... but still riots. So clearly there is tension. I suspect we'll need Rascallite to come back and explain what he/she was trying to do with the infoboxes.
@Thande, I might have a go at it tomorrow...
Well, Ireland's had a significant amount of autonomy from London since the 1920's, more so than the other constituent countries. However, its laws could be, and sometimes were easily overridden by the British Parliament. The Troubles were much more intense and generalized, with low-scale guerrila warfare occurring in County Fermanagh and County Monaghan. Couple that with a NORAID that lasted much longer than in OTL.
In the early 80's, after IRA attacks on police stations throught Ireland, martial law was declared in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Galway and Bangor. According to the Ireland Office and the Ministry of Defence, these towns needed to be cleared out of all paramilitary organizations, loyalist and republican alike. Citizens were advised to leave town. By then, Ireland was much poorer than Britain and its economy was completely dependent on the rest of the United Kingdom. A common saying was: "When England sneezes, Ireland catches a cold". Needless to say, the declaration of martial law had a disastrous impact on the already struggling Irish economy. Furthermore, upon returning home, citizens were faced with cities battered by conflicts between the SAS and the paramilitary. This caused a lot of resentment on the Irish people.
Come 2014, Ireland is once again crippled by a financial crisis and for the first time in its history, a referendum on independence will take place. Riots were expected regardless of the result.
So, yeah, saying things are "tense" is quite an understatement.