Should Ireland be reunited or stay as is

[JasonDebenah89]

The British used settlers in the north to dilute the local Irish and as a result Ulster is still mostly protestant leading to the partitioning after the 1920s. Do you think it's fair Ireland is still partitioned given the history of British in Ireland?

[BudgieForce]

Thats for the Northern Irish to decide and polls seem to show they favor staying in the Union.

[Helsinkian]

The Catholic population will surpass the Protestant population in the future. However, that doesn't mean that unification will happen soon, since polls show that a good portion of Catholics don't want it, even though they vote for Nationalist parties in elections. Of course, that might change.

[Hnv1]

reunited? when was Ireland a unified political entity across the entire island?

[Helsinkian]

reunited? when was Ireland a unified political entity across the entire island?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Ireland

The Kingdom of Ireland was a client state of England/Great Britain, covering the whole island. It shared England's/Great Britain's monarchs but had a parliament of its own. After the 1798 United Irishmen rebellion Ireland was fully annexed to the UK.

[Zioneer]

Whatever the Irish people want, both regular Irish and Northern Irish.

[Dr. MB]

Whatever the Irish people want, both regular Irish and Northern Irish.

[TheSaint250]

Whatever the Irish people want, both regular Irish and Northern Irish.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

It should be further divided.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Whatever the people of Northern Ireland want. No one else should have a say.

[Former President tack50]

It should be further divided.

Yeah I agree. Just look at the latest UK general election, and the latest Northern Irish election maps:





It seems to me that, with the exception of West Belfast, you can draw a very clear border between the unionist and nationalist parts of Northern Ireland. So, my proposal would be to partition northern Ireland into "Northwest Northern Ireland" and "Southeast Northern Ireland". Then the former remains part of the UK with a very large unionist majority, while the rest, which has a majority of people who want to go with Ireland, can do so.

[Lord Halifax]

It should be further divided.

Yeah I agree. Just look at the latest UK general election, and the latest Northern Irish election maps:


It seems to me that, with the exception of West Belfast, you can draw a very clear border between the unionist and nationalist parts of Northern Ireland. So, my proposal would be to partition northern Ireland into "Northwest Northern Ireland" and "Southeast Northern Ireland". Then the former remains part of the UK with a very large unionist majority, while the rest, which has a majority of people who want to go with Ireland, can do so.

The actual distribution is not nearly as neat.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Just saying, but seeing as how much of a problem the initial partition turned into; anybody casually throwing out a partition of the partition is ignoring the lessons of history.

I support the GFA, which emphasises that any constitutional resettlement has to have broad agreement across Northern Irish society. Likewise, it wouldn't be simply a case of the Republic absorbing the North - the Republic would also have to fundamentally change at a constitutional level. I don't have much sympathy for unionists, especially their mouth breathing cadre, but one shouldn't brush past then entirely, because that will lead to further issues down the line.

[Lechasseur]

Whatever the people of Northern Ireland want. No one else should have a say.

This

The Catholic population will surpass the Protestant population in the future. However, that doesn't mean that unification will happen soon, since polls show that a good portion of Catholics don't want it, even though they vote for Nationalist parties in elections. Of course, that might change.

And this

[Clyde1998]

Thats for the Northern Irish to decide and polls seem to show they favor staying in the Union.

It will be interesting to see what will happen post-Brexit, especially if a hard border has to be erected. That may cause support for reunification to grow, however I can't see a majority for this being formed in the near future - even with a hard 'Brexit', which is probably the only possible way for it to become a serious possibility.
LucidTalk poll (20-23 Oct)
Do you think there should be a Northern Ireland Referendum on NI's constitutional position within the United Kingdom - a 'Border Poll'?
Yes, within 5 years - 47.1%
Yes, within 10 years - 14.8%
Yes, but far in the future (after 10 years) - 17.1%
No, there should never be a border referendum - 18.6%
Don't know - 2.3%

Should Northern Ireland REMAIN a part of the United Kingdom or LEAVE the United Kingdom and join the Republic of Ireland as one nation state Ireland?
REMAIN in the United Kingdom - 55.4%
LEAVE and join Republic of Ireland - 33.7%
Undecided - 9.8%
Wouldn't vote - 1.1%

Without undecided voters
Remain - 62.2%
Leave - 37.8%

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

united Ireland

also, return Gibraltar to Spain, and make Scotland & Wales independent.

[Kingpoleon]

Stay as is, as it seems that’s what the people want. As for Northern Ireland, I personally back UUP and the Alliance there.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

united Ireland

also, return Gibraltar to Spain, and make Scotland & Wales independent.

Wales doesn't want independence.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

united Ireland

also, return Gibraltar to Spain, and make Scotland & Wales independent.

Wales doesn't want independence.

And Gibraltar doesn't want to join Spain?

[Tintrlvr]

The Catholic population will surpass the Protestant population in the future. However, that doesn't mean that unification will happen soon, since polls show that a good portion of Catholics don't want it, even though they vote for Nationalist parties in elections. Of course, that might change.

Especially if Ireland's economic upward trajectory and the UK's stationary-to-downward trajectory continues.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

united Ireland

also, return Gibraltar to Spain, and make Scotland & Wales independent.

Wales doesn't want independence.

I can't say I know much about what the 34K people in Gibraltar want, so I didn't get into that, but I know support for independence in Wales is at 20% at most. And in these cases, the will of the people should generally prevail.

And Gibraltar doesn't want to join Spain?

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

united Ireland

also, return Gibraltar to Spain, and make Scotland & Wales independent.

Wales doesn't want independence.

And Gibraltar doesn't want to join Spain?

Obviously, none of these should happen without referendums.  But they should get referendums.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

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Although it is fun to imagine a sort of massive trade-over: Spain gets Gibraltar from UK, Morocco gets Ceuta and Melilla from Spain, SADR gets Western Sahara from Morocco...

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

united Ireland

also, return Gibraltar to Spain, and make Scotland & Wales independent.

Wales doesn't want independence.

And Gibraltar doesn't want to join Spain?

Obviously, none of these should happen without referendums.  But they should get referendums.

If the people of Wales want a referendum, I'm sure they can call one.

But they don't, at least not nearly in the numbers they do in Scotland, where they lost.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

reunited? when was Ireland a unified political entity across the entire island?

As an independent political entity, never. And certainly the Republic has never covered the entire island. So, yes, this would be a matter of unification not reunification; the use of the latter term is deeply suspect and partisan.