@Jim_Trinca I think a lot of them don't think Ireland is independent, and that it's merely like Scotland.
@ebel also English people have an annoying tendency to refer to Ireland as "Southern Ireland", as if there isn't a specific and non-geographical reason why NI needs to be distinguished from the rest of the island
@Jim_Trinca the UK minister for brexit said exactly this about a year ago. Referred to the internal UK border with Ireland
@ebel I've genuinely had this argument with English people