Re: Hibernia Forever

> I was thinking that like the Dutch, the Irish took advantage of the
> collapse of the old EU to re-assert total independance.

Hard to say.  From the current perspective the European Union 
provides a means for Ireland to differentiate itself from the the UK.
Having been regarded as part of the UK for so long theres been a 
need to reassert our independence.  It can get rather annoying to go 
to far off places and try to explain that we're NOT English. 
Ireland is rather Europhile.  Not really suprising considering how 
much money has been pumped into the country by the EU over the years. 
It seems to have paid off at least.  Thats why I would think that 
Ireland is more likely to be part of the FSE if only to keep the NAC 
out.  Although its more likely to be independent.

> There are some historical ties between Ireland and France, but I don't
know how 
much those ties will matter in the 21st/22nd Centuries. (I don't know 
how much they matter now, for that matter...)

Not a huge amount of links left really. General Sarsfield and the 
Wild geese (a mercenary company, although mercenary perhaps is the 
wrong term) fought for the French. There were Irish troops (from 
France) fighting with the Scots at Culloden I think. 
The French dislike us as much as they do anyone else now though.
 
> As for Irish space vessel insignia: Celtic is cool, and alot of the
other
> ideas are pretty silly for warships (Guiness logos, shamrocks, etc).
Maybe
> for Irish-registered commercial vessels, but warships? I mentioned the
> golden harp as an insignia, but I'm not sure.

Perhaps. Its certainly used on the coinage.   I'm amused by the 
Guinness logo idea for merchants though.  

   
> Any actual Irish out on the list want to comment? Just my $.02...

Well thats my penneys worth.
Any other small power ideas?  The Nordic countries perhaps?

And as a matter of interest does anyone have an idea as to how many 
colonised planets there are?  Or how far the galaxy has been 
explored?

 > Brian (burger00@camosun.bc.ca)
_______________________________
Niall Gilsenan,
Dublin Institute of Technology,
Cathal Brugha.St,
Dublin 1,
Ireland.