José Cruz: You seeJosé drops the “you” (0:00) (And I say it- mm) to me that’s what makes it all confused. I I- I don’t know wh- how many hundreds of years it’s been going on, but it’s confusing, and especially too, as a Canadian, our history with England and- So again, I profess my ignorance, and I’ll just- I’ll just say that I’m being very ignorant and- I don’t know, right? (Haha) I don’t know.

Shane Doyle: Yeah but, but I mean you know things have improved in NorthernShane’s Irish accent pronounces the “TH” as similar to a “D” sound. (0:20) Ireland. I mean you know the, (Mm) it- it peace uh has come to the province you know and people seem to be able to coexist.

José: There isn’t the same level (You know) of The Troublesthe conflict in Northern Ireland that went from the late 1960s to 1998. http://bit.ly/2ycCB3M (0:32) as there were before, car bombings (No) and stuff like that? (No) It’s just not like that anymore?

Shane: No. And a lot of that had to do with Bill Clinton, you know. Bill Clinton took a personal interest in Northern Ireland. You know and he pushed forward the, the Northern Ireland peace process.

José: Sure. I remember when I was growing up. That was all I would ever hear. And and everything that was associated with the word “Ireland” including the country and including the province was only about The Troubles, (Yes) which is an unfortunate thing (well, you know) because (I mean) it’s a wonderful place.

Shane: That’s all we ever hear about uh, Syria now, isn’t it? That’s all we hear about Iraq. You know, once once you have that daily conflict, you know that is all that’s going to make the news. You know and and Ireland, you know, Northern Ireland itself, like I mean, those incidents do occur, yeah. However not in any scale like they used to occur, you know.

José: That’s good. That’s good. How about Protestants and Catholics tho’? Are they- are they able to like um, congregate together more? Are they able to spend time together with each other more? Is there still a lot of like um, animosity, uh um low lying animosity?

Shane: You know, to be honest personally, like you know, I I don’t really know. you know.

José: That’s right. You’re Irish.

Shane: I’ve left you know,- I’ve left the country now. But I’ve left the country you know. And when, when I go back I go back to the Republic of Ireland. (Right) You know. I i don’t go, I don’t go to Northern Ireland, you know. I’ve no reason to really go up there, you know as such.

José: So the Irish basically don’t really see Northern Ireland- for example the Chinese have a great interest in what happens in Hong Kong (Mm) and Taiwan, (Mm mm) obviously for geopolitical reasons. (Mm mm) But the government of Ireland, the people of Ireland, kind of are hands off with Northern Ireland, you would say?

Shane: Uh probably yes. You know, that’s that’s probably the bottom line, yeah. Uh you know that that- (That’s) we live (That’s England), Uh well no it’s not it’s not looked upon like that, you know, I mean it is a province of Ireland, you know. We have four provinces. You know, and Ulster falls into Northern Ireland. That’s one of the provinces. You know and when we play rugby we have we have provincial competitions. When we play Gaelic Games we have provincial competitions, and Northern Ireland, Ulster is included in that All-Ireland Championship. (Interesting) You know, so in terms of sports, you know, Northern Ireland, Ulster, plays a great part in it. (So the) You know so we do (Culturally) culturally we’re very very close then.

José: OK. (Yeah) But geopolitically, (You know) “You guys take care of yourselves”.

Shane: Well, well the thing is, you know Northern Ireland has it’s own Assembly, but it- it is governed from London. You know, The Republic of Ireland, we’re governed from Dublin. (Hmm) You know, and uh- and therefore it’s very difficult to have a say from Dublin in what happens in Northern Ireland, because Northern Ireland is funded by the British Government (Right) you know. And once, you know, If the Republic of Ireland was funding Northern Ireland well then you would have a say in what goes on.

José: Sure (You know) because this is our tax money

Shane: You know, once once you’re paying for it, you have a say in itlisten for the linked pronunciations at “have a” (HAVA) and “say in it” (SEYINIT) (3:23).