Patrick Kielty: One Hundred Years of Union - Northern Ireland Troubles Documentary 

I am so glad that Patrick has been chosen as RTE's Late Late Show host for the '23 season and beyond. It is the biggest gig in Irish National Television, and one that I'm sure he will succeed at and make his own. Well done Patrick .

He didn't die for nothing, refusing to pay a racket to bunch of men with guns is the defenition of standing up for yourself and for your family and your community

This was a powerful, moving documentary. Mr. Kielty has direct knowledge of the Troubles and that gave him an aura of gravitas throughout the production. I do not know what the future of the island of Ireland is. I pray that it does not return to a place of violence and bloodshed.

As Patrick commented absolutely no one talks about NI in England it's seen as another country in reality, The Loyalists look like a freak show in this day and age.

For a man who lost his father in such a horrible way. Paddy came across very unbiased and seemed to genuinely care about the future of The North.

As someone who emigrated to New Zealand and returned to Ireland ,I admire the eloquence in this .We can only hope and pray ,but also enjoy our gift of the spontaneous craic .

As a Protestant the big problem I see is between our own community. The disconnect between working class and so called ‘middle class’ is massive

The history of Ireland and how the south got it’s independence along with how the British government behaved is not taught in schools in England. Perhaps it should be ?

Patrick, I wouldn’t say you dad died for nothing He died for having the moral and physical courage to stand up for what was right

To see Patrick and Jackie shake hands is really something, both from different backgrounds yet coming together and talking about the past along with their hopes for the future, we have had it so good now for 25 years, dont spoil it people for our future generations.

Good doc. Kielty's a good man.

To me, the question is: who are these young loyalists going to fight? It's not the Republican movement causing their current problems, it's their own govt that drew the border in the sea. Are they going to attack the rest of Great Britain; their own businesses; or each other? They're lost now. Who is their allegiance with now?

Have the fires, but the flag burning is ignorance, provocative, childish and disrespectful (any country)

Small minded mentality again, they feel left out 🤣. All they ever talk about is Queen and country.. just get on with your lives, people are so self obsessed.

What an idiotic division of a society where there is no racial or ethnic or linguistic division

Free Ireland 🇮🇪

Thank you Patrick for these deep insights. I thought the thoughts and observations of everyone you spoke to were brilliant. Not enough credit perhaps goes to Joel. He was listening hard to what you and Jackie were saying. I think he is a bright young man who is wrestling with how he feels whilst also trying to take on board all the lessons from the past that you two and others have learnt from the troubles. I believe he has has got the smarts to work this out. For all those, like Joel, who are still trying to work this out, Patrick does strongly suggest what the foundations of the way forward should look like. Namely the people of Northern Ireland need to be aware they have way more in common with each other, than they have differences and they should continue to find ways to CELEBRATE this as well as respect each other. The Derry Girls sitcom was a great example.. If the people of NI can do this, their future (including economic prosperity) is in their hands. That future has the potential to be very bright. So bright that that which country they belong to will become far less important. That is a powerful vision that Joel and all the people of Northern Ireland need to cherish and protect. I got the sense many in NI already do. The alternative does not bear thinking about.

If only unionists educated themselves on the meaning behind the colours on the tricolour

Patrick is a gentleman whom I admire.I’d love to meet him and buy him a drink. He’s very perceptive.

In 1976 my uncle was abducted and murdered in County Louth by a loyalist terrorist gang comprising of members of the illegal Red Hand Commando and the British army's legallly constituted Ulster Defence Regiment. Within a short time both the RUC in the North and the Gardai in the Republic had files on these killers, but failed to arrest them. To this day not one of these killers has ever been brought to justice. Instead they spent more than twenty years smearing my uncle as an informer, saying that he was killed by the IRA, while they protected his loyalist killers. The pain and the bitterness caused to this family by those experiences have not gone away. My uncle's murderers, at least those still alive, still walk the streets and never paid for their crime. Patrick had to deal with his dad's killers walking out of gaol, while we neverr saw even the pretence of justice for our murdered relative. I therefore don't share Patrick's sentiments of hope for the future. I want to see peace, but there can be no peace while so much injustice remains.

Give them young lads at the bomb fire a job and they won't be so pissed off

I think that young chap Joel is confusioning a neighbourhood watch scheme with a paramilitary organisation.

"we shouldn't have to do this twice."

Coming from NI, I love this place. As a protestant, I really am past caring whether we're part of uk, or Ireland. I don't think Ireland could afford the wee 6 counties, and don't think they really want us. The fighting that has gone on here... unnecessary, and such a waste of life, time, effort and money. We all bleed the same, and as others say, the only time you see any difference is when you go to worship (if you go to worship) for an hour on a Sunday.

Ironically they sing the famine song that tells the Irish ppl to go bk to Ireland As the so called famine is over. 😡. . While they were planted in ulster. So why don’t they go bk to Scotland and England. And let the Irish have their land back. They will be going bk when Irish unity becomes a reality 💚🇮🇪 Jackie is still in the UDA

Paddy is a decent man. Great documentary. I think that Joe was listening but not hearing what the past was like. I implore people on both sides, don't repeat it. Nobody ever thought that Paisley and McGuinness would sit around the same table. It took thousands of lives for it to happen. We are all here for a good time not a long tíme. Who cares about battles that took place hundreds of years ago. Peace is for everyone. No need for bonfires or Flags to intimate each other. But bottom line is Britain doesn't want Northern Ireland. I don't think that all Catholics want a United Ireland. I will ask a question. Who is to say that the Republic want a United Ireland. I don't think the majority do. Well done everyone involved in this documentary. 👍

My dad is protestant and my mother is catholic.I'm from the Republic. I moved far abroad just after my leaving cert. 21 years later, half of my life, It took alot of stepping away to understand Ireland better. I found it strange and it took alot of introspection, I have English friends abroad that I love and care for....when I'm at home and hear an English accent my hackles go up. Even my own relatives! We have an odd and old fucked up relationship.I don't fit in here either. My kind love the dark humor...and funnily enough that usually comes in the closest thing to the Irish humor, English humor lol or Scottish or Welsh. We're very alike, that's our problem I suppose. For me it's part enemy......part the feeling of being betrayed by a family member. It hurts....... When I heard Brexit might make things erupt I have to say I had hope and faith the older generations would have say on how things have been. Nobody wants to go back there. I'm so glad to see the elders come out and say "that's enough let's try something else now!" WE BOTH LOVE HORSES,HISTORY AND BEER 😉

Carl Frampton/ Tiger's Bay/ always welcome in Dublin mate ☘☘☘

Joel builds bonfire Joel puts tricolour on bonfire Joel doesn't agree this is right Joel talks muck

We are so the same its unbelievable that politicians have separated us. Wait till real foreigners come (coming)

I wonder if Irish Roman Catholics hadn't been so badly mistreated by Irish Protestants and other British Protestants would be more accepting of British rule as part of the UK.

Why do they cling onto a union that doesn't want them. 🤔 baffles me.

Being from the South I have always felt under qualified when talking about Northern Ireland as a topic, because I have enjoyed a certain kind of insulation from the troubles and all of the pain an suffering it brought to the people of the North. For many years I thought that the devide was a religious thing. But now that religion plays an ever decreasing role in the lives of people on this island and I would imagine that most on both sides would admit the church and religion would come very low on their list of priorities. Although it has been 100 years since Irish independence, it has been a long slow process to sheding our dependence. Increasingly Less and less Irish governments make decisions without first looking across the Irish Sea to see what our neighbours were doing. I think that the loyalist community in the North shoul realise that the British no longer have a use for them, and they have served their purpose. Northern Ireland has been in the deficit column of the empires ledger for some time now, and N.I is fat that needs trimming. The only way that this might change is if someone strikes oil on the Bogside. I would imagine that the biggest advocates of a yes vote in a United Ireland referendum would be the British government. It's time for the prefix "London" or "Free" in front of the name Derry be replaced with the word "New".

How did lRA manage to win against RUC/UDA/UFF/UVF/Ml5/SAS/British army? ….

This guy is a breath of fresh air!!!

It's time for a free and united Ireland for both Protestants and Catholics.

We were always taught that it was disrespectful to any country to have their flag burt.

Being anti-protocol is the most lundy thing ever. The protocol guarantees the status quo i.e NI in the UK and EEA. A UI is a lot less likely precisely because of it and NI has a chance to be a kind of cold water Singapur. The Scots would kill for a similar deal!

I wish more people in GB watched this so they had some understanding of what Brexit actually has done to this place. Paddy is right, we shouldn't have to do this twice, especially because it is completely unrelated to issues here, it is because of choices made by a few corrupt English politicians.

Thank you Patrick. Brother. Love to you Sir. 💖

Very moving documentary.

It would be too easy for a Republican like myself to gloat over any discomfort the Unionists might be feeling now, but I have to push that down inside. In the end the working classes of the North were not the victims of each other, we were the victims of politics, the politics of the British Crown, true enough, they set the people against each other on purpose. Now it looks like the shoe is changing toward the other foot, it might be hard for the Unionists, like it was for the Irish of the north before they came, it might not be easy for them to adjust, but adjust they must, the numbers have turned against them. But they should know, the Unionists should know, all they have to do is recognize the land they live on, the land they love, is actually Ireland. If they can recognize the obvious we are all prepared to let sleeping dogs lie, they will always be welcome, they are a part of our communities and culture. If you are a Protestant plumber and you meet a Catholic plumber the only time you will know you are different is for one hour on Sunday morning because of the church you go to. The rest of the week you're just bending pipes and trying to get by. There is not enough difference between us to take up arms. The only thing that can replace the bitterness we once felt toward each other is the recognition of the suffering we all felt for it. It was hard not to weep watching this documentary but it is a great contribution toward reaching and understanding between each other. Just one point: if these youngsters or anyone else don't like "the Protocol" they should aim their anger where it belongs, Boris Johnson and the English politicians who have lied to them.

Bronagh McConville is a very intelligent, articulate young woman. Jean, her Grandmother, would be very proud of her.

The trauma is heartbreaking

Well done, Patrick. Very well done.

I’m a Protestant from the Republic…. Hate ABBA!!!

I’m a catholic, the protocol has been amazing for the economy in the north but I really don’t understand how checks at the port make unionist feel less British.

This has got to be the most interesting video that Patrick has done, very informative and up to date, as a ex soldier i really hope it gets sorted

The question is " Will Britain with their so- called love of democracy, stand by and accept the Democratic vote of a majority for a border pole '.

Thank you for brilliant show hope everything goes well a beautiful place in the world peace and love

That young lad Joel has a great opportunity to become a positive voice for the young people who he influences. I never got caught up in the whole thing growing up as a catholic, but people like him have a great influence. It just takes a couple of charismatic, intelligent individuals to make or break the situation in Northern Ireland

A threat to everything we hold dear . We want to remain British. The irony considering here in England itself its getting less british by the day . Diversity the curse that keeps on taking.

Great documentary this

Ulster Protestants suffered under penal laws how it's funny they forgot.

I keep hearing of "being reunited with the Republic" but I wonder what the people of the Republic think about that? Would there be a sensible documentary about this topic?

The most loyal part of the British Isles and they are treated like crap..the unionist people of Northern Ireland have been ignored for a very long time and they feel forgotten and unwanted so if it continues like this the potential for the paramilitaries to come back into play could well happen and personally I don't think anyone in Northern Ireland would want to go down that road again..as for paddy I'm so sorry about your da nobody should lose their life for refusing to pay thugs for safe passage around their own bloody country

Very moving piece of work.

A hatred past down or learned, so many people here think that fighting is the answer when clearly it isn't, burning a bus solves what? Attacking someone who has a different religion (that most that I ask don't even believe) solves what? Is violence that appealing to some, so stupid! I know it's complicated but can't help but think there's a better way forward.

Sorry about your Dad Patrick I did not know. Great video very interesting...Love Rosemary in Belfast.

Why would anyone be united with ireland when the Republic is in the e.u? The u.k is not perfect,but stay with us.

Religion has a lot to answer for? Keep the peace and live good lives.

I’d never heard Paddy’s story. I knew his Da was killed by the UFF or something, but what a waste of a human life, father, husband etc for a child. I can’t imagine my children having to face this. God job on the documentary. I live in America now and have travelled a good bit. The northern Irish are some of the best people you’ll ever meet. I hope this get this sorted out

He said it, Northern Ireland was created

Great unbiased documentary, powerful and moving, we should be more interested in bettering everyone not focusing on religion, we are in a great position in Northern Ireland But unfortunately we cant see the forest for the trees

Two disparate communities, each having the composition of brick walls. The trouble with brick walls is that you can't debate them, and you can't argue with them; so you have two choices: either ignore them or make sure they don't block your particular pathway. Unfortunately, the brick walls are illusions built up over hundreds of years from a time when neither community was there at the start. England was overrun in turn by Celts, Norsemen/Vikings, Angles, Saxons, Romans and Normans - all of whom left a legacy of race and culture. Does that mean we should start to terrorise their descendants - or doesn't anyone remember the sufferings that far back? Wlaking along most of Northern Ireland's streets today, one sees generall happy people getting on with their lives. Belfast is a thriving, bustling, fully alive city now that the ashes have been cleared, with a new generation of young people enjoying the lively night life. But the Brick Wall Society wants to change all that, just to suit their own pathways. What a sad reflection of society we have, that can't live and let live.

The Irish flag, is a flag of friendship, green white and orange, green Catholic, white peace, orange Protestant, its a flag of unity. Unionism had its time in the north of Ireland it failed, they were dominant under apartheid with Catholics treated as second class in there own land, Ireland will be united as it was for centuries, and we will be one people Catholics and Protestant and better for it

Ireland will be one again 🇮🇪🇮🇪

Good heavens I'm a fenian and that loyalist kid was so relatable to me 🤷

Such a beautiful human being! What a lovely documentary. Although I was raised (and now live) "down South", I don't want a NI simply "added" to the Republic...I would love a NEW Ireland. Those Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist folks are 100% as "Irish" as I am. I adore English Folk music, I actually like Morris dancing! I can embrace that culture, I'll gladly cheer on an Orange March through the streets on the 12th (yes! Another bank holiday!).

i can understand how you would be appalled at how the current Tory government is so insensitive to the recent past of Northern Ireland and the pain of the Catholic community.

what struck me at the start was...no one shook patricks hand.. they smiled and never offered their hand..i am aware of the covid .. but they only shook his hand when burning the irish flag

I wish the best for NI. I wish for peace on both sides. You're all children of Dalraida. Y'all are both in my DNA Irish and Scot.

To be honest, and I’ve seen it in the comments here a few times: the northern Irish on both sides are kind of on their own. It’s a very unique situation. I think before any reunification or anything drastic happens, the 2 communities have to heal and learn to live with one another, because at the end of the day, they are all each other have, right? I was catholic born in Lisburn 1970. My best friend growing up was a protestant. In fact most of my friends were lol. I could never understand why all the hate. Moving away to America at 30 and looking at NI from the outside, the differences between the two communities are minuscule and were taken advantage of by certain politicians

"British identity " You mean anti Catholic and anti Irish. I am from Manchester and US British do not display our British Ness like the people in that part of Ireland. They are Irish as far a we are concerned

Ireland was an independent country ,had England kept her nose out and caused famine to feed her greed ,

Wer all worried buddy but if good ppl on both sides stay strong n smart hopefully 🙏 we will have a good future for r kids divided wer weak together wer strong 💪. That's wat they fear unite and fight for a beautiful future .one love ❤

Great show where both sides were respected!!!! That's Ireland coming together!!!

This is an eye opener to wat cud be a better peaceful country fair play paddy if the government and media didn't stir things up there wud be alot of people still alive today great documentary we need more like this to unite this wee island

I think the term "Irish Republic" and "our wee country" lets me think that Paddy is a West Brit.

Northern Ireland can't do this no more. There has to be an accommodation if the Northern Irish are to survive. The horror has to stop.

You might say the next time Paddy is back he could be standing on Irish soil but the truth is… it’s always been Irish soil

The North of Ireland is Irish 🇮🇪 full stop

Thank God we're surrounded by water. There will be no bridge between Ireland and Scotland. Please God.

Northern Ireland has a lot more Union Jack flying compare to London. I wonder if Northern Ireland will show that much loyalty to Britain with the present Prime Minister coming from a postwar Indian migrant family origin.

"These days Jackie McDonald is a community worker"....give over

Unite Northern Ireland take the government down Catholic and Protestant together

Yes those final words said it all.... "Sharing the same space".

If that can move on after the horror he and his family went thru we all can for the best future of this island peace

So much respect for Kielty.

"If he was painting you you'd be wearing a balaclava"....brilliant!

I hope the cheerleaders of Brexit are really proud of what they have done! They can’t say it’s an unintended consequence, it was well flagged during the campaign but dismissed as irrelevant.

I have been brought up in catholic family, and a cn c the. Both sides of the people, s loyalty, n pride of their identities. Its bn a lng sad , & heart ache, 4 thm all , I dnt want 2 go deep into the cause, I agree with the 2 sides , but really Ireland shld b left 2 b one country, As the British army hve turned ths into sumit alot bigger thn they cld hve imagined, N made it worse thn ever. With the tactics, N operations they were doin jst 2 keep it goin , jst 4 the sack of thm not getting there own way . N look what has happened now , with brevity, ?? Tht shld open people, s eyes 2 all thts happind, n now there going 2 brake the boarders in the sea. Jst 2 keep the powers tht b , to turn there bck , n do wit is best 4 Britain. So sad 2 think abt the way the special branch gt away with . And 4 what .???

My da was the same a building contractor doing a job in Belfast 1992 uvf every Friday came Round for 70 quid 1 fella and the same fella he paid no questions. Only found this out when I was 29

Stellar!

For someone who has just bagged the job on The Late Late show,Patrick needs to lower the Protestant bitter language,ie Irish Republic,It's called The Republic of Ireland and cut out the "Ulster sky' and "South East corner of Northern Ireland. Cool it Patrick

Who introduced the protocol Boris johnson we voted for the eu

The balance of the documentary felt biased..mostly from a loyalist perspective..not sure why there wasn't more voices from a nationalist view?

If there is a referendum about the reunification of Ireland,Will the loyalist population just roll over and accept it or will there be a real return to full scale violence, If the loyalists decide to go full paramilitary who will police the troubles when Britain leave.

The English government has a lot to answer for.

Wee Northen Ireland! I'm Scottish but my grandfather was born in County Tyrone,before 1921,so I guessi can get an Irish passport as well as the UK one?