Let me start with a brisk question. Imagine your are brilliant chess talent originating from Northern Ireland. Which federation will FIDE allow you to play for? The home one? Obviously not, that one isn't FIDE member. Great Britain, UK? None of these actually exists. England? They won't accept your application. The answer actually is Ireland. Yes, different federation, different country. An obvious absurd, but not for FIDE bureaucracy who consistently express their fear of avalanche of requests from partly recognized quasi-states once Ulster's application would be accepted. Indeed, contemporary FIDE rules do not allow non-IOC federations be admitted, but there have been many in the past who had once been accepted and nobody ever have thought of kicking them out. Guernsey, Jersey and Faroe Islands are just a few examples standing in stark contrast with Northern Ireland's impotence.

Here's excerpt from 77th FIDE congress in Turin, May 2006:
(...) Mr Makropoulos said that the application was received. The Secretariat stopped it. In our statutes it is stated that there should be one Federation per country. Great Britain is the only exception. Scotland, Wales, Jersey and Guernsey were admitted before the Statutes were changed. We decided not to open membership to more than one federation per country. If we open to Ulster then we will have to start the discussion for other countries like Russia or US. If the General Assembly decides to have a discussion we should decide whether to open to all countries that apply.
Otherwise we should stop this discussion. In any case it is not in the agenda. (...)

GM Nigel Short, famous from his affection to withdraw all UK federations from FIDE and create all-British chess federation says the following:
"In 2005 the anachronistically named British Chess Federation finally acknowledged reality by becoming the English Chess Federation. The piecemeal disintegration of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland began at the Folkestone Olympiad in 1933, when a Scottish team made its first appearance alongside the BCF team, possibly, in that depressed era, to bolster the numbers in an otherwise underrepresented event. The remaining UK glue held together until the Skopje Olympiad of 1972, when the Welsh dragon breathed its fiery flame in the international arena. Guernsey and Jersey followed later still.

The Ulster Chess Union's application to join FIDE was shelved at Turin this year. The motive for this rebuff is transparently one of crude political expediency. Either FIDE must insist on a single UK federation (unpalatable for the powers that be, as it would ruffle feathers and cost votes), or it should allow all constituent parts of the country to become members. Dispassionately speaking, you cannot pick and choose in such circumstances; alas, logic rarely counts when vested interests are at stake."

Chess players from Ulster cannot get how it all comes about. It might be understandable that there should be one British team, not four. But once everybody split up many years ago there is no reason to keep the remaining piece in detention. Here's what David McAllister, chess historian and UCU chronicler writes:

"FIDE should stop this absurd stance that treats Northern Ireland like a vassal state of the Irish Republic when in fact they their nationhood has long been independent. FIDE should grant the one remaining part of the UK representation when it has already done so for the other three (England, Scotland and Wales). Indeed England has relinquished any pretence it had to represent the other Home nations by dropping the word British in favour of English in its federation title. Note Jersey and Guernsey are not part of the UK but are British dependencies. Let FIDE explain why they feel unable to complete a process they allowed to happen for the other British nations and why we should be in servitude to a foreign chess federation."

More readings are available here: ChessBase, ChessBase part 2

The forthcoming FIDE congress might be a turning point. This is what you can do to express your support:
- add comment below with your letter of support
- vote in our poll (on the right)
- send FIDE e-mail expressing your position webmaster@fide.com
- if you are a delatage or an official you may lobby it through FIDE authorities
- deliver fiery speech at the FIDE Congress

Please contact Ulster Chess Union for details. This is how they see the issue.