The recurring speculation about Irish unity, fuelled at regular intervals by former taoiseach Leo Varadkar, is not only pointless but actually counterproductive. It is worth remembering that the anti-partition rhetoric of leading Irish politicians in every decade since independence simply contributed to making the Border more permanent and did nothing to improve the lives of people, North or South.
Fortunately, the direction of Government policy, as set out by Micheál Martin in his Shared Island initiative, eschews the old rhetoric and instead focuses on practical co-operation to deal with the problems faced by both parts of the island. It may not sound as catchy as a united Ireland but it is actually a far-sighted approach that focuses on the reality of peoples’ lives.
Martin was one of the contributors to the current special edition of the journal Studies to mark the centenary of the Boundary Commission. That body disappointed nationalist Ireland a century ago by failing to recommend significant changes in the Border and instead led to it becoming a permanent feature of Irish life.
[ Geography and destiny – Ronan McGreevy on the Boundary CommissionOpens in new window ]
Martin begins his essay by recalling a visit he made to Seamus Mallon at his home in Markethill in 2019, not long before the former deputy first minister died. After a discussion about the broad sweep of history, and some of the appalling events of the Troubles in his own area, Mallon remarked: “When are we going to realise we have to learn to share this place?”
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That conversation was the inspiration for Martin’s Shared Island initiative, which forms the bedrock of the Coalition’s approach to Ireland’s future. Tánaiste Simon Harris has been as emphatic as the Taoiseach in rejecting calls for a Border poll in the next decade and instead emphasising the need to focus on practical solutions to current problems.
There are a number of fascinating essays in Studies ranging from the history of the Boundary Commission itself to explorations of how the island might evolve in the coming decades. An important theme is the challenge what a move towards a united Ireland would require of voters in the Republic.
That challenge is not just the potentially massive financial cost but the abandonment of cherished cultural symbols such as the Irish flag and anthem and indeed the Constitution itself, not to mention the daunting challenge of integrating the public service and welfare systems in the two parts of the island.
[ Flags and symbols will remain a point of division between North and SouthOpens in new window ]
An equally challenging view from the northern side of the Border was presented at a seminar in the Royal Irish Academy last week by Prof Pete Shirlow, head of the Irish studies department at the University of Liverpool. His talk was part of the ARINS project examining the future of the island.
Shirlow presented a variety of research that showed that support for a united Ireland is not growing in the North, despite the demographic changes that have seen Sinn Féin become the biggest party, with Michelle O’Neill as First Minister. Surveys show that younger people are less attached to nationalism and unionism, with growing numbers content to express a Northern Irish identity. They also show that the North is becoming more inclusive and less sectarian as time goes on.
Rory McIlroy, one of the generation keen to describe himself as Northern Irish rather than Irish or British, achieved his destiny when he won the US Masters last weekend. Being Northern Irish did not stop McIlroy playing for Ireland in the last Olympics, just as Ulster rugby players have always played for Ireland.
It is a long time since John Hume remarked that the kind of unity he sought was not unity of territory but unity of people. The Ireland that has gradually emerged since the Belfast Agreement, and continues to evolve, is surely on the road to the kind of unity he was talking about.
People living on this island can move across the Border without hindrance, can live on one side and work on the other, avail of the health services on either side that best meet their needs. The North is also in the unique position of being part of the European single market as well as the UK market.
Of course everything in the garden is not rosy. The political structures established by the Belfast Agreement have had a stop-start existence for the past three decades and the legacy of the Troubles is still an open wound. Still, both parts of the island are thriving, with the combined population set to surpass the pre-Famine peak for the first time in the coming years.
With so many international challenges facing the governments of Ireland and the UK, from Trump’s tariffs to the need to ramp up defence spending in the face of Russian aggression, talk of Irish unity is a diversion from the real challenges facing us.
Those who dream of a united Ireland involving the Tricolour flying over Stormont are as stuck in the past as people in the UK who voted to leave the EU to recreate a vanished Empire. In so many of the ways that matter to people, we have a united Ireland now. Let’s build on that.
