They say the past is another country and unfortunately it appears the people of Northern Ireland are condemned to perpetually live there.
The rioting in Belfast was reminiscent of the darkest days of the Troubles as a new generation took up, not the mantle, but the petrol bomb handed down by their ancestors.
Some politicians have warned the region risks a return to the past but many in the South will wonder where the past ends and the present begins on the other side of the border.
And the shocking scenes in Belfast certainly don’t augur well for the future as Northern Ireland celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Amid all the recent talk about a border poll, would the people in the Republic really vote to become part of a society which is just a few inflammatory statements away from riots on the streets?
Down South we just don’t understand how our friends in the North – especially the ones who claim they are British – want to kill and maim
their own police force.
A good old-fashioned recreational riot on Easter Sunday was certainly a unique way of celebrating the Risen Christ, I’ll give them that.
The fact children as young as 12 were involved in throwing petrol bombs and burning cars would also shock many on this side of the border.
Then again, there’s a good chance this tradition of attacking the police has been handed down from father to son.
Just imagine a new all-Ireland police incorporating gardai trying to control the mob that has petrol-bombed and injured more than 50 PSNI officers since last weekend.
If they would do that to their own what would they do to “Fenian” cops?
The British people are regularly accused of not knowing what is going on in Northern Ireland but, to a certain extent, that is also the case in the Republic.
Indeed, I’d say a good proportion of the population here couldn’t care less either.
Why fret about a bunch of out-of-control teenagers being manipulated to riot by shadowy figures from narco-terrorist organisations who are unhappy with the outcome of a situation they voted for?
We’re being told by unionist leaders the violence is linked to simmering loyalist tensions over the Irish Sea border imposed as a result of the Brexit deal.
While there is little doubt the Northern Ireland Protocol wouldn’t be on the reading list of the mob which firebombed a double decker
bus on Wednesday evening, it is also doubtful their loyalist paramilitary handlers would be familiar with it either.
Did no one heed the warnings – and there were plenty of them – of the consequences of leaving the EU for the Good Friday Agreement when they voted for Brexit?
Much of what is taking place was entirely predictable once Britain made the decision to leave the EU without even the slightest consideration of what it would all mean for Northern Ireland and its fragile peace process.
Just before the Brexit referendum, DUP leader Arlene Foster was asked by the BBC’s Andrew Marr if she was worried by statements from the Taoiseach at the time, Enda Kenny, warning that leaving the EU would “harm relations between Northern Ireland and Ireland and could endanger the peace process”.
She replied: “I’m not worried at all… I can’t understand why anyone would make those sorts of remarks.”
The First Minister certainly has a way with words and, just this week, instead of trying to calm the situation, she attempted to direct blame for the rioting at Sinn Fein.
This would suggest to many of us that in the DUP’s eyes, breaking restrictions by going to Bobby Story’s funeral was as grotesque as trying to incinerate police officers.
You often get the feeling there is a profound disappointment among some unionists that the police force is actually neutral now and not “on their side”.
While it might not be intentional, Mrs Foster’s inability to even disguise her hatred of Sinn Fein is passed down the chain of command via the paramilitaries to the thugs on the street throwing the petrol bombs.
The fact it took a week of rioting before the leaders in the North jointly condemned the violence speaks for itself.
While it might be tensions over the fallout from Brexit that led to the latest riots, what worries southerners is that there’s a back catalogue of grievances spanning a century for both sides to draw on and any one of them could lead to violence.
If an invisible border down the Irish Sea has caused such chaos what would it be like if there was a majority in favour of a united Ireland?
Aspirations are one thing but referendums are another, so be careful what you wish for.
Just ask our friend in the North who voted for Brexit.
