Majority of Catholics in Northern Ireland want to remain in the UK

Devolution appears to be most popular option.

Not sure this was really on the table in the 1980's (or 1880's) . We won't ever know what would of happened if there was devolution decades ago,

There was always devolution in Northern Ireland..... until the troubles brought the parliament down?

The opening post is based on a false analysis.

I would safely say a sizeable percentage of catholic would not wish for a referendum on a united Ireland and if one did come I would see no likelihood of the whole people of the north of Ireland voting to leave the union with Britain even if catholics were in a majority and I mean a majority a lot more than just a single vote.

The falsehood of the opening post is that after all the deaths the people on the catholic side were to blame and now they just want to live in peace with equal rights. That's all they ever wanted.

Prior to 1969 when the troubles started there was a small token old IRA who carried on from partition. They had few weapons and formed no great threat to stability or the protestant community.

The thousnands of needless deaths which followed during the troubles from 1969 were due to one reasons and one reason only. The unionist backlash when the catholic people after years of misrule and inequality asked for something as basic as equal rights through the civil rights movement. The response to these marches was that they were literally broken up. Marches were attacked and in many cases by B special policemen whose members did not include a single catholic person. They wore coats over their uniforms in some cases. The other response to this demand for equality was that hundreds of catholics were burned out of their homes in Belfast egged on by Ian Paisley and others. The old ira were actually told to not fire the few weapons they had to kill when catholic areas were attacked by loyalist mobs on the rampage. That's when the members of the old ira broke away and formed the new ira and the adopted new tactics. Instead of waiting to defend their communities they decided to try and bring down the whole corrupt state.

Things were at a stage in 1969 that the British were brought in to protect the catholic people who were getting attacked and burned out of their homes and the Free state irish army were put on standby on the border counties with field hospitals set up and they were on the verge of taking over unionist police stations inside the border counties.

After that things took on a life of their own and once the killings started it was hard to stop.

So you might want to rethink your opening post Fred Rescue.

more than half of those Catholics interviewed (57%) would still like to see a united Ireland within their lifetime.

So which is it, OP?

That's a whole different and very interesting story paddle. Needless to say along with the personal kindnesses shown to me there was also a lot of mistrust and things put in place without me being aware at the time to make sure I was safe.

Times change Fred and sometimes people need to change with new times or get left behind in history always looking back. I agree with one of your comments. Saw a recent documentary when this cute little 7 tear old by from Belfast had the letters IRA tattooed on his hand. A child should not should have the free will do such a thing which would inevitably influence his future and it did and he spent most of it in jail. The term queens shillings is a phrase which nowadays only a handful of diehards use. Sinn Fein politicians all receive the same remuneration when they go into Stormont which is set at the average industrial wage of the man or woman in the street. The rest of their wages goes into party funds.
By the way I am not a strong supporter of any political party in  n. irlenad despite the fact I have ever only voted for one party at any elections.

How touching  ,angels and all ...... Walofs ...you on the gear ?

fairly sure britain was a democracy, fairly sure northern ireland was british territory, fairly sure the catholics were subjected to great persecution and injustice, fairly sure the bbc were aware of this, fairly sure the british public still willingly continue to fund and support the bbc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles#Civil_rights_campaign_and_unionist_backlash

ultimately the fault lies with the british public for failing to protect the rights and safety of their fellow citizens, though i have much sympathy for the soldiers sent on their behalf.
i'd also condemn the ira for much, and the unionist terror groups for so much more.

part of the reason for that failure was that the two groups don't feel like fellow citizens, qed they should be separate countries

Well that was the idea in the first place Brendan, all the Protestants moved to N.Ireland, the Catholics moved to the Irish Republic

The problem Catholics remained in N.Ireland where they suffered discrimination..
They started to protest late 60's led to the modern troubles

I thought we did well to defeat the IRA that was all
As for everybody accepting one another well????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

It's 1690, akabula's PIN number.

Deluded