fierce_kali

I travel a lot to both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic on business. You need have no fears about going there as a tourist, anywhere.

I'm disappointed at some of the posters above.

I was recently in Londonderry (you can call it by either name, it's up to you) and walked round the city walls (highly recommended, takes about half an hour non-stop, you'll take about 2 hours looking at things). At one point I went into an old fashioned pub and was immediately in a conversation with two middle-aged guys at the bar in the usual Irish way. It turned out to be a republican pub, it was close to the Bogside housing estate. One of the ironies is that among republicans, there is considerable support for Manchester United football team, they're always happy to chat about them ! One of the guys, who from conversation must have been there all his life and in on many of the confrontations with the security forces, summed the whole thing up beautifully for me, I have never forgotten it.

"You know, sir, it's not any fun any more like it was in the old days".

And there we have it. It was a tradition that has disappeared. But the country was never a problem to visit. No visitor ever came to any harm there, it was all between two groups. Unemployment is now way down, surely the greatest contribution to social harmony is having work that keeps you busy and the money coming in. House prices have shot up, restaurants opened, city centres been overhauled. it's just a nice place to go to. Do enjoy it.

Maybe you could go to Dublin for the day, best by train from Belfast. There are no border controls going from Northern Ireland to the Republic, by train or by road. In fact by road you don't realise you have crossed over apart from some giveaways (eg road edge lines white in the North, yellow in the Republic).

You'll get to recognise the different expressions for each other's country. In the Irish Republic they are "Ireland", the North is the "North OF Ireland", and Britain is "The UK". In Northern Ireland they are "Northern Ireland" or "Ulster", the Republic is "The ROI", and Britain is "The Mainland".