Independence Now!

I agree. It is a better looking flag than the present tricolour and I believe that the Irish Rugby Football Union still uses it as does the Royal College of Surgeons in the Republic.

Anglo Irish

Thought I could add a bit to this if you don't mind?

The south of Ireland rejoining the Union is a pipedream I'd say. However, it's not entirely out of this world to see Eire joining up in some Federation of the Isles at some point and Commonwealth membership has been on the table for the last couple of years. Rejoining the Commonwealth is certainly something I could see happening in the near future.

The more globalised Ireland becomes the more the old sacred cows of the past get thrown out. About bloody time too. If you ever happen to pick up any of the Irish Sunday broadsheet newspapers you'll see a very health historical discussion going on in the letters pages. For the last few years this has been almost exculsivly about Irelands roll in the United Kingdom, the Empire and finally culumating to a very heated debate about the wrongs of the early republican movements armed uprisings. People are throwing off the old chains and becoming more inclinced to question the nature and versions of history we were taught at schools. All of this is forcing people to wake up the fact that our neighbours are our cloest ally and closest friends. A relationship going back almost a thousand years (officially) and since the dawn of time with migration of people and so on. All very postive.

The British Isles is one natural unit. Now if people want to have devolved governments within that, thats one thing, but no matter what'll happen we'll always be linked to one another. We share history, culture, dna and we've a common future. And while much of the south mightn't like the idea of being governed from London, they'd still be quite postive to more formal links between the two islands. There is still a Britishness about this island. The more time passes, the more things will change for the better I think.

Internationalist

Having the Republic in the Commonwealth would be a great step.

Britannist

The Irish Republic has more of a friend in the UK than it ever will have in the EU. At the moment the Irish Republic gets alot of money from the EU, but most of it goes to rural areas and there is no guarantee that the cashflow is permanent. The city of Dublin gets no more EU cash than any city in Northern Ireland or Great Britain. Dubliners are being ripped off by the EU just as the entire population of the UK is.

The important thing is to campaign to get the Irish Republic out of the EU straightjacket and to remove the EU from the internal affairs of the Irish Republic (and UK, of course).

The people of the Irish Republic will, no doubt, wish to continue trading with EU nations after leaving the EU, but they must be rid of the EU dictatorship which controls the Irish currency, interest rate and which frames over half the laws now passed by the Irish Parliament.

The political establishment in the Irish Republic want to remain in the EU - but they can be beaten.

Kathy Sinnott was elected as the anti-EU MEP for the South constituency of the Irish Republic in the EU election in June 2004. She now sits as part of the Independence and Democracy group in Brussels (of which the UK Independence Party is the biggest single part). This is a good start in the capaign to get powers back to the Irish Republic which were given to the EEC/EU without the consent of the majority of the people (of the Irish Republic).