London.

I tell genealogy friends I an 50% German, 25% Swedish, and 25% Irish and they can finedme "Crying in my beer while I plan to take over the world and make it safe for statuesque blonds and petite redheads."

My grandfather Kelly's parents were from County Louth so I heard all the stories growing up.

I note that the IRA have now decided to stop being terrorists (yeah right).

The White house said it understood that "the IRA and its members will no longer have any contact with any foreign paramilitary and terrorist organisations".

However, our whining f****it spinless wonder of a prime-minister, who has been responsible for letting these murdering bastards out of gaol on the grounds that they are political prisoners, said it was a "step of unparalleled magnitude".

Somehow If Al Quaeda terrorists renounced bombs, I can't see Bush reacting with praise and claims that it was the greatest thing ever.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

I wouldn't expect the IRA would give up. Not unless some major changes are made concerning home rule and/or independence and those changes won't be made as long as the IRA is in a strong opposing position. A classic example of an 'Catch-22'

Like most Americans, I really don't know much about Mr. Blair or Mr. Ahern but I do know a little about the Irish. They are by nature and nurture a contrary, passionate, and obstinate bunch and it they ever manage to get unified they would be a populace to be reckoned with. I can not foresee them coming together because they blindly hate each other and themselves too much to allow self integration.

I'm not sure you are right, Billy. The Irish I have met are decent people not full of hatred, who just wish the organised crime and violence would stop on both sides.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Bill ask your in-laws, after a few beers, what they would think of one of their teenaged daughters or grand daughters was to come home one evening and announce she was pregnant by a boy from Belfast. Give them a few more beers, then ask the question what would they feel if she wanted to move there and live with his family. Then after a couple more beers throw in the proposition that she was going to convert to that 'other church'.

I don't think your in-laws, as nice as they are if they are being honest, will display ANY level of approval.

North hates south, Catholic hate Protestant, Green hates Orange and I don't forsee any change in the near future.

Do they want the violence to stop? Absolutely! Do they want Irish unity? Absolutely !

Are they willing to work together or peace? Well... it really hasn't happened

Excerpts from

"A landmark settlement, the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998, came after 19 months of intensive negotiations. The accord called for Protestants to share political power with the minority Catholics, and it gave the Republic of Ireland a voice in Northern Irish affairs. In turn, Catholics were to suspend the goal of a united Ireland?a territorial claim that was the raison d'être of the IRA and was written into the Irish Republic's constitution?unless the largely Protestant North voted in favor of such an arrangement, an unlikely occurrence."

It took 19 months of negotiations for them to agree to negotiate.

"In Dec. 1998 the rival Northern Ireland politicians agreed on the organization and contents of the new coalition government, but in June 1999 the peace process again hit an impasse when the IRA refused to disarm prior to the assembly of Northern Ireland's new provincial cabinet. Sinn Fein insisted the IRA would only begin giving up its illegal weapons after the formation of the new government; Unionists demanded disarmament first. As a result, the Ulster Unionists boycotted the assembly session that would have nominated the cabinet to run the new coalition government. The nascent Northern Irish government was stillborn in July 1999."

The IRA won't give up its guns until the new government is formed, the new government won't be formed until they give up their guns. Catch - 22

" On April 8, 2002, international weapons inspectors announced that the IRA had put more stockpiled munitions ?beyond use,? the euphemistic phrase used in the negotiations to mean disarmament. British and Irish leaders hoped that Protestant paramilitary groups would also begin to surrender their weapons. The Council on Foreign relations has estimated that Protestant paramilitary groups have been responsible for 30% of the civilian deaths in the Northern Irish conflict. The two main Protestant vigilante groups are the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Strongest during the 1970s, their ranks have diminished since then. While Protestant paramilitaries have observed a cease-fire since the IRA declared one, none of these groups has made any moves toward surrendering their weapons as stipulated by the Good Friday Accord."

The Protestant terrorists won't give up their guns, even after the IRA had started.

Furthermore, despite efforts by the British and Irish governments to create an autonomous Northern Ireland, religious tensions have greatly hampered the peace process. Recently, the autonomous government of Northern Ireland was suspended by the British government based on both reports that the IRA was failing to disarm and the arrest of Sinn Féin members for spying for the IRA in Belfast. Moreover, the reactions of both hardline Protestant unionists and hardline Catholic nationalists to this suspension of the government, each blaming the other, only furthers the view that while peace has had its hour, hate still rules the day.

A excerpt from "The Harvard International Review"

"As the recent suspension of the Northern Ireland government shows, the distrust and tension between political groups also distinguished by religion are not easily overcome. Because antagonism and hatred between fellow Christians can be so virulent and divisive, no universal concord exists among Christian denominations that would allow them to unite into one, indivisible entity. In fact, the divisions are so pronounced that the potential for internal feuds prevents them from engaging in an epic clash of civilizations against Islam or any other religion. As the violence and hostility in Ireland have shown, the rift can become so great that, for all intents and purposes, different sides view others not as sects of Christianity, but as different religions entirely."

Most people, no matter where in the world you happen to be, are decent people.