The Visa waiver is not directed at EU citizens. Take, say, a businessman from Russia. Currently if he wishes to travel to both Ireland and the UK on business he requires 2 separate visas – one for Ireland and one for the UK (remember, neither Ireland nor the UK are Schengen members). What is proposed is that in future, this businessman will be able to travel around both countries on only one visa (he can obtain an Irish or British visa and use that in either country). Apart from the obvious advantages of removing duplication, excess fees, etc., Ireland has fewer embassies and consulates throughout the world than the UK. Allowing people enter Ireland on a British visa will only encourage more business to Ireland.

@DavidBarrett
Actually fyi, it was the Irish Volunteers who declared Ireland a Republic & if you reaaaaaaally want to play politics with it, Sinn Féin established the Irish Republic.

You are spot on Cathal

The debt to Empire/land deal done was related a border commission report completed at the time. The commission found large parts of the north and some of the republics land would change hands. So a deal was done.

Personally I don’t see an issue with a united Ireland as an integral an equal part of the UK. It makes economic sense. Unity is strength. The only thing preventing it would be the emotional rhetoric and clichés about “oppression” “ruled by Brits” “fought for independence” and other stereotypes. The people’s of these islands share more in common than they do differences. The UK is a largely secular, multicultural, modern society – many people are surprised with the level of concocted resentment that simmers below the surface of the Irish national psyche. You only have to read comments on the Journal.

Cathal, as a regular traveller from London airports and Welsh ferry ports, I can safely say that you’re talking through your hole.

We have a problem with people claiming asylum in Ireland. I think this will open the doors from all the flights in and out of the UK.

And pray tell me JohnJoe who is currently running this country, none other than Angela Merkel, the IMF and this feckin troika whoever they are. The British in all fairness are now very good neighbours to have, and believe you more care a lot more about our little Island than an of the countries in Europe do.

The primary legal entities in that state are as follows: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; followed by the devolved entities of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Below that we have the separate legal entity of “England and Wales”. Below that we get into the smaller municipal and unitary authorities, though some regional bodies exist. (Great) Britain vanished as a legal entity when Ireland became part of the UK. Today it is only a geographic term used accurately to describe the largest island, but sometimes erroneously to describe the entire state.

Brian,
Perhaps you misunderstood my question;
I wasn’t seeking an explanation – understanding the nature of political juristication and structure is an area I understand very well, what I am keen to know is upon what do you base your view/opinion ?

You could start with the Act of Union 1800 and the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927.

To give it its correct name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The “Great” in Great Britain does not refer to the level of its magnificence but to the measure of its relative geographical magnitude. It refers to the result of the union of the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707, that is; it is a greater rather than a lesser Britain and became “United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain.” A common mistake made by some is a belief that the United Kingdom was created by the Union of the Crowns in 1603 not the Treaty of Union in 1707. The Union of the Crowns was and is a historical and legal misnomer. The Crowns of the two countries were not united in 1603. The crowns, and the two countries, remained separate. All that happened was that the same head came for the first time to wear the separate crowns of two separate countries. What happened in 1707 was that Anne, Queen of Scotland, entered into a treaty with Anne, Queen of England, to merge the two countries into a single state in international law. Then and only then was there a United Kingdom. The state of Great Britain is also confused in many minds with that of England (and indeed was so used in the past) and also that of the United Kingdom; neither is synonymous. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed by the inclusion of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Act of Union 1800; the Kingdom of Ireland having been created by Proclamation of Henry VIII and was never a sovereign entity; then in 1922 with the creation of the Irish Free State became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, formalised by the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act in 1927. Whatever form of words we use it upsets somebody and lands us in the soup.

Actually, Hewitt, the term “Great” in Great Britain was used thousands of years ago when the Greeks referred to the two main islands in this archipelago as Megalo and Mikro Britannia. In other words, Ireland was originally termed Lesser Britain.

Certainly Brian, Ptolemy also used the terms “Alwion” and “Iwernia”