Documented care of children in a "pro life" country

[easternabeille]

Many Irish women who need to have an abortion end up traveling to the UK. However there are loads of Irish women that can't make the trip, for whatever reason. I remember back in 2001 a Dutch hospital ship sailed for Ireland with a gynecologist on board and offered advice, birth control and abortions to women needing them. Here's a link to an article I found:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1382412.stm

[easternabeille]

It's also fascinating to me because with the EU economic crisis a lot of Irish citizens are moving up to Northern Ireland, or at least I kept on running into Irish citizens all over the place in Derry and Belfast earlier this year! In some places in the Republic there's some pretty bad blood towards those from NI. It's at the point my friends (in the Republic) who have Irish significant others won't come see me when I'm in Belfast precisely because of the bad blood. So I found it a bit surprising.

It really depends on what part of Belfast you go to. If your Irish friends had significant others living in the heart of East Belfast than they might run into trouble. My husband's friend from England came over a couple of years ago and ran into trouble in a bar...they didn't want to serve an English person as it was in a heavily republican part of the city.

[Maul the Koala]

All Republic of Ireland, no UK citizenship. I kept on asking about it and by the time I ran into the nth person who had immigrated up for work I stopped being surprised. It doesn't matter because you can work in the UK with EU citizenship. They were all intrigued by the accent and a kid that looked like she was 16 running around all these places. I actually got admonished by a woman until I pulled out my passport that showed I was definitely not 16.

My mom's family is from right on the border between County Tyrone and County Donegal. I never said exactly where my mom's family was from since Tyrone is 50/50 but that particular area is extremely Catholic and my mom's family is/was Protestant. My dad's side had ancestors born in Armagh but they were all Quakers. I have yet to figure that one out.

I just found it strange because all my friends are Canadian expats in Ireland. I traveled with a group of Australian expats that had settled in the Republic the first time I went to NI and they weren't given a rough time because they were Australians. Same with me, as long as I said I was Canadian and not where my mom's family was from, no rough time. I told them as long as they aren't looking for trouble they aren't going to find trouble (and don't bring your girlfriend or boyfriend!).

I noticed it was hugely different for Canadians, Americans and Australians though. We had a lot more freedom to go to places. I remember being on a pubcrawl led by the guy that owned our hostel in Belfast and we went from a staunchly Nationalist pub to a staunchly Unionist pub. Back and forth. Back and forth. I am very lucky that my nationality wasn't one that was questionable (even though I'm eligible for duel, I haven't gotten everything in order to get it yet). I got a lot more leeway than other people and I know it.

[JesusFightClub]

TBH there are Irish pubs in Scotland where you don't want to be speaking with an English accent either. I have a London edge to my voice cause of my (English) mum, and I've been told by people before "let me order the drinks in here". :)

[emmiedahl]

JFC, I thought the London accent was preferred over there? I worked with a woman who has married to a man from the North of England. He told me at a party that his accent made him unemployable in the UK, but everyone in the US thought it sounded distinguished. We just hear a Brit accent and assume it is RP. :lol:

[alba]

JFC, I thought the London accent was preferred over there? I worked with a woman who has married to a man from the North of England. He told me at a party that his accent made him unemployable in the UK, but everyone in the US thought it sounded distinguished. We just hear a Brit accent and assume it is RP. :lol:

Received pronunciation (or regionally-tinted RP) is often preferred because of its association with education and the middle class, but I don't think it's particularly associated with London. There are lots of London accents, for one thing, and RP is taught in private schools across the UK.

[Maul the Koala]

TBH there are Irish pubs in Scotland where you don't want to be speaking with an English accent either. I have a London edge to my voice cause of my (English) mum, and I've been told by people before "let me order the drinks in here". :)

I am so very lucky I have my indescript Canadian-always-mistaken-for-American accent. I get ribbed for having an American accent by everyone when I'm abroad though. ;) My last name gives away exactly where my grandfather was born in England. I lost count how many times I got told that it's a fine last name when I was in that county. And people everywhere else telling me where my family is from. Yes I know where the last name is from but thanks for being the 345th person to remind me. :)

I never got a full sense of the class system in England itself but someone pointed out that my grandfather's biological parents were obviously very working class when I said their last names. I hadn't done any digging on them at that time but it surprised me that someone was able to point that out with only the last names.