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Cheers - I was already more or less informed about that, I guess I might have expressed myself in a slightly misleading way: I meant that as a relative newcomer (having followed UK politics for the last decade at most), my perception of what is actually being debated today is untainted by the memories of what happened prior, as is the case with people who've actually lived through things like the IRA bombings. If you've lived through that, NI will most likely be established as a 'thing' in British politics in your mind, and it might be less obvious how completely disregarded and ignored the subject actually is in current politics.
This is purely based on my observations, but I've seen it happen quite a few times that people with some knowledge on the NI situation were talking about it, the GFA, etc., with a certain air of "this is a major thing and really impacts the situation", because, well, it should. In the meantime, I'm sitting here thinking "yeah to you this is clear, but no one in power actually cares at all, never mind being properly informed to the level that their position in government would necessitate".
SwissChap-
Living through things does not necessarily improve perception, it can also lead to bitterness and distrust.
It is something else if you meet somebody in the park near you who did 15 years for shooting an UVF guy cos they shot one of his brothers. That is 2 miles from my place. He thinks nothing will be fixed until everybody who lived through it is dead and has prejudices against unionists.
Who mistrust the republicans cos saying "sorry" for killing loads of people won't bring anyone back either. And so it goes on.
At least the EU teams are informed and not having this.
JWestland
The super duper TL:DR version
1: Ni voted remain...the vote is split between unionists parties [leave] and other/republican parties [remain]. Reinforcing our identity politics and it was already hard to keep things going.
2: Being part of the single market made all border checks, bar a few random ones, go away. So everybody can sorta pretend Ireland is one thing, which it is not, but for daily life purposes it is. You can be British only, Irish only or both. And they just HAD to kick this particular hornets nest...
3: The republican parties and areas don't trust the English government much. Brexit doesn't help. The Uk government undersigned the GFA and so they MUST ensure it is not broken by Brexit. But who started this shit in the first place? England.
In 1978 4 people were killed 200 meters from where I live. Just ordinary people going to shops. And one persons terrorist is another persons freedom fighter. There is still a lot of bitterness and distrust, the GFA gave this place a chance and bought time. Now divisions are enforced again.
Finlan O'toole has done some sterling articles that are free to read he's a good source too.