The Reform Movement

[Milesian]

Yet another attempt to drag Ireland down into a nightmare union with Britain

The Reform Movement is a non-denominational, non-party movement founded in the Irish Republic to represent those who value Irish-British traditions.

Translation: They are Unionists who want to go back to the "good old days" of British colonial rule.

Reform believes that true reconciliation within this Archipelago can be achieved only when the Republic of Ireland accepts that it is closely linked to the United Kingdom socially, culturally and economically.

We had 800 years of such a forced union and it resulted in wars, slaughter, famine, persecution, rebelions, etc in endless succession.
There is a famous quote about those who fail to learn from history being doomed to repeat it....

The Council of The Isles
We welcome the creation of the Council of the Isles. We wish to make the council more accountable and inclusive to the citizens of these Islands. This accountability would recognise the reality that our country is linked by close political, social, cultural and economic ties with our neighbours in the rest of the Archipelago.

Unionism by the backdoor

Minority Concerns
We believe that the central challenge facing the politicians on these islands is that of reconciling the needs of minorities. Support is essential for minority concerns to be expressed. This is a fundamental requirement of the Belfast Agreement and should be fundamental to the island as a whole.Belfast The Irish Republic must develop a new and more inclusive attitude towards all its minorities, and allow institutional expression of minority concerns, such as that embodied in the Good Friday Agreement.

The goal here is two-fold.

1) On the one hand, by encouraging immigration they can marginalise the Iish in their own land. The British have a long history of "plantation" whereby they introduce their own colonists and foreign settlers in order to divide and conquer the land

2) You can bet that these "minorities" include British Unionists like themselves

While there have been enormous concessions to minority aspirations in Northern Ireland, the Republic has lagged behind. It would be a sign of real maturity for dissent to be actively encouraged.

This is a falsity which is constantly repeated.
"Concessions" in Northern Ireland are nowhere near enough to change things for the better in that odd little sectarian statelet.

On the other hand, Protestants/Unionists/etc have always enjoyed equal rights in the Republic. Such is guaranteed by the 1916 proclamation.

This amounts to littke more than "chutzpah"

Among our proposals are: -

(1) The altering of the present Constitution to reflect a new Ireland as a member of a multi-cultural E.U.

They want a new plantation of Ireland (well, it's been a couple of centuries since the last one after all)

(2) Separation of Church and State.

This avowed Masonic goal is obviously pleasing to their Anti-Catholic bigotry
It is interesting to note that no clergyman has held political office in the "Priest-ridden state" to their south, whereas the Rev. Ian Paisley, to name one, wields considerable political power in Northern Ireland

(3) More representation in the Senate for minority sections of the population. The Taoiseach should nominate five such representatives from his senate seats.

I'm quite sure they have minorities such as themselves in mind.
It makes sense they want a greater political voice in which to push their poisonous agenda. If they can't get it democratically, then they will utilise the "tyranny of the minorities" type of action so currently beloved of the multicultural movement.

(4) That the words of the Irish national anthem should be rewritten to reflect the heterogeneous nature of the Irish of today, rather than the narrow, violent nationalism of another time.

Of course, we can't have the Irish taking pride in anything which is not pro-British. Such patriotism must be eliminated.

Even the British anthem no longer includes the words, "Rebellious Scots to crush" in common usage anymore

Languages: A Common-Sense Approach
The Reform Movement believes that English and Irish should be made equal official languages to reflect the reality of the Irish situation. Also, we question the compulsory role that Irish has been made to play in our schools which has resulted in the shameful lack of other language instruction, especially in the primary school curriculum.
We need to recognise that the huge expenditure on Irish at primary school level, recently highlighted by the educationalist, Dr. Edward Walsh, gives Ireland a low ranking in education - 16th out of 20 comparisons in the 2001 competitiveness report.
The school curriculum should instead reflect the realities of Ireland's relationship with the rest of the European Community.
We believe that it is time to abandon the discriminatory policy of making proficiency in Irish a requirement for employment in State agencies, the security forces and the legal profession.

Another attack on Irish culture - this time on it's already endangered language (this has been another long-standing British colonial policy).

Of course, I'm sure they will agree that it is only fair then that Irish be made an official language in the UK with the same rights as English

Citizenship: Equal Rights
We support the present policy in the Belfast Agreement of extending rights of Irish citizenship to those in Northern Ireland who want it.

You can't extend to people what was already rightfully theirs in the first place.

However, the reciprocal right of those people in the South who want British passports should be granted and we call upon both governments to see that British citizenship is extended to those in the Republic of Ireland who request it. We therefore desire a situation whereby anyone born in Ireland would have the right to be either Irish, British or both. This would reflect the diversity of culture and identity on this island.

Here's a better idea - those who wish to live in multicutural British society are given government grants to facilitate their emigration to the UK.
Everyone's a winner then

New Opportunities : The Commonwealth
We believe that Ireland, as a republic, should follow the Republics of Namibia, Fiji and South Africa in rejoining a Commonwealth that has drastically changed since John A. Costello hastily took us out over 50 years ago. There are 54 countries in the commonwealth, 33 of which are republics which fought for, or were given, independenc, and it is home to more than 30 per cent of the world's population, including some 17 million people of Irish descent. The Irish played a large role in building the Commonwealth and could act as credible conciliators today in countries like Zimbabwe.

Oh yes, Ireland could give up it's current mediocre success (Economic growth has been out-stripping the UK's for years now) and join the ranks of such global powerhouses as Namibia and Fiji

The British monarch's role is purely titular and vestigial

In other words, it is powerless and a monumental waste of money - something that many (if not most) Brtitish people agree should be scrapped

Twenty-three per cent of world trade takes place between the countries in the Commonwealth. By joining, the Irish State would find for itself a new forum for dealing with economic, legal, cultural and political matters of mutual interest.

Ireland was previously in the Commonwealth.
It's been doing far better since it left.

We believe the Commonwealth Games would also offer attractive new incentives to our athletes.

LOL!
Ok, that's fair persuausion. Where do we sign up?

We note with special interest that the Cameroons and Mozambique - whose histories were unconnected with the U.K. - have recently joined the Commonwealth.

Special interest, eh?
These guys need to get out more