Northern Ireland turns 100 today. On 03 May 2021 it legally came into being, ending years of civil war when it separated from the rest of the island of Ireland. The six counties of Fermanagh, Armagh, Tyrone, Londonderry, Antrim and Down broke away from the other twenty-six to become part of a United Kingdom along with the other Home Nations of England, Scotland and Wales.
A lot has changed in those 100 years. There has been further violence, most notably the ‘Troubles’ between 1969-1998 where over 3000 people lost their lives and many others were seriously injured during decades of sectarian strife. The Good Friday Agreement of April 1998 brought peace but it is an uneasy one and it doesn’t take much to resurrect old grievances. Recent rioting has bore testimony to that sad fact.
Brexit and the Irish Sea Border has resulted in the First Minister standing down after a letter of no confidence from her own party. We are governed by a devolved Assembly and a five party power sharing executive that often can’t agree on what day of the week it is, let alone important social and economic matters. They have lurched through the pandemic from one crisis to the next, hardly filling the hearts of their citizens with confidence and hope.
There’s even talk of a poll about a United Ireland within the next few years. I’m not convinced the Republic of Ireland want the extra baggage but they’re on a sticky wicket, given the desire is written into their Constitution. Who knows what the next 100 years will bring but I hope it is a better century for my children and grandchildren than it was for my parents and grandparents.
Black Thoughts 
Who knows what the next 100 years will bring but I hope it is a better century for my children and grandchildren than it was for my parents and grandparents.
Amen!
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Thank you 😊
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Nobody knows what’s gonna come.. all we can do is hope for a better one, happier one..
Great post ❤️🤗
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Thank you. Hope your day is going well 😊
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You’re most welcome. It’s going nice and sound …
Stay happy and healthy ❤️
With love,
http://www.ahiricreates.wordpress.com
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Thank you for the link. Great poem 😊
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Thank you so much for reaching out and for reading ❤️
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You’re welcome 😊
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Hopefully we see more peace in the next 100 years than we seen in the previous 100.
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Must definitely 😊
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Happy birthday ! However, I’m intrigued as to how a vote might work… Will the south vote whether they want you to join them (yes or no) and will the north vote whether they want to join the south (yes or no) and what if one says yes and the other says no? Or will it be much more complicated than that? (
I can’t see a single north and south vote being very ‘fair’ to the north as you are outnumbered by the south – is it by about 5 to 2?)
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Thank you. I’ve no idea what will happen. We will just have to wait and see 😬
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I hope the unrest in Ireland–and throughout the world–turns find peace soon.
I think it’s interesting to learn about different countries of the world. I live near a county in Michigan (USA)
that was renamed Antrim County in 1843 in deference to the increasing number of settlers of Irish heritage at that time. I often think of that connection when I hear Antrim. 🙂
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Thank you. Half of my village is in County Antrim, half in County Armagh. The village of Aghalee 😊
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Happy Birthday, Northern Ireland! Wishing you much success and peace in the coming years.
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Thank you very much 😊
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Regrettably I realize that I am not familiar with any of the events that you mention. Do you have a good resource to learn about the overall history and key moments of Ireland for someone who lives in the USA and wants to know what is going on?
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I would just read the BBC Northern Ireland website on a daily basis. It has great reporting and analysis.
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Wonderful
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Thank you 😊
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Hey, nicely made post. I’m curious, how long have you been blogging?
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Thank you. About four years.
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Is that so, so you have decent experience in blogging?
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Yes, I like to think so. I’ve also written three books so I’ve been busy these last few years 😊
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Really? Wow, where can I find the name of these books. Also with that experience I’d trust your advice, is it cool
if you follow me and look over my site. I’m open to feedback!
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The first book in the series is ‘The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles: Skelly’s Square’ by Stephen Black. You can find it on your local Amazon site in e-book and paperback format. Thank you. I’ll be sure to check out your blog 😊
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Great post.
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Thank you 😊
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We can only live in hope, politicians are not going to want to exploit the situations again. Really annoyed me how they dealt with the Brexit negotiations. As they could have done a whole lot better. They could have just said…. alright, we will leave you alone. But the DUP wanted money – go figure!!!!!
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Yeah. The DUP…don’t start me 🙄
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We can only hope and pray, even as it seems like things are still moving in the wrong direction. I hope you keep writing and there are many family successes for you to celebrate as you go. ✨
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Thank you Hamish. Yes, new blog post up today 😊
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Brilliant! I look forward to reading it when I get there! 😁
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I also hope it is a better century for your children. I live in America, but have a late grandmother who remembers bullets and fire bombs from her childhood in Ireland. I recently wrote this poem for all children effected by war. http://dontwantyourcivilwar.com/2021/05/30/reverberation-of-war/
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Thank you for sharing your poem with us all 😊
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