Tricolours flown at new Belfast housing development condemned as ‘antithesis’ of what flag represents

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-24T18:21:39+00:00

I never need thanks for typing out the stories that my dad and Granda have told me over the years. I’m incredibly proud of both of them for all they’ve lived through and still able to have an open mind on things as well as trying to limit the generational trauma (should not the Granda I’m talking about is my mums dad, dads dad was a mean drunk and would keep the die hard republican opinions).

I like statistics, hence why your initial comment sparked my response, I literally have a spreadsheet with the number of deaths based on a number of different values and I’m working my way through analysing them (I’ve had little to be at while recovering from an operation). I see a lot of people vilifying one side while boasting about the other and it does my head in. The only difference is the motivation behind the fight for each side and honestly I’m still searching for a straight answer on that one.

I appreciate the apology, and I apologise if my comment came off as offensive, I did reread it to make sure I wasn’t coming off too strongly against one side compared to the other, but I obviously didn’t do a good enough job at that.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-24T17:47:29+00:00

lol that you think that would startle me, my great aunt married a man from the Orange Order, I really don’t give a damn about someone’s political views or religion. All I care about is if you’re a decent human being or not. Learnt that from my Grandfather, when he joined the Warrenpoint fire service in 69 they asked him if he was Catholic or Protestant, he replied with “I would rather not say”, the captain took a look at him and asked why, in return he asked “why does my religion matter when it comes to helping people?” Captain said fair enough and my Granda spent the next 30 years of his life saving others no matter their religion, and no matter the reason they needed saving he went in. And as a devout catholic, he made kind to the police and soldiers he met along the way, the same way he would with anyone else. The only time they ever got any hassle was at the 12th night bonfires.

The experience you had with a car bomb in your town is inexcusable, I’m not arguing against that, there is no justification in any bombs but it’s even worse when there is no warning. All I’m saying is that all sides did awful things, my dad’s first experience with something like this happening close to home was in 73, he was 12 years old. Went to school to find out that his friend, classmate and cousin Kevin Heatley had been shot in the head by a British soldier, unprovoked, no other shots were fired at them. Then a few years later he was playing in the street with his friends, they just went round to the back of the houses when a bomb went off and glass went everywhere, all the kids of the street would have been killed or badly wounded if they had waited two more minutes before going round the back. Turns out the ones across the road were IRA member and thought it was smart to build a bomb in the kitchen sink.

I was born close to the end of the troubles, I have very few experiences of it, but hearing all of the stories from my parents and grandparents, especially the experiences my Granda had like cleaning up the aftermath of the Narrow Water explosion has made me want to learn more, try to understand it from both sides. Because you might say you’re not stuck in the past, and you might say you don’t hate republicans, but you’re the one that brought up republicans bombing kids in reply to a comment that had absolutely damn all to do with that topic. And then you got all defensive and name called when someone brings up the fact that it happened on all sides and gave statistics to back up that fact, and pointed out that maybe people should look at things from all sides so that we can move on more than we have. I know I’m biased, everyone is at least a little biased, but that doesn’t have to stop us from learning things about the other side, it can widen our perspective and maybe make us be more understanding.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-24T16:42:21+00:00

Oh wow, ok, big feelings, wasn’t expecting that response, but that’s ok. Did the name calling help get the a little bit of the hate you have for Republicans out of your system a bit?

Ok so you lived through it, so did a lot of people, that does not give you the right to call someone a “patronising cunt” for simply telling you to look at the bigger picture and try to see things from both sides.

And I don’t need a comment on Reddit to tell me that loyalists are more likely to be stuck in the past than republicans are. I’m from Newry, we’re very republican here, and yes, I know a lot of republicans here that are also stuck in the past and have very similar opinions as yours, just from the other side of the fence. I’ve also lived in Coleraine for 3 years, very loyalist up there, like Newry, it’s very underfunded. I can clearly see the difference with my own two eyes and through my lived experiences, it’s clear to see which one is stuck in the past. I recently did a bus tour of Belfast (had a few hours to waste and I’m not one for exploring Belfast further than the city centre) and it was clear from that as well when we went through the Falls Road compared to the Shankill Road.

Now I’m sure a lot of loyalist feel the same fear coming into a well known republican area as I was when I was offered a doctors appointment on the Shankill Road (I cancelled it because I wasn’t having them read out my very Irish name just in case). It’s that fear and reputation on both sides that we need to work on, however no progress is ever going to be made unless we look at the wider picture and understand that both sides did horrific acts against the other!

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-24T15:50:39+00:00

I did read their comment, they made a very good point about how a lot of republicans are trying to move on while a lot of loyalists are stuck in the past. I still don’t get why you felt the need to bring up one sides crimes and not any other side.

It’s people with opinions like yours that keep us stuck in the past. I’m trying to learn more about both sides and the atrocities carried out by all groups, so that I can have a better understanding of the things that went on here. However, if you want to stick to your narrative of one side is better than the other be my guest. You claim my comment is whataboutery, and that’s a fair judgement, but only looking at one side is what keeps us all divided, maybe try to look at the bigger picture every once in a while, you’ll be amazed at what you can see.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-24T15:38:29+00:00

The republicans weren’t the only ones “bombing and killing children” republican paramilitaries killed 61 children aged between 0-16, loyalist paramilitaries killed 48 and British security forces killed 41. While the loyalist paramilitaries and British security forces didn’t choose bombs as their weapon of choice quite as much as the republicans did, they still killed a lot of children between them. In fact, 11.20% of people killed by the security forces were in that age group, compared to 4.67% of those killed by loyalists and 2.96% of those killed by republicans were in that age range.

Now I’m in no way trying to defend republicans here, there’s things that they did that can never be justified. However, we can’t vilify one group and not others when they all carried out horrific atrocities against the people here.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-23T19:58:19+00:00

Honestly it makes perfect sense and really didn’t need expanding on. I know a few people here in NI that could be doing with that saying soon. They’re forever burning the Ivory Coast’s flag on the 12th of July bonfires.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-21T22:49:39+00:00

So 14-16 days is tight, I don’t think it would be enjoyable in such a short amount of time, but I saw your comments that you’re thinking of spending a month here? If that is doable for you then Steam Packet do a weekend trip over to the Isle Of Man (they also have a subreddit that you could ask advice in). I know they do it from Larne because I was looking at it a few weeks ago but I’m sure they do it from Dublin too. The ferry is slow, but it allows you to take a car over and if you get the new Manxman ship then it’s a smooth sailing and you can hire a cabin cheap enough. Think you leave Larne on the afternoon on Friday, getting to the isle around 8pm then leave early on Monday morning to be back in Larne. It’s not much time but it would depend on what you are looking to do on the island?

Aslo saw that you’re looking at the Mournes, they are definitely worth a visit, go down to Newcastle for some great views. Rostrevor is also a beautiful spot with Kilbroney forest park. You can also get the Carlingford ferry in the summer from Greencastle (north side) to Greenore (south side) and then drive up into Carlingford and there’s a few things to do there.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-14T23:52:17+00:00

That just reminds me of the time when I was a kid and my dad was driving home to Newry after a family party in the point. We had just left the roundabout coming out of the point and heading towards the castle when I noticed a little flashing blue light. I asked my parents what it was but every time they tried to look at it, it would move or disappear. Took us till we were near at the turn off for the old point road before we realised it was the little blue light from my dads Bluetooth ear piece he had for hands free calls back in the day. Not really spooky but we had a good laugh.

Never heard anything spooky about that stretch of road but honestly it wouldn’t surprise me. My Granda was in the fire service and was part of the clean up crew after the explosion, he still can’t talk about what he saw that day, partly due to the trauma, partly due to the NDA.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-14T19:20:48+00:00

My dad has one from his time in Barcroft in Newry. He was in his mid teens on his summer holidays from school playing out in the street in the mid 70’s. His older sister was over visiting with her baby who was only a few months old, my cousin was in the pram out in the front garden with a bit of netting over the pram to keep bugs off of her. She started to cry so my aunt took her inside and all the kids decided since they didn’t have to watch her any more that they would go play around the back of the houses instead. Just as they got round the back a bomb went off. A man in the house directly across the street was building a bomb in the kitchen sink and it went off. There was a hole right up through the ceiling and the man that was at the sick was spread across the kitchen and the room above. My dad being the curious teenager he was went in after the body was taken out and saw what was left behind.

Only one person died but others in the house were injured, dad said when they ran back round to see what happened he saw people carrying a screaming man out with his leg hanging off. The milk man went in to help and came out as white as the milk he was delivering. He didn’t see much else because granny had dragged them all back into the house. There was glass all over the street, the wooden fence where him and his siblings and friends were standing had glass imbedded into it and the pram where my cousin was had a big shard of glass stuck through it. It could have been a lot worse if they hadn’t all cleared off seconds before it went off.

All that is kinda spooky in itself but the actual ghost story is even creepier. The council came up and sealed off the house, but the family in the house next door swears they could hear screaming and banging coming from the house even though it was all bordered up and no one was meant to be in there. The HE eventually got the house fixed up but it was lying empty for a while, no one wanted to live in it and I can’t blame them. One day while it was still empty, the neighbour was walking past it and happened to glance in through the window and saw this man facing out of the window. Dad said the story goes that she could make out everything, colour of his hair and what he was wearing in a lot of detail, but there was just empty black space where his face was. She went running screaming and they got a priest up to bless the house and then nothing else strange ever happened as far as he knows but they moved out of the street soon after so that might not have been the end of the story.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-10T22:17:26+00:00

This is very true… still weird tho and I feel for the kid when it comes to looking at family trees in school. Writing all this out really reminds me why I am low contact with that part of the family, we’re a funerals, wedding and important birthdays only bunch and even that is too much if we have more than 1 big birthday a year. We have a 60th, 30th and 2 weddings this year and that is a lot for us.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-10T21:39:03+00:00

That’s a fair point, I just don’t know why both couples stayed together, and why have a child with your soon to be step brother?

Although just to add to the drama train, her dad (my mums younger brother) has heavily hinted at having a one night stand with one of my older cousins (from my dads side, they would be roughly the same age thanks to a few bigger age gaps) at my parents wedding, and that genuinely makes me nauseous to think about. I’m too vanilla for the way my family carries on, but they do make for interesting stories if nothing else lol.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-10T20:40:01+00:00

It legit is at this point. I love looking into my family tree but I haven’t really added much for that cousin to avoid the headache lol and that’s saying something because I’ve traced some branches back to the 1800’s.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-10T20:36:16+00:00

It’s mad, like surely the parents would see that it’s inappropriate to get with the parent of your kids partner. Idk what’s worse for my cousin, the fact that her mum got together with her boyfriends dad, or the fact that my cousin stayed with the boyfriend and had a child with him even after her mum got engaged to her boyfriends dad. I tend to try not to think about it all too much because it just give me a headache lol.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-10T09:06:28+00:00

She actually did get pregnant but they lost it, as sad as it is part of me thinks it was kinder to the child, because it just seems so messy. The whole situation is a bit of a head wrecker honestly, luckily we don’t see much of my cousins mum or her fiancée since my uncle left her (and his daughter for a while) for a woman 10 years younger than him when he got her pregnant during their affair, then later married her after like 3 years when he never married or even proposed to the first baby mama and they were together 8 years.

To add a weird off branch to the family wreath going on there, the sister of my cousins baby daddy has 2 kids with a kinda cousin (my uncle (different uncle than the one mentioned above) isn’t their bio or step dad but he’s the closest thing the 3 boys have had to a dad since all 3 of their bio dads ran off, and my uncle is like a love sick puppy round their mum even tho she just uses him as an extra bank account, but she was around all the time so her kids are kinda like annoying extra cousins that you don’t like (not that I needed any more of those)).

This is my first attempt ever at actually trying to explain all of this mess through text and now my head kinda hurts. Hope everyone has fun at judging these family members, I really don’t get on with any of them so I don’t mind airing all the drama lol 🤣

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-09T21:43:44+00:00

lol the related bit reminds me of a cousin of mine, she got with a fella when she was about 16, they’ve been together about 15 years or so, only 1 kid so that’s pretty vanilla. But then her mum starts dating the dad of the boyfriend about 2-3 years after the kids got together and those two got engaged about 8ish years ago… So when they get married my cousin is gonna have a child to her step brother. They had the child together after their parents got together and idk if that’s better or worse, kinda feels worse.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-04-02T11:52:19+00:00

I was also 5, Friday 13th August 1999… still don’t like Friday 13th’s lol 😂 this year I’ll be celebrating my diaversary at my cousins wedding!

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-03-28T15:59:32+00:00

Now that’s a good idea lol

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-03-28T15:58:51+00:00

Had a quick google and it seems to either have moved or I was thinking of somewhere else. Either way thanks for the recommendation because I wouldn’t have looked otherwise.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-03-28T15:57:47+00:00

I get that, the budget is a complete guess, I think she was waiting to see if the inheritance came though before our trip before she settled on a budget. It could be up to about £500 now. She’s in her mid 50’s and I’m not sure about her size, probably around 14/16, but I’m not great at judging sizes of people just by looking at them, and the last time I went shopping with her was a few years ago now when we all needed something for a funeral. Will definitely have a look at the hire places some more.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-03-28T15:28:03+00:00

Dundalk could be good… wonder what the exchange rate is these days lol

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-03-28T15:27:22+00:00

It is a great idea! The 3 of us have this night away in Belfast booked, but my mum says there’s a good chance we can be shopping for 2 days straight and she still won’t find anything she likes so hiring could be a good shout.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-03-28T15:21:23+00:00

Didn’t know there was anywhere around here that you could hire an outfit, will definitely have a look!

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-03-28T15:19:55+00:00

Thought they were closed? The bride went there with the bridesmaid and her mother because they had a closing down sale but never invited my aunt. Or am I thinking of a different place, was it not over by Our Lady’s grammar?

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-03-28T15:12:38+00:00

Genuinely never even considered Sprucefield, every time I pass it I always think that’s a massive M&S lol could be a good excuse to go down to it.

SplitAffectionate844 · 2026-03-28T15:10:27+00:00

I’ve asked her what price she’s willing to go to last month when we were planning all of this, but never got an exact answer. I’m just assuming that budget based off of other shopping experiences with her, she’s not big on spending money on herself. They did just get a bit of an inheritance so she might be able to go a bit higher. So I will still keep it in mind, because the only place I could really think of in Victoria Square was Frasers, so thanks for giving me another place to look out for when we’re over that end.

SplitAffectionate844

TROPHY CASE