In the event of united Ireland could DUP attract a significant vote in the Republic / 26 Counties ?

There's maybe enough of them to elect a few councillors, though. Like the Donegal Progressive Party when it existed.

A party occupying the DUPs space may get votes from others, but the DUP itself would not.

I still think the UUP are more likely to be able to position themselves as a barely-centre-mostly-right, keep the Commonwealth type party in UI and take votes from, mostly, FGs old voter base. They'd need a complete name change though.

Fine Gael was arguably the most anti-Provo party in Dáil Éireann. As you point out, they trace their roots back to the Pro-Treaty side in the Civil War and the Pro-Treaty side was, of course, IRA. Fine Gael is the party of Michael Collins; others may forget that but the DUP are unlikely to.

The shift within Northern Ireland will happen a long time before unification, and will derail the kind of unity you have in mind. The smart unionists will seek the maintenance of a distinct Northern Ireland within a federal island, one that can retain cultural links with rUK, probably with those cultural links copperfastened in a new all-island Constitution. Stormont will remain as is, with increased powers of devolution. In doing this, they will capture the middle as well as the substantial majority in the South who don't want a united Ireland with trouble.

Expect to see the Alliance Party focus over the next decade on the importance of Northern Ireland first, constitutional issues second. That will become the endgame.

You are making an assumption about a particular type of united Ireland. That is a type of united Ireland that is extremely unlikely to happen for all the reasons I have set out. That means it is a fantastical idea.

If you want to talk about the future of the DUP in a united Ireland situation, which is what this thread is about, you have to consider alternative forms of a united Ireland in which a DUP successor would flourish. A DUP party that exclusively runs in Stormont, refuses to take its seats in the Dail, while being First Minister in Stormont, mirrors the current situation with SF. For me, this offers the realistic future for the DUP, focussed on preserving Stormont and protecting the interests of British people in a federal united Ireland.

No alliance with FG, no seeking of votes in the South, but a focus on Northern Ireland and its importance.

P.S. but you will still attempt to censor my views.

I don't see them supporting a militant reaction. I've seen nothing to suggest that there is any appetite for that within the DUP. The'll evolve like they have in the past, as you said. I'd be far more concerned about the threat of violence from Republicans who would be unwilling to compromise. Unionism and Loyalism isn't just going to disappear in a UI.

On the topic of attracting votes in the RoI, people would vote for them for sure, if they run candidates in the Republic. They might decide to remain an NI only party. The Alliance party could do really well down here.

I have presented an alternative idea of what will happen, one that is far more likely than any of the fantastical notions put forward by you throughout the thread. There will not be DUP candidates running in the South and there will not be a merger with FG, those are just silly thoughts. Similarly, I do not see a militant reaction by the DUP to any united Ireland because, bad and all as they are, they are a fully democratic party unlike, say, Sinn Fein (not ruling out a militant reaction from other quarters).

Why? Because the type of united Ireland that we end up with isn't even on the table yet. It won't be the simplistic republican notion, that is for sure, because that idea won't win hearts and minds. The solution will preserve an identity for Northern Ireland, because 100 years of separation has led to people up there feeling different. That is expressed in many ways, from republicans claiming to being abandoned by FF and FG to unionists who have never stepped foot down here and never will, and in between the hundreds of thousands of young people who have grown up knowing only Northern Ireland.

The sooner the phony discussions about a united Ireland stop, and republicans wake up to being stuck at 40%, the sooner we will have realistic ideas and options on the table. It will probably take some shouting and roaring for another decade and a half before that sinks in to the empty heads in the discussion and another decade and a half before a plan begins to appear.

Do you think it is wrong for political parties to consult with paramilitary groups? Yes, or no.

I have no hesitation in condemning all parties in the North that ever did or ever will consult with paramilitary groups.

Or is it that green paramilitary groups are in a different situation to orange paramilitary groups?

What exactly do you mean by "people from their backgrounds" Francie?

You're not being sectarian now are you?

The PIRA evolved into other groups like the Real IRA etc., same people involved. Some of them stayed in the PIRA and limited themselves to drug dealing, murdering people in pubs, protection rackets and knee-capping.

Yes.
But their ideology changed massively, think Jim Molyneaux then think Doug Beattie/Mile Nesbitt.
Molyneaux saw the IRA going on ceasefire as 'the most destabilising thing ever' and the 'worst thing to ever happen to us'. He supported J. Donaldson and others resignation over the GFA.

He knew that the AIA and The GFA was the writing on the wall for Unionist supremacy and their veto. I think the UUP have travelled a road since that.

No I very clearly said that those who go to OO marches and who hang a UJ in their halls who vote FG would.

Read posts correctly?

Japers, you don’t read posts do you? I said Heather or Neale wouldn’t but somebody from their background could conceivably in the future.

"Somebody from their background"?

Sectarian racist generalised nonsense. You would never use that phrase about any other group. Completely despicable, you have sunk to a new low.

An individual can say "I am black" or "I am from Africa", nothing wrong with that, as Heather Humphreys was doing.

However, if you were to say that people with a black African background were more likely to vote for a political party that supported violence, you would be guilty of racial stereotyping.

In your actual case, you are guilty of sectarian stereotyping. Own it and apologise.