Northern Ireland is now Catholic Majority

That 29% is up 4% though in 10 years and the British only is down about 9%

The gap between those calling themselves "British only" and those calling themselves "Irish only" was 15% 10 years ago, now it less than 3%.

They are the important figures

The unionist meltdown online is genuinely hilarious...wee Jamie bin lid Bryson has been tweeting constantly since 530am ha ha

Would the citizens of the Republic of Ireland also be given the opportunity to vote on a unified Ireland? Or would it just be NI voting?

You have to look at the tends.

10 years ago you had the number from a Catholic background at 45.1% but the number as "Irish only" was 25.26%.

Now it's 45.7% and 29.13% respectively.

So the trend is towards "Irish only"

Another way to look at it is the difference between 2011 and 2021 when you consider the likes of "British and Northern Irish" and "Irish and Northern Irish"

In 2011 the total of "British only" and "British and Northern Irish" was 46%

The total of "Irish only" and "Irish and Northern Irish" was 26%.

That's a 20% gap.

Now those numbers are 39% and 30% respectively.

That is closing the gap in half.

And in that time the "Northern Irish only" number has been static at about 20%.

The trends are only going one way.

Yes the republic will vote also and there obviously must be a majority in both for it to be passed.

That would be interesting. I presume the voting would be held on the same day in both jurisdictions? It would be embarrassing if we voted for a unified Ireland and they didn't, or vice versa. Polls could determine what way a lot of people vote. Although I suppose in the south it would be expected to be a landslide 'yes' to a unified Ireland.

Knowing the general abilities if our politicians and those across the water, they'll somehow find a way to beat the demographic and cultural change and fivk it up.

10 years if planned correctly.

I don't expect them to do that.

Possibly, but if its left too long the vote in the south will decline too much.

The conversation about and education of the population about what any new state could look like should start now/soon.

You'll soon see the stupid "We can't afford them" level of commentary showing up on this thread. That's about the level of understanding of the actual issues that the general public currently have.

I don't know why people are so worried about a border poll.

Look at the hard numbers. It is now conclusive that a sectarian headcount does not match with a political viewpoint headcount. That is welcome from a societal viewpoint and represents genuine progress towards a better society in Northern Ireland.

The second hard number is that only 29.1% identify as Irish only. That is the number likely to vote for straight unity. A federal solution might attract more support, but would still be unlikely to get 50% plus 1.

All that means is that it will take at least another census, if not more, to determine that it is likely that a border poll will pass. So, despite all the sensationalist newspaper headlines, come back in ten years for another look at the numbers.

All that means is that the United Irelanders have to wait at least another ten years for a census that makes a border poll even conceivable.

There is no way a border poll is justified on these census figures.

It's stupid because every single serious study says that we can and further more, we won't have to.

Can the Brits seriously walk away with the pensions of those who paid into their system all their lives? Seriously??

That's 5bn pa right there.

I'm actually too tired to explain the rest of it to you, but please feel free to keep posting uninformed opinion.

I'll leave you this to think about: When Germany re-united, West G was poorer than we are now by a long shot. So was East Germany. The financial ask was about 4 times the size of what would be asked of us in the south on reunification here.

Plus, the people from the east had NO concept of capitalism. NI, as bad as it is isn't like East Germany. Given any reasonable chance they'll actually be MORE productive than us.

This NHS thing is a complete strawman. I have a lot of family living in England and their experiences of the NHS are close to identical to ours here with the HSE. There are a few perks like free prescriptions but overall the standard of care between the 2 health systems is very comparable. The Tories are hell bent on ruining the NHS anyway over the next few years so that argument is likely to hold even less weight in future.