So make me welcome.......

What's the stat again about the percentage of workers in NI who work for the public sector?

I believe Alliance is officially classed as a Unionist party so I don't think they would be excluded from the 1st Minister post

They're definitely one of the more pragmatic parties up there and I think the recent swing towards them in the last election is a definite sign that more people are shifting away from the Nationalist/Unionist divide and want a government which generates results and not just news headlines

Fair point, but I believe they officially favour remaining part of the UK while it benefits the people of NI (which interestingly implies they favour leaving when it doesn't)

I guess if they were the largest (or second largest) party in the assembly then that could be taken as implied unionism without the party actually taking a side

As you said earlier, there's scope to amend or possibly reinterpret the GFA depending on the circumstances

I'm from Donegal, there is a large protestant community in east Donegal that became part of the republic with very little issues. As Church control in both communities fades that difference will be even less.

The NHS may have been a stronger argument a few years ago but with NHS in it's current state it is not that strong a selling point. No one will be denied treatment due to money and if paying 50 euro to see a GP means I can actually see a GP not too high a price for me.

Integration in a future united Ireland will be a complex issue no doubt about that but the economic reality for NI is they are totally dependant on the block grant from westminster. If London starts to cut back on that the North will be in serious financial trouble they are not generating enough wealth themselves.

So @martinedwards you raised the point that a lot of the well educated and hard working people of NI may find themselves unemployed

I'm going to turn that around slightly and ask the question of how bad life in the UK would need to get for the people of NI to feel like they should ditch it and join the Republic?

At the end of the day a unification referendum is more about the future than the present. The NHS is better now than anything the Republic can offer, but given the trajectory of both countries can you say with certainty that will always be the case?

Same for the job market, a lot of NI's high value industries have major bases in the republic as well. So I don't think there'd be a sudden shortage of work for well educated employees

I think you're correct that the civil service in NI would be significantly smaller post unification and there would likely need to be some settlement between the UK, EU and ROI around civil service pensions and redundancy

But I disagree that unification would automatically lead to the destruction of the NI economy, more that it would only happen if the case for unification was better than staying in the UK

As Mr Kielty said I think, an awful lot of people in Ireland would have to change their attitudes for a U.I to work....for example, if the Irish national ladies soccor team chants "UP THE RA" what hope is there? As he said himself once, the percentange of protestants in the 26 counties declined since partition, while the percentage of catholics rose in N.I.....both states were often cold houses for the minorities.

Why would a United Ireland be a better place to commemorate than what we have now? Just because partition was the cause doesn't mean removing it is the solution. You have said yourself that unity wouldn't end sectarianism.

It is as if you are saying "Republicans" won't moderate their behaviour while partition exists but the behaviour of the other side is hardly going to improve if their worst fears become reality either. The grievances just switch sides and nothing has actually been solved.

Republican behaviour is moderate in comparison to a two month festival of hate and triumphalism.

Unionist supremacy stems from partition. They have gotten used to being supreme since. Much of the triumphalism has it's roots in winning partition.

Remove partition and you begin to normalise and normality will diminish sectarianism. It stands to reason.

I would also add, nobody should be standing around waiting to be 'welcomed'. Nobody cared what welcome Nationalists got when partition happened - they got on with it and made the best of it and have achieved the GFA and more since. There are many in Unionism who still don't welcome them or what they achieved.

I lived in the UK for a decade and while you do have to pay a few quid to see a GP in Ireland, at least you can actually get an appointment, which was a near impossibility in England. The healthcare I've received has been better than in the NHS (which continues to get worse and worse under the Tories) - the NHS have shorter wait times but when you do see a consultant they're under so much pressure to get you out the door and see the next patient that the care suffers dramatically. I've had to wait longer for the same chronic condition in the HSE, but once I did see a consultant the quality of care was much higher.

That anecdotal evidence bares out in stats too - Ireland has better outcomes despite longer wait times - cancer survival rates are higher in Ireland than the UK for example so there's no reason to be terrified there. Another sign of the difference in outcomes is that Ireland has lower infant mortality than Northern Ireland and higher life expectancy too.

And healthcare is not free but costs are capped and there are plenty of supports and exemptions for people who can't afford it - it's not like the US.

The HSE has massive flaws and inefficiencies but it's not the drop in quality from the NHS that many people assume.

I can understand other concerns but this is really not something to worry about.

As Bill Clinton is alleged to have said, "it's the economy, stupid".

If people in the North vote to leave the UK, fair dues to them.

They would then need to run their own economy for a number of years and run their services (including health) within their own budgets.

When well established as a stable entity, they could (if they chose) then apply to merge with the Republic. At that point the people of the Republic could also have a referendum on the subject.

Eh, that is gone a long time because it never made any sense. Why make a science teacher at second-level prove that they can speak Irish. What's more, the process that led to that decision took nearly two years from start of proposal to implementation of decision.

However, at primary level, Irish is a huge important integral part of the curriculum, backed up by the requirements of the Irish language Act. Can't be sorted at the stroke of a pen.

If we're going comparing healthcare services, I always found the idea of the French system seems quite good

It's similar to our system but prices are heavily regulated and private health insurance isn't common. It's also much better funded and waiting times are much lower

GPs for example are limited to something like €12 and are required to have a price list visible in the reception area. Most hospital treatments are either free or covered to something like 70% of costs

While free healthcare is a good idea in principle, it is open to political interference, as the UK is seeing where the level of care seems to strongly depend what area you live in (and what party that area votes for)

I think having a small universal charge makes it hard to claim the health system is being overrun with supposed freeloaders