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

Well my partner has worked in both systems and as I posted previously their take is that the NHS is getting hammered by the aging demographics but is reluctant to change its model, whereas our model is evolving to meet the same trends with the likes of Primary Care centres which save an awful lot of unnecessary hospital trips.

We still have contract problems, see Limerick!

Agree. But would add that the NHS also appears to be under attack from vested political and corporate interests.

I think it's fair to highlight vested interests, but there's also the culture of reverence for the NHS that can entrench resistance to necessary adaptation and change. The whole Brexit bus thing about giving money to the NHS rather than Europe is a classic example in the simplistic thinking around it.

It can be very hard to discuss NHS failings without being accused of wanting to dismantle it, whereas we seem to start from the position of the HSE is failing, but upwards.

That doesn't matter. It will take what it takes.

However, the reality for some of these bloviating Unionist fools, such as Jim Allister, is that when they go out to rouse the rabble, he will look behind him and find the turnout is scant.

The reality is, that the numbers of PUL extremist larpers are tiny, and that those under the age of 40, ie too young to even remember the Troubles, aren't going to turn themselves into a physical force resistance movement in a month of Sundays.

The Irish and British governments will engineer the unification of Ireland under the Republic between them, and there won't be anything worse than some moaning on Twitter about it.

it’s a pity Sinn Fein in the South spend their time running down the place. this then gets picked up in NI as arguments why a UI shouldn’t happen.

While HSE is far from perfect it is by the same token nowhere as bad as is presented. Housing is a major issue in the South but again a red, hot economy places all sorts,of,demands on supply, labour to build, cost of materials, land and so on. Cost are higher in the South but again people’s income is higher.

Anyway these ironies exist and serve to point out the vacuity within political leaders stances on all sorts of issues.

this then gets picked up in NI as arguments why a UI shouldn’t happen.

I would consume a fair cross section of media from NI, when you hear the NHS myth getting busted on the Nolan show you know those 'arguments' are being challenged.

If you want to discuss some other aspect, just make a point?

None of the two parties that power swapped between ever made it a priority despite lip service to it. There are reasons for that.

It was a constitutional imperative at one stage and is now a constitutional aspiration. It will only ever become a priority if it is driven by a government.

They pay it lip service precisely because no one really cares Francie, it's not a vote getter.

SF really only pay it lip service too, and as rightly mentioned earlier they spend most of their time running the place down. They don't seem to be too invested in driving a UI on the other side of the border where they are actually in Government.

I see the North's IDA read my post 😀

Businesses in NI can trade goods freely with both GB and EU, providing them with unique Dual Market Access and as a result, a competitive advantage. https://www.investni.com/support-for-business/dual-market-access

Well whatever worries about unification means having to endure their various religious headbangers there's still no shortage of them in the republic with the likes of Enoch Burke, stupidity without frontiers.

I agree with that sentiment.

We voted away the constitutional claim to the six counties and London recognised the right of all people in NI to optional identify. It was and still is a pragmatic treaty for a shared space.

I did feel however that those opposed to the Belfast Agreement were only interested in promoting Brexit just to wreak that accommodation, and if I feel a duty it is to protecting that shared space. I wouldn't consider concern for upholding the status quo as patriotism, but more pragmatism.

There is still potential for the UK to attack the status quo again, but then again the English Nationalism that drove Brexit could see NI being ditched just as Brexit resulted in a customs border between NI and Britain.

You are correct. Repeated opinion polls have shown that the number who care about unification wobbles between 0% and 2%, as close to being statistically irrelevant as it is possible to be. Similarly, even though a huge majority want a united Ireland, a similar huge majority don't want to change the flag or the anthem or anything else. If a united Ireland means higher taxes, the majority evaporates quicker than water on the sun.

https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/04/07/reconciliation-has-been-achieved-sinn-fein-can-transform-the-reunification-debate/

This article makes for interesting reading. Two obstacles to convincing non-nationalists exist.

"Firstly, while the vast majority of both Sinn Féin and SDLP politicians believe reunification would be a good thing, they are deeply divided on whether the Provisional IRA’s armed struggle was a just war. For non-nationalists, no such chasm exists: practically all such voters believe there was no justification for the IRA’s campaign of violence. This chasm plays out in local and Assembly elections where SDLP voters tend to transfer more to Alliance than to Sinn Féin."

The onus is on Sinn Fein to address this. Renounce the actions of the PIRA, renounce the violence, stop celebrating the evil men who did evil deeds, and people may change their minds.

"Secondly, the Irish government is opposed to a border poll in the short-term, believing it would fail given the opinion poll data. While northern nationalism is so fundamentally split on the legacy of separatist violence, it is hard to see Dublin getting involved in detailed planning for something it doesn’t think will succeed. A Sinn Féin-led government in the South is unlikely to achieve reunification while that party continues to justify armed struggle."

This obstacle is unlikely to change. Sinn Fein are stagnant in the polls, North and South. The heights of 36% in the middle of the last election cycle may never be reached again. FF and FG have no interest in a poll, there are too many problems to sort out down South.

However, the article misses something equally significant as a barrier - the emergence of the Northern Irish identity. It touches on it:

"in 2021 29% identified as Irish only, with a further four percent identifying as Irish plus another identity (such as British or Northern Irish). As the Catholic share of the North has increased, Irish identity has decreased"

That bit in bold tells an awful lot, it demonstrates that there is no demographic inevitability, that younger people think differently and the people need to be persuaded. Telling those people that bombings were good, and that there was no alternative to killing their family, friends and neighbours is not going to bring about unification.

Bottom line really - partition has failed tragically. Have the Irish government the vision to lead us to our constitutional aspiration of a united island.

Won't be FF or FG it appears.