If the DUP collapse Stormont...

A united Ireland poll now would be a bigger farce than the Brexit vote. Unless people know what they are voting for we'll end up with a worse cluster f than Brexit. It's years if not decades for a united Ireland vote, we don't even know what type of Ireland we'll have afterwards or what our flag and national anthem will be.

The DUP are in their death throws. The Republic is best off staying out of it or else they will blame us. Let the DUP die and then we'll deal with whoever wins.

The problem 'up there' is 'Orange' not green, and that 'up there' problem is an all-Ireland issue particularly when a border poll is triggered.

The anti-Republicans and partitionists are very much like Brexiters, they think if they get their way in a border poll that everything stays exactly as it is. Like Bexiters and Unionists (of the DUP sort) the partitonist's ability to 'game out' scenarios is utterly subordinated to their hatreds and prejudices.

This country has unification in its DNA and anyone that tries to prevent it will need to come up with a vision for a completely different country.

I don't consider partitonists as 'us', they're de facto allies of belligerent Unionism and its paramilitary proxies in the northeast.

Ireland was partitioned by threat of internal terrorism by Unionists and external war by the British. The problems in the north are a direct result of that very partition, this seems to interminably evade partitionist cognition.

Go read the country's constitution and then try to figure out exactly who this 'us' is you're referring to. If you want permanent partition then come up with a vision for it with a new constitution, anthem, flag, and everything else that would go with it.

Forgive me if I can't bring myself to care too much about the feelings of Unionists who opposed the GFA and viewed Brexit as an opportunity to unravel the stitching together of our country/nation.

As I have mentioned before, partition was inevitable. People just need to accept that there was going to be no magical UI back in 1916 or 1921.

You say partition was the result of the threat of terrorism by Unionists, yet Ireland won its war of independence by the same means and wanted to subjugate northern unionists, to a country dominated by Nationalists and the Catholic church. Remember the term, Home Rule is Rome Rule? They weren't wrong.

I find a lot of this willy-waving about history very much hypocritical.

"The Unionists treated nationalists badly, so we wanted a UI so we can be in the majority and treat the Unionists badly instead"

In a modernising NI the DUP are becoming increasingly irrelevant. The long game is what counts.

This move by the DUP is clearly a move made out of panic because of the poor opinion polls which have shown their message of just saying “NO” isn't a viable political position. And didn’t Jeffrey Donaldson make this move under the assumption that all unionist ministers would fall in line ? If he did it shows an arrogance which the UUP have shown isn’t ubiquitous across unionism. Now, obviously there is some political motive behind the UUPs move but I think it will age much better.

A functioning democracy since 1801????

Sure Catholics couldnt even hold seats until 1829 and some racist bigoted resemblance of Penal laws imposed on us were still around by the 1840s. Hardly a functioning democracy when only a minority of the wealthy Protestant Acendency are the ones benefiting from it.

These same people would not accept equality, so they got their own mini racist State up North and now that people are refusing to accept that, they are acting like spoiled babies having tantrums. Next they'll want their own county or something. It's a disfunctional failed state born out of hatred and refusal to accept the wishes of the people of Ireland.

Even Edward Carson came to believe he had been hoodwinked by the Tories. And if the Unionist class had joined as one nation the Catholic Church would probably have never become the powerbase it did as a sort of glue to keep the nation together post civil war.

Sorry in a UI they're as much citizens as anyone else. We can't swap one sectarian government for another

It looks to me like the DUP are dying a long slow death since Peter Robinson left. Under he and Paisley they were a force to be reckoned with. Now they are increasingly out of touch. DUP supported Brexit so they lost any right to cry about it's consequences. Ironically I see Brexit as the first step on the road to a United Ireland. Boris doesn't give a toss about the six counties. The Queen is entering her final year/s. Once she dies the monarchy in Britain won't have the same popular support again.

The hardline Unionists are now loyal to a country that doesn't want them and a monarchy system which is going to fade in terms of spotlight and popularity. They know that the central pillars of their beliefs are collapsing around them and understandably they are scared to death. The threat of street violence is one last desperate throw of the dice to affect some kind of influence regarding the fallout from Brexit.

An interesting long term question is, can a united Ireland have a place for those who pledge allegiance to Britain and the Queen. Can a united Ireland be a nation in which they can feel welcome?

Do people not forget that for a very very brief period of time, Ireland was united? Stormont then voted the day after the Free State was established to opt-out, and 'rejoin' the UK.

I find the whole argument about partition hypocritical.

If Irish people wanted to run their own affairs from their own parliament in Dublin, fine. But then Unionists (who don't identify as Irish) in the North should have also been afforded the right to decide their own future. Essentially there are those who argue about partition but what they are really saying is that to hell or high water, regardless of what they wanted, Northern Unionists should have joined the Free State regardless of their opinions on the matter.

Sounds like the same thing to me, as what Britain did in 1801 with the act of Union.

Indeed, a functioning democracy for the very few (wealthy) people who could vote. And don't forget the Rotten Buroughs!

Have you anything to say on the actual topic, or do you just label and rubbish anyone who disagrees with you?

Why should any Irish Nationalist be allowed to make any Unionist a second-class citizen in their own country?

You do know Prior to 1921 Ireland was one of the nations of the UK.... not the ROI and NI. The majority of the nation wanted independence but because some in the north of the nation didn't they created a gerrymandered part of Ireland to stay within the UK. This has obviously caused a lot of contention by splitting the nation.

Under your crusty logic should counties in the North that have a majority in favour of uniting with the South leave? With about a Town? Or a street in a Town? At what boundary is it fair to split people by majority? Should the UK have been split with brexit? Scotland stays in the EU and England leaves?

They were originally going to have 9 counties in the North but then they changed it to 6. It is a made up place.

BTW in the early 20th century nearly everyone in the North referred to themselves as Irish including prodesents. This we are not Irish because we are unionists was born in the apartheid over the 20th century..... another proof that it is a failure.

They didn't, the unionists made sure they stayed on top by whatever means required. Now they throw their toys out of the pram at the thought of parity.

Not to worry though, demographics will have a UI in the next few decades.

Well, Ireland was never unified politically either if you want to go back further. The only time Ireland was United was under British rule.

As I said, just because we are one Island geographically does not automatically mean that there should only be one government.

The island of Britain is made up of England, Scotland, and Wales, yet Irish Nationalists and Scottish Nationalists will make the case that Scotland should be independent, yet Northern Ireland should be subsumed into the Republic, because the majority in the whole Island wills it, regardless of what NI actually want.

At the end of the day, if you accepted the GFA then you will cede that it is up to the people of NI themselves whether or not to join the Republic of Ireland as one country. In other words, the people of NI including the Unionists can democratically vote for it. That is the key now, and that was the key in 1921 and 1922. No amount of gnashing of teeth over historical grudges will change this fact.

They are citizens in a democratic nation now, so there is nothing to gain from a united Ireland.

What are you talking about Afghans for? They have nothing to do with the conversation.

Like it or not, Ulster Unionists have established a distinct and separate identity on this island from the Irish identity. They are not the remnants of a sectarian colonial project to subject a neighbouring nation.

The failure to recognise that we can no longer have "Ireland for the Irish" is the biggest flaw in Irish nationalism. We should never again talk about uniting territory but about uniting people.