How can we integrate Unionism into a possible United Ireland?

Can't counter the point made, engage in some invective.

Why am I not surprised.

I'd be interested to know 'which view' you find to be extremist?

And the only way that moderate people in Northern Ireland can maintain and exploit that unique position is to remain neither in a united Ireland nor fully integrated into the UK. Northern Ireland's best economic prospects are through maintaining the current constitutional status.

So no concept, no idea or no plan for a united Ireland, despite 50k posts about it?

I don't see it.

All I see is belligerent opposition to all other ideas, contemptuous dismissal of compromise, arrogant attempts to offer safe passage off the island to those unhappy etc.

And I'll leave you to ponder on the manner in which the Good Friday Agreement and constitutional change was achieved on both sides of the border. Significant vote in favour, buy in by all, except the hardliners on both sides.

You want the next stage? That's the bar to aim for.

As for this thread, I'll bow out again for a while. I just checked in to see if anything changed in the past several months but not a bit.

Two simple questions dodged three times and now you're bowing out.....I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not. Your idealism is admirable, albeit impractical, hence your inability to answer. Best of luck, Furze.

If a border poll was passed, what would you do with the loyalists who say they cannot stay in a UI, not the likes of Arlene Foster and her ilk who can easily afford to move to Britain as they've stated in the past. You've asked this question yourself to tie people in knots so a simple answer should be easy

Create an equitable state in which their culture is protected and if that isn't enough for them, well tough.

I'd share Blanch's concerns around the optics of a voluntary relocation scheme. I wouldn't be AS concerned as Blanch about the voluntary relocation scheme leading to a few knocks on doors meaning it becomes less than voluntary, but I understand that concern.

That being said, I think Blanch is continuously unfair to Francie by suggesting the, 'knocks on doors' approach is what he is arguing for. It's fair enough to point out Francie's suggestion as flawed idealism open to exploitation by a sinister minority, it's a blatant strawman to suggest he's arguing FOR exploitation by that sinister minority or any sort of forced relocation as has been pushed repeatedly on this thread to present Francie as holding a much more sinister position himself.

I've done the very same when I feel other posters are being maligned and/or misrepresented, Freddie. No white knighting, just intellectual honesty. I'm sure Francie will confirm I've disagreed with him many a time, and called him out when I think he is misrepresenting the position held by another poster, even if they sit on the other side of the debate to me. Hell, I even acknowledged myself doing it when I was unfair towards Blanch a few pages back.

Once more though, apart from sly digs at anyone who supports Unification I don't really see that you've contributed anything at all to the debate. Your current point is particularly silly given that we're currently discussing an idea of Francie's (one that I disagree with), so the, 'what ideas do you have' critique certainly falls short.

You certainly haven't presented a plan on how to make the Union mote attractive to those of an Irish or Scottish first identity who want to leave. The intransigence and insisting that the polls are currently in your favour approach that the DUP favour might be your preference, but it won't stand up to the test of time. Ironic that you'd criticise Francie while doing the exact same thing yourself. As someone who favours Unification, the more people who sit like you with their fingers in their ears and insisting that the Union is in peak health so those who favour Scottish Independence or Irish Unification can just lump it, the better.

I'm talking quite the opposite, Freddie. You say you're an avowed Unionist, so I wouldn't expect you to do the homework of people calling for Unification or Scottish Independence. I'm asking what you're doing or have suggested doing to make those who currently feel alienated and unwelcome in your Union feel part of it? While criticising those who seek Unification for being vague, it seems your plan for maintaining the Union you think so worthwhile is just ploughing on doing the same thing with your fingers in your ears. You'd think after the Scottish referendum, you might have got a bit of a wakeup call, but no.

It is also entirely intellectually dishonest to expect random posters on the internet to provide fully costed, multi-decade encompassing economic plans, the likes of which are usually prepared by entire research bodies, and to handwave away their entire argument if they can't provide this sort of micro-detailed plan. That being said, I'd argue that it is equally ridiculous to suggest there would be no external funding, even in the short term to fix the economic wasteland that the last hundred years of British rule have let NI become as it is to suggest external funding would cover everything and NI could just continue being a financial sink.

When a border poll becomes more likely in the short term, I would expect that more firm assurances would need to be made on external funding, debt-loading investment that would pay itself back in the long term, and indeed what gaps are left that would need to be met via increased taxation. Certainly costed plans would need to be presented but those plans will be presented by government bodies and their sponsored research (as has been pointed out, all notable Irish parties support Unification, so the sitting government at the time may have a differing view on how to fund it compared with other parties, but we won't have the outright obstructionism the likes of the DUP would present), not random posters on the internet.

I criticised both Holohan and O'Neill.

I was the first poster to comment on Storey's funeral to say it was a wrong move by SF.

Are you sure you haven't been accepting the misrepresentation of my views rather than the actual view?