Can you link that properly?

A very interesting subject. I've got quite a few friends who have moved back home after years over here (England) with varying degrees of success. The general consensus is that the Ireland that we used to know is "gone forever" - sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Funnily enough, one common factor is how the rise of the motor car has led to a diminishing of community spirit as people no longer bump into each other as much whilst out walking and doing their messages. Anotther common theme has been that the "ones who never left" are, by and large, rather more narrow-minded than the ones who've worked abroad and all those friends of mine who have returned prefer the company of others who have seen a bit of the world to those who remained in Ireland.
One other point, and I know this has been raised elsewhere, but the question of what the Irish government has done for those who came to England, worked, sent money home during less well off times in Ireland, and eventually fell into ill health and remained in England no longer able to work, should be raised again. These people made a huge contribution to Ireland's economy yet seem to be the forgotten men and women of yesteryear now that all focus is on the Celtic Tiger's boom years.

Seamus - Governments and People have short memories and very little gratitude. Look at what happened to Churchill at the end of WWII, not to mention the pathetic treatment of war widows and those returning from the war.

Thirty years of violence was a colossal waste of human potential, I once worked out that around 80% of my final year at school left for GB. All of them were born in Ireland and most of them have stayed away. It's yet another example of the utter pointlessness and nihilism of violence.

And by that I mean all sides of the conflict.

There are, of course, a large number of people who have left Northern Ireland as a result of the Troubles. A larger number however were forced to move within Northern Ireland because of intimidation, fear or actual violence.

It was estimated during the 1970s that 10% of the population of Belfast had been "displaced" as a result of the Troubles. My own early experiences (from when I was a young child) were of being forced to leave an area where we were in a small religious minority due to nightly violence and the active intimidation of some of our co-religionists nearby. I know plenty of people who have been through the same thing, yet I don't recall ever reading any newspaper stories talking about our experiences.

This region has been exhausted by emigration continuously, although the rate accelerated again during the troubles. Many of the most able went and stayed away, and most of these are unlikely to come back, or to make much of their victimhood. They must be counting their blessings after the election result.

I left in 1995 and I really can't imagine ever returning to N.I. to live permanently. Even post-ceasefire the place seems irrevocably scarred by the violence and conflict. People seem continually suspicious and there is always an air of tension. Every time I go out in Belfast and meet new people now, the first thing that they seem keen to do is to suss out my religion often via sneaky ways such as what area my family lives in, what school I went to etc. Here I can go out to wherever I want but in my native city, walking down the wrong street, drinking in the wrong bar carries a considerable risk. What a sad situation.

In my opinion most people who were forced to leave particular areas due to the Troubles still stayed in NI, but moved to an area where they were a majority.