And whit wid you call "Eastenders" and "Coronation Street" and "Emmerdale"? Do they have to sit and watch "River City"? I don't ****in think so. Oppression is not always by the cosh.
Ireland was dire for 60 years, but when it got independence the state was barely industrialised outside Dublin (which was wrecked by war). Northern Ireland was an industrial powerhouse at the time and spent the next 60 years of it's life dropping like a stone - to the point where the Northern economic output is currently much worse than the recession hit South. It will be messy as you say, but there will be plenty more opportunities in a dynamic country with complete control over it's own taxation and economic policies.
You can ****ing take the soaps as a parting gift of friendship between two neighbouring countries, even if you guys don't get independence ya can have em, we're depressed enough.
That's not going to be the case though. We'll either have a monetary union with England or with the European Union. I think what would be the best solution would be a fully autonomous nation within the United Kingdom.
They were forced to take the first bail out (to stop the possible spread of negative sentiment) and haven't asked for another and are well above pay back targets - and they are not in recession (circa 1.2% growth vs UK still in recession).
The big scandal that hit the UK last week was that Facebook was declaring all it's UK profits in it's European HQ in Ireland, so it only had to pay the 12.5% tax to Ireland rather than the UK at 35%. The Paddies are nicking Britain's tax revenues... if you can't beat them then join them
Oh please take them, you can even dump the cast into the north sea, don't ya think we've been dumbed down enough? Oh and as a bonus gift your also welcome to any reality show of your choice, to do with what you will.