Northern Ireland 2125?

Geographically everyone born on the continent of America is American. Politically they are not. Someone from Canada is not American, they do not have an American passport, they do not call themselves American etc. They are Canadian.

Ireland is represented on the what is known as the British Flag, the Union Jack. Of course people from the island of Ireland can be British. And if you live in N. Ireland you get your British social welfare, use British currency everyday etc.

Geographically everyone born in Ireland is Irish. Politically they are not. Many people from N. Ireland have British passports, British pensions, they use the £ British currency, they pay their taxes to the British Revenue etc. Of course they are British ( or "United Kingdomers" but "British" for short).

The large island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean is divided in to 2 countries, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. People there are either Haitan or Dominican. Nobody is Hispaniolian.

Before you object FrancieBrady, you are Irish. You live outside the UK, pay your taxes to the Irish Revenue etc. Nobody is claiming you as anything other than Irish.

You say "People from Canada are North American". No such thing as a North American Passport in itself., and North American is not a nationality in itself. There is no "North American" army in itself, or "north American" government in itself.

If you bump in to some people from Canada and ask them where they are from, they will say Canada / they are Canadian. If you try to insist to them they are American, you will be told in no uncertain terms they are most definitely not. They do not want to be known as American just as many people in N. Ireland do not want to be known as simply "Irish", because that can be confusing for some people from around the world as most Irish use a different currency, have different passport, pay their taxes to a different government, are protected by different armed forces, get their pension from different jurisdiction etc. On holidays around the world if I say I am from Ireland people often have asked which bit, the north or the south. They think of Ireland as an island, wonder if I am from N. Ireland or the other bit. I suppose if someone said to me they were north American I would ask them which bit of North America are they from too.

I could hold up a mirror to this definition.

Moderate republicans are those who are comfortable with the idea that the people born in Northern Ireland are British and don't hate on all things British to make them feel more Irish.

Ordinary decent people who want a united Ireland but who accepted long ago that a majority of the people of Northern Ireland want to stay part of the UK and who are not jumping up and down every day demanding a border poll when the conditions for one have not been met.

Ordinary decent people who accept that violent republicanism was wrong and sincere apologies and restitution must come from those who politically supported such violence.

These people don't deny the legitimacy of the Northern Irish identity.

Then there are the extreme republicans who don't accept all of the above.

What has been happening is that identity in the North has been fracturing among the younger population. Inevitable that a state that exists for over a century develops some kind of an identity especially when it has been at peace for 30 years.

The Northern Irish identity is replacing some of the Irish identity and some of the British identity, to the extent that if we don't have a divisive border poll in the next decade, we may never have one. Sinn Fein leaders realise this, hence their instructions to MLMD to increase the calls.

I must have missed the referendum on whether we should have a border poll, not that it matters what people think or want.

There are specific conditions set out in an international agreement about a border poll. They haven't been met.