Whether the Republic of Ireland would welcome with any relish taking on board ‘hundreds of thousands of embittered, alienated and demonstrably violence-prone Northern Protestants’ is another matter.
But over the longer term attitudes may change. In 2025/26 tr Pluto will square the Republic of Ireland Taurus Sun – 24 April 1916 12.25pm Dublin, which will certainly bring considerable changes under pressure. And before then tr Pluto will oppose the Ireland Neptune which will soften up the mood, mainly through confusion.
It seems unlikely and maybe I’m naive but I cannot believe the Cromwellian bigots both amongst the Northern Ireland protestants and the right-wing Tories can cling onto their flat earth beliefs and still be in a position to stop progress and détente.
All would have to want it and I do not think they ever will. Irish Catholic here with a grandfather born in Londonderry and one grandparent born in the Republic of Ireland.
@Delia, much love. This situation isn’t dissimilar to that of Karelia between Finland and Russia. But at least you are dealing with two democracies. I may have more hope here than you.
Surely, the ‘partition of Ireland’ occurred in 1921.
NI will always be part of the UK, regardless of anything else. As for your last paragraph, Ms Orr, that shows me that this post of yours cannot be unbiased. Referring to people you do not know as cromwellian bigots and right wing is disgraceful on your part. As fpr tarring all NI protestants with the same flat earth brush, you come across as incredibly ignorant. Maybe you should do some homework and try to understand people properly before judging them and calling them names. I have a few names I could call you but I won’t stoop to your low level by doing it.
I grew up in a Protestant family in Glasgow with an anti-Catholic father whose views I did not understand. An RC doctor friend from university still talked about the discrimination he faced in Glasgow in the 1970s/80s. I wave no flags for the Vatican or its pernicious influence nor for the violence of the IRA but if you treat people badly (see Palestine) you will get problems.
As late as 1983 Protestants occupied 88 per cent of top jobs in the Northern Ireland civil service. Only 3 per cent of the (at that time) 7,000-strong workforce of aerospace firm Short Brothers of Belfast were Catholics.
There are few people I loathed more than the anti-Christer Ian Paisley who seemed to me to represent the absolute worst of the protestant mindset.
My impatience is not confined to Northern Ireland – more a reflection of my outraged disbelief that any electorate can vote these dotards in – as US Trump and UK Boris Johnson, Bolsonaro, Orban etc etc. I despair of human nature.
Whether and how Ireland can ever heal after the decades of violence is a question for the distant future.
In order for union to happen, the North would have to vote for it. (Sinn fein topped the poll with 29% in the 2022 NI Assembly election results. They need to find another 22% to win a referendum).
Given that nobody in Tory England would ever vote to give up the NHS, I’m always puzzled when commentators blithely assume that Northern Ireland will eagerly give up the NHS and embrace the Republic’s world of private health insurance, with fees of €50 per GP visit and €750 per hospital care.
The arguments given are “The number of Catholics are increasing”, as though it’s only Protestants who value the NHS. I’m sceptical.
Unification will only happen if the Republic moves left and embraces a state-funded health service, free at the point of use.
But thanks to the eurozone crisis, Ireland’s debt per capita is the highest in Europe. Having an NHS would make it balloon further. So nothing will happen till they get their debt down – at that point they’ll afford an NHS and afford to take on the north. But that’s at least 20 years away.
Looks like we are are going to have to wait a bit;
https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2022/08/22/news/latest_poll_shows_growing_support_for_irish_unity-2805027/
If the Euro breaks up the Republic could be harder hit than most. That could slow things down quite a bit. Not sure why you only blame one side. Who set off most bombs?
Partition – I’ve got 3rd May 1921 – Marjorie have I misunderstood what you are referring to? Best Susan
Hi Thanks, you’re right. Shouldn’t do things late in the day when I am sagging. Looks more hopeful than the other date.
Thanks – yes, I know the feeling
I think it will happen, the demographics are on the Catholic side so it is just a matter of time. No UK mainland voter I know would want to see one drop of bloodshed to stop the democratic will of the people being enacted.
If Sinn Fein plays nice and doesn’t force anything I am sure it will happen without too much angst, the more the Ulster Unionists push back against the inevitable the more they will turn people off.
The island of Ireland has been held back by its history, it should be encouraged to move forward mindful of the hurt and destruction that both communities have endured, unshackled by its past.