A United Ireland. Opening up the discussion.

[haranguerer]

If the poll was accurate, it would mean that unity was losing 19% points from Sinn Fein and SDLP voters. I am basing that on Sinn Fein at 30% (13% of the 30 not voting UI) and SDLP at 9% (6% of the 9% not voting UI). Hard to believe that is accurate. If it is, then Michele and Colum have a job on their hands to sell unity. However Ireland's Future needs less grey haired cranky old men. Some of those lads are about as effective selling unity as Arlene will be selling the Union. Freshen it up with younger, diverse voices.

This doesn't seem accurate to me, I would say cranky old men very much the minority on any of the lineups I've seen, or indeed on the board

[Tubberman]

More from the polls - this is taken from an Irish Times article.
With 73% of people in NI happy to stay in UK, and 92% that wouldn't have a problem with it, its hard to see a UI any time soon.

In Northern Ireland, just under half (47 per cent) of all voters said they would "happily accept" a vote in favour of unity. A further 26 per cent said that they "would not be happy but could live it", but 18 per cent of all voters — which includes 32 per cent of voters from a Protestant background, and 14 per cent of voters from a non-Catholic and non-Protestant background — said they would find this result "almost impossible to accept".

Acceptance of a pro-union result was much higher. Almost three-quarters of voters (73 per cent) in the North said they would "happily accept" this outcome, with 19 per cent reluctantly accepting it and just 2 per cent who said they would find it "almost impossible to accept".

[tonto1888]

More from the polls - this is taken from an Irish Times article.
With 73% of people in NI happy to stay in UK, and 92% that wouldn't have a problem with it, its hard to see a UI any time soon.

In Northern Ireland, just under half (47 per cent) of all voters said they would "happily accept" a vote in favour of unity. A further 26 per cent said that they "would not be happy but could live it", but 18 per cent of all voters — which includes 32 per cent of voters from a Protestant background, and 14 per cent of voters from a non-Catholic and non-Protestant background — said they would find this result "almost impossible to accept".

Acceptance of a pro-union result was much higher. Almost three-quarters of voters (73 per cent) in the North said they would "happily accept" this outcome, with 19 per cent reluctantly accepting it and just 2 per cent who said they would find it "almost impossible to accept".

You could reverse that and say 73% would accept a UI

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

If the poll was accurate, it would mean that unity was losing 19% points from Sinn Fein and SDLP voters. I am basing that on Sinn Fein at 30% (13% of the 30 not voting UI) and SDLP at 9% (6% of the 9% not voting UI). Hard to believe that is accurate. If it is, then Michele and Colum have a job on their hands to sell unity. However Ireland's Future needs less grey haired cranky old men. Some of those lads are about as effective selling unity as Arlene will be selling the Union. Freshen it up with younger, diverse voices.

This doesn't seem accurate to me, I would say cranky old men very much the minority on any of the lineups I've seen, or indeed on the board

Stale

[Snapchap]

Ireland's Future needs less grey haired cranky old men. Some of those lads are about as effective selling unity as Arlene will be selling the Union. Freshen it up with younger, diverse voices.

Doesn't look like a collection of "grey haired cranky old men" to me 

[Snapchap]

Thats the point. The NHS is f@cked so why is it still being used as a positive in the discussion.

A point well articulated by Brian Feeney in today's Irish News:

[weareros]

Ireland's Future needs less grey haired cranky old men. Some of those lads are about as effective selling unity as Arlene will be selling the Union. Freshen it up with younger, diverse voices.

Doesn't look like a collection of "grey haired cranky old men" to me 

I did not mean lineup, and there's been excellent speakers. I mean those running the show, who are essentially the face of Ireland's future. I don't see any 20/30 something's. That's the generation that will bring a United Ireland. I don't think there's anyone under 40. Most are over 50. They should be there, too, of course. But it should be freshened up with younger voices running the show. Fortunately the Union side is doing the same thing with Arlene taking it upon herself to compete with Ireland's future. This happens in all walks of life when something is being advertised to younger people -  a bunch of boomers gather in a room to decide the strategy.

[Snapchap]

Ireland's Future needs less grey haired cranky old men. Some of those lads are about as effective selling unity as Arlene will be selling the Union. Freshen it up with younger, diverse voices.

Doesn't look like a collection of "grey haired cranky old men" to me 

I did not mean lineup, and there's been excellent speakers. I mean those running the show, who are essentially the face of Ireland's future. I don't see any 20/30 something's. That's the generation that will bring a United Ireland. I don't think there's anyone under 40. Most are over 50. They should be there, too, of course. But it should be freshened up with younger voices running the show. Fortunately the Union side is doing the same thing with Arlene taking it upon herself to compete with Ireland's future. This happens in all walks of life when something is being advertised to younger people -  a bunch of boomers gather in a room to decide the strategy.

Fair enough point that it would be nice to see a few under 40 years of age organising the thing, but I don't think it's fair or accurate to characterise those running Ireland's Future as "grey haired cranky old men" either:

https://irelandsfuture.com/who-we-are/

Always easy to criticise, but it's far more useful to be supportive. To me, that's far from a group of cranky old men. Brian Feeney is possibly the only one that comes close to meeting that description and any civic group's attempts to argue the merits of ending partition would be weaker by his omission. He's incredibly articulate.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Gerry carlile CEO Ireland's future was in my year at school . He is 44, not old. In general you don't get many twenty year olds in charge of things

[weareros]

Ireland's Future needs less grey haired cranky old men. Some of those lads are about as effective selling unity as Arlene will be selling the Union. Freshen it up with younger, diverse voices.

Doesn't look like a collection of "grey haired cranky old men" to me 

I did not mean lineup, and there's been excellent speakers. I mean those running the show, who are essentially the face of Ireland's future. I don't see any 20/30 something's. That's the generation that will bring a United Ireland. I don't think there's anyone under 40. Most are over 50. They should be there, too, of course. But it should be freshened up with younger voices running the show. Fortunately the Union side is doing the same thing with Arlene taking it upon herself to compete with Ireland's future. This happens in all walks of life when something is being advertised to younger people -  a bunch of boomers gather in a room to decide the strategy.

Fair enough point that it would be nice to see a few under 40 years of age organising the thing, but I don't think it's fair or accurate to characterise those running Ireland's Future as "grey haired cranky old men" either:

https://irelandsfuture.com/who-we-are/

Always easy to criticise, but it's far more useful to be supportive. To me, that's far from a group of cranky old men. Brian Feeney is possibly the only one that comes close to meeting that description and any civic group's attempts to argue the merits of ending partition would be weaker by his omission. He's incredibly articulate.

I subscribe to Irish News just to read Brian Feeney. It was a general comment to point out the movement is too old from a leadership perspective. Not just the men. The women skew older too. Do those voices resonate with someone late teens/early 20s? United Ireland should be sold on the issues that are important to young people and young people should be the ones setting that agenda on what those issues are, not what the fifty and sixty something's think those issues are. It should as I say have the older voices in the room too. It's just missing the most important from the top down. That's not their fault of course. And good to see the movement of young GAA players getting involved  that I read about in the Irish News today.

[armaghniac]

Ireland's Future needs less grey haired cranky old men. Some of those lads are about as effective selling unity as Arlene will be selling the Union. Freshen it up with younger, diverse voices.

Doesn't look like a collection of "grey haired cranky old men" to me 

I did not mean lineup, and there's been excellent speakers. I mean those running the show, who are essentially the face of Ireland's future. I don't see any 20/30 something's. That's the generation that will bring a United Ireland. I don't think there's anyone under 40. Most are over 50. They should be there, too, of course. But it should be freshened up with younger voices running the show. Fortunately the Union side is doing the same thing with Arlene taking it upon herself to compete with Ireland's future. This happens in all walks of life when something is being advertised to younger people -  a bunch of boomers gather in a room to decide the strategy.

Fair enough point that it would be nice to see a few under 40 years of age organising the thing, but I don't think it's fair or accurate to characterise those running Ireland's Future as "grey haired cranky old men" either:

https://irelandsfuture.com/who-we-are/

Always easy to criticise, but it's far more useful to be supportive. To me, that's far from a group of cranky old men. Brian Feeney is possibly the only one that comes close to meeting that description and any civic group's attempts to argue the merits of ending partition would be weaker by his omission. He's incredibly articulate.

I subscribe to Irish News just to read Brian Feeney. It was a general comment to point out the movement is too old from a leadership perspective. Not just the men. The women skew older too. Do those voices resonate with someone late teens/early 20s? United Ireland should be sold on the issues that are important to young people and young people should be the ones setting that agenda on what those issues are, not what the fifty and sixty something's think those issues are. It should as I say have the older voices in the room too. It's just missing the most important from the top down. That's not their fault of course. And good to see the movement of young GAA players getting involved  that I read about in the Irish News today.

An alternate view is that young people will be relatively easily convinced and probably won't lose much time over pension details. The issue is convincing the age groups who pay for stuff and this campaign should focus on that.

[general_lee]

Generally speaking it is younger people that are most open to a unites Ireland. Ireland's Future was meant to have someone from a culturally unionist background speaking, he's in his early 20s but got pulled because he made a few disparaging (yet completely accurate) comments on the DUP

[Wildweasel74]

End of the day, in real life, people are worried about heating houses, covering insurances, groceries, children and sports/hobbies. Political strive which has been Northern Ireland all my life, justs wear you down, and you just want stability. Havent had it in 20yrs due to people elected who wouldnt interact for the good of all people, just not who they see as there own. I be amazed at some people put forward by parties on all sides, who if you run a real company, wouldn't dream of employing them. The majority are there on the backing of their party and not on what they can do. In a United Ireland I couldn't see that changing, and unlike some people on here, even if I vote for it, I can see us getting f**king toasted in a referendum and put another vote 30 years down the line, (which I not be round to see)

[pbat]

https://twitter.com/Kevin_Maguire/status/1600469725607211010

56% yes for Scottish Independence

[armaghniac]

https://twitter.com/Kevin_Maguire/status/1600469725607211010

56% yes for Scottish Independence

So 1% more than the proportion of NI "Catholics" who would vote for Irish unity, and sometimes we slag off the Scots.