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

There's no provision for this in the GFA - a vote cannot be conditional on this.

Anyone saying Ireland will be landed with a % of UK national debt is scaremongering. Legally speaking the UK cannot hand over debt without providing the equuvalent credit/assets on the other side of the balance sheet. Either the UK gets divided pro rata in everything or not. I very much doubt the UK will take an approach that would cost them this much or where e.g. a % of the Crown jewells or Windsor Castle or BOE cash reserves is given to the Irish government.

The reality is there will be no debt or assets transferred either way.

Anyone saying that Ireland will not be landed with a % of UK national debt is believing in fantasy.

Using your analogy, the UK is handing over the assets of Northern Ireland - its land, its future tax revenue, its public parks, its hospitals, schools and universities etc. - so there is nothing wrong with handing over an equivalent % of national debt.

more power to SF pushing the agenda of an united Ireland. Makes sense economically for both parts. It will take a bit of thinking though, as the idea of the republic absorbing the six counties is exactly what a UI is not. There needs to be a nationwide discussion on what a UI means to different people so the ball can start on a very long roll that might take decades - but thats how it needs to start and SF are the only ones trying to do that. The gov needs to decide to organise some form of long term nationwide discussion at local levels so we can all get an idea of what everyone thinks an UI will be, and then start and the process of defining and agreeing what it is as the conversation develops - excluding no-one.

All good and roamantic and wishy washy, but despite all the SF guff there has been no real planning for a U.I. and never will be, certainly not in our lifetimes.

After Brexit, nobody is going to vote for a pig in a poke again.

You are arguing with yourself and contradicting yourself.

Firstly, you claimed that the Government always publishes a White Paper for the ratification of international agreements. In doing so, you insulted the intelligence of another poster. That was shown to be false.

Secondly, you disagreed with yourself by claiming that the Government always publishes a White Paper for constitutional change. That was again shown to be false.

Thirdly, you again disagreed with yourself and claimed that the Government will make a "formal proposal" before a referendum on unification. Again, given your credibility is shot, based on your previous statements on the issue being shown to be false, how could anyone accept that, particularly as there is no provision in the existing GFA for such a "formal proposal". In fact, there is nothing stopping the British (yes, the British, not the Irish) government through its SoS for Northern Ireland calling a referendum tomorrow, without any proposal, formal or not. That is the sequence laid down in the GFA. Anything else is supposition, is thinking aloud, is proposal, nothing more than that.

Just because you have claimed that every major party has accepted and endorsed the idea that a fully thought out plan is necessary (how can this be true when quite a number of them have said that there is no need for a referendum?), doesn't mean that the British SoS will pay any heed to any of them.

A plan or a proposal from a sitting government here? Sinn Fein have had the proposal for decades, that N.I. should join the Republic and become one big socialist Republic. That is the proposal. There is no proper realistic plan, on how to deal with issues like pensions, division of UK national debt if the UK was to fragment, security, loss of easy access / free trade with Britain market, increased cost of social welfare in "the 6 counties", loss of NHS, NATO, etc, Irish language, flag, anthem issues etc etc.

Another ultra-nationalist, Trump, had a proposal to take over Greenland, but no plan.

The Canaries are much closer ( only 60 km ) to Morocco and Western Sahara in Africa rather than Spain, which is over 1000 km away. Why not have an independent Canaries / OR better still come up with a plan for Morocco taking over them while you are at it?

No realistic plan, never was, never will be. Must be sad for you while that sinks in. Instead of 70,000 posts arguing for a U.I., how about you come up with a plan?

There is a contradiction ever at the heart of Unionism which on one hand dismisses a United Ireland as a pipe dream that nobody really wants, but with the other hand acts out of clear concern that it is inexorably taking place all around them.

This is 100% bang on the money.

Political Unionism knew the GFA and who was at that table was the tacit withdrawal of GB. They've been railing against it since and are paralysed by it and the ever closer integration of the partitioned parts.

And in all the years since the GFA, has the border moved one inch? Has Republican come up with a plan for a U.I. yet? Seems to me, with the ris of Kneecap etc, it has created more divisions than healed. Has Republicanism come up with any ideas to solve the issues in a new 32 county Republic ? eg to do with "pensions, division of UK national debt if the UK was to fragment, security, loss of easy access / free trade with Britain market, increased cost of social welfare in "the 6 counties", loss of NHS, NATO, etc, Irish language, flag, anthem issues etc etc."

At the time of the GFA, if there was a U.I. then the 6 counties would still have had free trade access to the UK market. Now, in the hypothetical case of a U.I., there would be tariffs in the 12 mile strait between Antrim and "the mainland". So a U.I. further away than ever. Also, some people like Rory McIllroy are very happy with the N.I. identity. He is a Catholic with a British passport. And he does not even have to worry about paying the higher VRT on cars here, VAT on housing here, doctors bills here, VHI here etc.

Personally I don't know of anyone who gives a fiddlers about Ireland united. I never ever come across it being discussed. It's just not anywhere near a priority in people's lives. People far too busy just living day by day.

BTW, is boards very slow today?

Alex Kane, a reasonable and committed Unionist believes, like me, that a UI is not inevitable but a BP is. The government here, frightened by different things than unionists will get caught with its pants down no doubt.

Same was said about Divorce, Abortion, Same Sex marriage etc.

It won't be a priority until it is made one by a sitting government.

Shooting the messenger again - ok.

There will be a plan/proposal in place. It won't be from a single party either, that's a comical idea if you give it 2 seconds half serious thought.

BTW Bertie Ahern
Colum Eastwood

Leo Varadkar
Simon Coveney
Billy Hutchinson

Alex Easton etc

have all alluded to a a Border Poll happening soon. Happy shooting because you don't want to deal with it.

You've got that one the wrong way round. Divorce, abortion and same sex marriage only became priorities for politicians because the people were interested.