Home page Why the Good Friday Agreement wasn't Why the Irish, in Ulster don't really matter In stark terms, the Good Friday Agreement was not good for the Irish who live in Northern Ireland. It was a trade off. The IRA agreed to stop creating chaos in England and stop targeting political leaders, like Tony Blair as well as members of the British Royal Family. In exchange the IRA and the Protestant factions were permitted to carry on their thuggery to control the Catholic and Protestant areas. Well over 200 reported knee cappings occurred since the Good Friday Agreement. In exchange for this agreement, the British government agreed to allow power sharing within the Northern Ireland assembly. Irish & British goverments as partners in thuggery By turning a blind eye to the thuggery exercised within local communities the British and Irish governments legitimised this crude exercise of brute force while turning away from the people of Northern Ireland. This became very evident with the murder of John McCarthy when politicians and the IRA tried to silence the sisters of the murdered man because they wanted justice and those responsible brought to trial. The Government had allowed the situation in Catholic areas to come to such a low ebb that the IRA felt that there was nothing wrong in making a press statement to the effect that they would, if so desired, kill the men responsible for McCarthy's death. Naturally, this faut pas by the IRA came too close to demonstrating to the public in the United Kingdom what was really going on in Northern Ireland under the Good Friday Agreement. So naturally the British and Irish leaders, hypocritically condemned the IRA statements. Allowing the IRA to do what it wants in silence, it would seem, is entirely acceptable but when they reflected more openly their modus operandi under the Good Friday Agreement that was not acceptable since it only served to show up what the Irish and British governments had agreed to. Both governments have demonstrated a viscious disregard for the rights of the people of Northern Ireland to be free from thugs and terrorists. Its open season on terrorists It is only as a result of the general high level of uncertainty following 9/11 in the USA where all terrorist groups are legitimate targets of military liquidation campaigns, that the IRA announced that is was "decommissioning". This resulted in the British government again cow towing to the thugs and reinstating allowances which had been withdrawn following a significant IRA-sponsored bank raid in Northern Ireland. Ulster has always been more turned to Scotland than to Ireland Unfortunately Blair and company do not understand that the Sinn Féin and IRA claims to Northern Ireland are without historic merit. Ulster, centred on the old Dalriada region, was always closely associated with the Milesian Scots also known as the last invaders of Ireland according to the Book of Invasions. Ireland was then known as Scotia and these people, mixed with Norwegian immigrants, populated the Isles and Highlands of Scotland and via the Mull of Kintyre slowly developed and finally unified a country which was to be given Ireland's old name and to become known as Scotland. English ignorance and Catholic violence This same group protected Patrick in his missions in Ireland and from this group came Columba who set up his mission on Iona and Christianised Scotland, much of Northern England and Wales and set up missions in Northern Europe. The Celtic and Scottish churches were strongly community based, had women priests and a large lay participation in community affairs. This was not liked by the emerging Catholic heirarchy which was also politically concerned at the amazing success of the Columban missions. The reaction was fierce with the murder of the celtic Bishops in Bangor by Catholic interests and what was essentially a take-over bid of the Celtic and Scottish churches. From the time of King James and the Tutor period the lack of understanding by the English of the nature of the Celtic and Scottish churches combined with biggotry and religious intolerance only threw such communities into the grateful arms of the Catholic Church which went from strength to strength as English extremes, based on ignorance, grew. 75 years of marginalisation by champions And so the Irish staggered under a yoke of Catholic feudalism and English ignorance to discover nationalism and the concept of Republicanism. Ulster, in historic terms, is more closely associated with Scotland than with England; any claim to a direct union with England is weak. But those fighting for "independence" do not wish to reflect upon such matters but aim to achieve their objectives by continuing to brutalise their communities, remaining in the pay of the British government and sharing power. Unfortunately, like politicians everywhere these people are power mad and will use any device pure or corrupt, to achieve this. Just as the British government has come to a low ebb of marginalizing the English representation, so the Good Friday Agreement cannot be based upon the free will of people when such people are subjected to blackmail, threats, torture and violence at the hands of their champions. Such champions cynically and openly demonstrate that the Irish in Ulster do not matter and they have been unashamedly rewarded by the British government.