[Livia]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

imo the IRA is not comparable here when you're talking about using Religion as a war tool. This was not why the IRA was formed, the IRA was formed because Ireland was taken over by Britain and then split in two and the IRA were fighting for the country back, not because they were trying to convert anyone to Catholicism or were doing it in the name of Catholicism, it really annoys me when British people try to pass it off as some sort of religious war. Yes most of the "Republicans" in the North are/were Catholics but that's just because Catholicism was the predominant Irish religion. There were actually Protestant members of the IRA too.

I'm not defending the IRA here btw especially in later years there was no going back but I hate the fact that alot of times British people are under the impression that the North was some sort of Religious war where the Catholics are trying to convert the Protestants or something when in Reality it was always a fight for our country back that you lot started by the way by invading us and beating our language out of us, etc etc

If it weren't for the IRA or the earlier version of it the whole of Ireland would still be part of Britain

I agree with this. While I abhor what the IRA did, I don't think there's a right-thinking British person who doesn't acknowledge that they had a point. My father served in the British Army in Northern Ireland and he thinks their cause was a good one... but they chose violence and death. If they'd chosen a method other than packing pipes with nails and ball-bearings and blowing the arms and legs off of civilians to get what they wanted they'd have had more backing on the mainland. And then there's the whole problem of what to do with the Protestants in NI who want to remain British... But they are not comparable to IS and Al Qaeda or any of the various lunatic Islamic terror groups.