Northern Ireland General Discussion

[Clyde1998]

The Northern Ireland Assembly could collapse following the failure of the welfare bill - it could be down to Westminster to pass a welfare bill for Northern Ireland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-32894371
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-32793324

[Clyde1998]

Wish they'd just go back to direct rule completely #ukup

The problem is that the Northern Ireland Assembly was created as part of the Good Friday Agreement - the peace treaty for The Troubles. It would, in theory, be a breach of an international treaty - between the UK and Ireland. I don't think it can happen...

[Clyde1998]

Assembly pass gay marriage, but DUP veto.

Why?

[Clyde1998]

Finally...: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34850196

[Clyde1998]

Northern Ireland isn't allowed to have democracy. Thats the whole point of the GFA: no one ever gets to implement their (inevitably horrific) platform and elections serve as a means of apportioning patronage and public money.

The problem is that Northern Ireland's "democracy" is based on voting for the party that's closest to your religious ideology - if one party ever got a majority, there would be religious tensions again. The closest NI gets to having a democratic vote is in the UK General Election - where their vote doesn't matter.