Argument: Britain is morally obliged to permit the secession of northern Ireland

The age of colonialism is over. We recognize that the dominance of one country over another is morally wrong. Ireland was already in the hands of the Irish people before English earls and kings invaded. The Irish had a right to the ownership of their land because they cultivated it and so put their labor into it. The use of force to seize that land from the people’s control is unjust because it denies them the right they had to their land. They had no choice to voluntarily hand over their land either.

To right this historical wrong, the British government should relinquish Northern Ireland, just as they have decolonized the rest of the world ending the British empire except for a few scattered outposts. Since Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 Northern Ireland is the only remaining colony with a significant population and independent identity.

Candidate 1: "The Unionists in Northern Ireland who wish to remain part of the UK should have the freedom to do so. To disown Northern Ireland would be a second involuntary decision made by an outsider."
Candidate 2: "If you were to adopt a federal system, which would best please Unionists, the systems would not integrate very much anyway as Northern Irish ‘states’ would want their own state constitution and have separate judiciary to the rest of Ireland, as is the practice in the US."
Candidate 3: "We are at peace now. The Good Friday Agreement has created stability, with the exception of occasional outbreaks but nothing like the horror of The Troubles. We do not need re-unification to have stability. In fact, the positive outcome that might happen is unsure and not a reason worth gambling on.

It is likely that there will be conflict in the beginning. Such a huge move will come to Unionists as a shock and without knowing how much power they will have, having to answer to Dublin, it is likely that paramilitary activities will flare up again. This will, of course, spark off IRA and other Republican attacks. If escalations get worse, the British may intervene as well as the Irish army and there may be an entire repeat of The Troubles."
Candidate 4: "There is no evidence that the Catholic population today suffers a bias in the current political system, except for that which they make for themselves. As of 2010 the Catholic representation in the House of Commons is 5 Sinn Fein and 3 SDLP against 8 Democratic Unionists,* it is only the fact that the Sinn Fein members do not take up their seats that make things uneven. In the NI Assembly things are slightly more skewed. As of 2011 there are 55 Unionists and 43 Republicans.**

Attacks against Catholics are not based on religious lines. Unionist attacks are only focused on those Catholics that are Republicans. In general Catholics are perfectly safe in Northern Ireland.

Additionally in united Ireland, the Protestants would become the marginalized minority. Abortion is illegal in the Republic of Ireland***, for example, which will inhibit the freedom of non- Catholics. Such laws are likely to stay because of the overwhelming Catholic majority.

*Parliament.uk, 2011, http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/state-of-the-parties/

**Northern Ireland Assembly, 2011, http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/breakdown.htm

***Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland"
Candidate 5: "An attempt at a plebiscite in 1921/22 under the specter of a war of independence and civil war would have been fraught with danger and even more open to intimidation than the House of Commons.

It would be undemocratic to relinquish Northern Ireland today, because recent polls have shown that the majority of people want to remain within the UK. *

*Moriarty, 2011, http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0620/1224299225080.html"

The Unionists in Northern Ireland who wish to remain part of the UK should have the freedom to do so. To disown Northern Ireland would be a second involuntary decision made by an outsider.
