How many of us think that unification is no longer a priority and don't really want unification ?

As long as they don't do to the north what the anabaptists did to Münster we will be ok.

In reality unionism will have dwindled by the time a referendum comes around that it will hardly be relevant.

In 2011 there was 39.9% saying they identified as British Only in the census.

By 2021 that was down to 31.9%, that's a massive drop and it's only going in one direction.

Unionists famiels have been getting smaller for years and the kids tend to go to university or get work outside of NI and never come back.

They are literally dying out.

Look at the way politics is heading in the Western world. All the old certainties are going out the window and we would be foolish to think we are immune just because we’ve been lucky so far. The UK itself might be on its way to breaking up by then. Now imagine a populist government in Dublin that decided NI was too costly or troublesome and wanted a divorce. NI mightn’t get a say at all.

The process has to be serious with all the potential problems properly considered. It will be the most momentous decision ever taken by the electorate on the island. As I say, selling the idea will not be enough if things go wrong afterwards.

I support eventual unity but I would much prefer if a more moderate Nationalist party were the main one in Northern Ireland. I think SF are too tribal.

I think a United Ireland would be affordable but might require reforms of the public sector. The UK has failed to reform it due to political resistance in NI. I suspect this issue might come up in a referendum up there. I think Catholic public sector workers will be an important swing vote.

I think an obstacle to getting a yes vote will be the different visions of Unity - or indeed absence of any - from today's FF and FG. Leo Varadkar does have some vision of it but I sense FG as a whole is less interested in it than him. He was the first FG leader to talk a lot about it in my lifetime.

I think mostly, Catholics will vote in favour and Protestants against in NI. But think Catholics in the public sector are more of a swing vote. They will need to be reassured on issues like public sector pensions.

I will most likely vote "Yes", but I am concerned that the slow decisionmaking on issues like planning down here, if introduced in Northern Ireland, would be vulnerable to insinuations from both communities of the kind that happens in NI when decisions like upgrading Casement Park are made. I don't think we would decide something on a sectarian basis, but I think Unionists already distrustful of Nationalist Ireland might suspect otherwise if we took decisions they didn't like.

Polls down here show a lack of support for rejoining the Commonwealth (around 20% or less in some polls). Also less than 50% support for changing the flag or anthem. I think we will need to have something to offer the Unionists or there will be few yes voters among them.

Also the NHS keeps coming up as a big issue for swing voters in Northern Ireland, including many Catholics. BBC did a show some time ago where both communities indicated it was a big issue.

The NHS in N.I. costs less per capita than the HSE. In theory it should be easy to fix this issue to everyones benefit.

Every Shinner I know just assumes that their party will run the government in the event of an United Ireland. The calculations from both opinion polls & election results over recent years would suggest otherwise.

SF might well be the biggest party, but there would more be than enough elected representatives of other parties to form a coalition government. I could see the Alliance & SDLP joining with FF/FG, the Unionist parties would keep out of government but constantly thwart any attempts by SF to gain power. SF & the far left parties would struggle, as usual to agree amongst themselves.

I have even heard SF supporters saying that only they should decide a UI & only they should run it. How exactly they hope to achieve that they obviously won't elaborate on at the moment. I suspect they mean by some anti democratic method? They despise the "Free State" after all, including it's Defence Forces.

I have even heard SF supporters saying that only they should decide a UI & only they should run it.

Can you quote a single one saying this?

The days of SF 'despising the Free State' are as long gone as the days that FF hated partition.

Their politicians obviously don't make these comments, it's many of their supporters, particularly the barstool republican types. I have many SF friends & I often hear this on my travels. Another mantra seems to be why does the "Free State" need an army or want to to modernise & upgrade the Defence Forces? After all, we've got The Ra! FFS!

I've got serious issues with those that undermine & despise Irelands defence forces personally.

People can often have work colleagues etc or in-laws who they have no option but to be "friends" with, have chatted about things with. I would have issues too with a party whose military arm was, for example, associated with the murder of Gardai / Irish army in the past. Or their supporters saying the Northern bank robbery was just a little fundraiser for the lads pensions or something like that, and laughing it off / justifying it. Or their supporters saying there was no alternative to the Enniskillen bomb etc. Until they condemn ./ dis-associate themselves from their wrong-doing that cloud will always be there.

I think it's more that the kids of PUL are more likely to go to GB for uni and then settle elsewhere, whereas Irish are likely to attend uni on the island and then stay.

NI has failed because of a stupid act of partition. That partition almost ruptured the UK also and may very well still do if stability cannot be restored in UK politics. Throwing NI to the disaster independence would be is pure irresponsibility, the same irresponsibility that led to it going up in flames before.

N. Ireland currently has the best of both worlds : access to the EU market as well as access to the UK market, tariff free. It also currently has the benefit of NATO protection. (something the Swedes and in Finnish people cherish dearly, those two countries having recently joined). Also access to the commonwealth, which some people there like, and is not a burden to those who do not want it. So many things, bit like Brexit, it is not as easy as people thought.

If there was a U.I., good luck with telling northerners their house prices will be higher ( vat on housing here, none in N.I.) , GP visits @ €65 or €70 (free up north) etc.

The shinners are always banging on about a UI.

I think a border poll will happen but it will be 15 to 20 years before it it is called.

GP appointments in the North are free of charge for residents registered with a GP practice as part of the Health and Social Care (HSC) service.

Approximately 200,000+ appointments/contacts occur weekly across Northern Ireland GP practices

Here many people in the squeezed middle simply cannot afford to go to the doctor.