There you are,Nolan /RTE poll tonight

[5 Sams]

Jimmy Deenihan totally out of his depth tonight. It was embarrassing.

[T Fearon]

Deenihan only being honest.United Ireland unaffordable at present

[T Fearon]

The biggest anomaly is the fact that the majority of Catholics in the North who don't want a United Ireland currently wouldn't contemplate voting for any unionist party.

[Eamonnca1]

Jimmy Deenihan totally out of his depth tonight. It was embarrassing.

Agreed. Painful to watch. He was like a pupil trying to bluff his way out of not having his homework done.

[LeoMc]

Only 30% in the 26 Cos??
And only two thirds of the Catholic/Nationalist/Irish in the 6 Cos?
Ah well ......we can forget all this 1916 stuff next year and wear poppies instead I suppose

Rose to 66% 'in their lifetime'. But reduced to 31% if higher taxes. Saddens me but I'm not surprised.

Very much of a case of don't rule it out but what is in it for me!
To jump now is very much a jump into the unknown. As has been said on here many times no one has tried to articulate what this New Ireland would look like.

Federal or Central structures? New constitution?
Current or new constituency and council boundaries?
Central or Regional control of services?
Bicameral? STV, PR, First past the post? Role of Head of state?
Rights for minorities (travellers, Gaelic speakers, Orange men)
Universal health care?
10 or 25 year plan to merge governments and align taxation / services

Though it is not for any one party to impose their vision on everyone else, if those parties purporting to be Nationalist (or any body which has the resources and knowledge) could publish a model it could move the conversation beyond If and When to How.

[Keyboard Warrior]

Deenihan only being honest.United Ireland unaffordable at present

If a vote was passed tomorrow for a United Ireland, it would be paid for.

[Keyboard Warrior]

Only 30% in the 26 Cos??
And only two thirds of the Catholic/Nationalist/Irish in the 6 Cos?
Ah well ......we can forget all this 1916 stuff next year and wear poppies instead I suppose

Rose to 66% 'in their lifetime'. But reduced to 31% if higher taxes. Saddens me but I'm not surprised.

Very much of a case of don't rule it out but what is in it for me!
To jump now is very much a jump into the unknown. As has been said on here many times no one has tried to articulate what this New Ireland would look like.

Federal or Central structures? New constitution?
Current or new constituency and council boundaries?
Central or Regional control of services?
Bicameral? STV, PR, First past the post? Role of Head of state?
Rights for minorities (travellers, Gaelic speakers, Orange men)
Universal health care?
10 or 25 year plan to merge governments and align taxation / services

Though it is not for any one party to impose their vision on everyone else, if those parties purporting to be Nationalist (or any body which has the resources and knowledge) could publish a model it could move the conversation beyond If and When to How.

Sinn Fein have mentioned this 'new Ireland' thing a few times now.

My understanding of the GFA is that if a vote passes for a United Ireland then the 6 counties join the rest of Ireland - am I wrong or right?

[Maguire01]

Deenihan only being honest.United Ireland unaffordable at present

If a vote was passed tomorrow for a United Ireland, it would be paid for.

Yes, with massive tax hikes.

[Maguire01]

Only 30% in the 26 Cos??
And only two thirds of the Catholic/Nationalist/Irish in the 6 Cos?
Ah well ......we can forget all this 1916 stuff next year and wear poppies instead I suppose

Rose to 66% 'in their lifetime'. But reduced to 31% if higher taxes. Saddens me but I'm not surprised.

Very much of a case of don't rule it out but what is in it for me!
To jump now is very much a jump into the unknown. As has been said on here many times no one has tried to articulate what this New Ireland would look like.

Federal or Central structures? New constitution?
Current or new constituency and council boundaries?
Central or Regional control of services?
Bicameral? STV, PR, First past the post? Role of Head of state?
Rights for minorities (travellers, Gaelic speakers, Orange men)
Universal health care?
10 or 25 year plan to merge governments and align taxation / services

Though it is not for any one party to impose their vision on everyone else, if those parties purporting to be Nationalist (or any body which has the resources and knowledge) could publish a model it could move the conversation beyond If and When to How.

Sinn Fein have mentioned this 'new Ireland' thing a few times now.

My understanding of the GFA is that if a vote passes for a United Ireland then the 6 counties join the rest of Ireland - am I wrong or right?

Crucially, the Secretary of State will only call a poll: if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland.

And what does it say for SF's strategy that they've never been so big at the same time that support for unification has arguably never been so low?

[finbar o tool]

what a complete utter waste of time 

very few people, if any, mentioned one of the main reasons it will never happen.
the simple fact that the UK government is better than ours!
free healthcare, better schools, the pound is way better than the euro. etc things like bins/water etc is all paid in one fairly priced lumpsum, where as here, we pay for all that separately, bins, fire services/ambulances etc all paid separately and we are rode for everything. why would anyone up north want to go away from what they have to something worse??! im sure there are a few up north who would think about a United Ireland if they could keep the conditions they have or get better, but that wont happen!
sure, they have their own issues with government but not to the extent we have it!

i would love to see a United Ireland but it aint gona happen!!

[deiseach]

what a complete utter waste of time 

very few people, if any, mentioned one of the main reasons it will never happen.
the simple fact that the UK government is better than ours!
free healthcare, better schools, the pound is way better than the euro. etc things like bins/water etc is all paid in one fairly priced lumpsum, where as here, we pay for all that separately, bins, fire services/ambulances etc all paid separately and we are rode for everything. why would anyone up north want to go away from what they have to something worse??! im sure there are a few up north who would think about a United Ireland if they could keep the conditions they have or get better, but that wont happen!
sure, they have their own issues with government but not to the extent we have it!

i would love to see a United Ireland but it aint gona happen!!

After all that, I thought you were going to say "i would love to rejoin the Union but it aint gona happen!!"

[Keyser soze]

Deiseach these things are available at a much lesser price in the north solely because people in the south of England are being 'rode' to pay for it.

There's no comparison between the 2 economies and the 2 standards of living and that's even with a £10bn subvention propping the north up.

Arlen Foster was on last night with that peculiarly smugly face of hers, proudly talking about protestantism and Britishness. FFS Arlene your people are on their bellies begging the brits for a handout, i don't see what's to be proud of about that. It'd be the best thing ever happened this country if there was a united ireland and we had to pay our way. I don't see why the people of the 26 counties should just take over paying for our lifestyle as the brits do. 

[Keyboard Warrior]

Deenihan only being honest.United Ireland unaffordable at present

If a vote was passed tomorrow for a United Ireland, it would be paid for.

Yes, with massive tax hikes.

Massive? The banking bailout which came to €65bn was entered into without much hesitation.

The current difference between tax take and expenditure in North is <€3bn per annum. With savings from removing duplication of services this would come down.

I don't see how the South would need to make 'massive tax hikes' or even any tax hikes at all for a United Ireland.

Remarks like that make it sound like you're taking on 1.2m dole claimants.

[thewobbler]

Maybe not 1.2m dole claimants. But in your previous paragraph you mentioned the removal of duplication of public services. That's maybe 150k people either directly or indirectly out of work in the Greater Belfast area. Plus the 50k or so who are always unemployed up here. Plus, by removing the border and the various moneymaking opportunities it provides (legal and illegal), that's several thousand more.

[stibhan]

Deenihan only being honest.United Ireland unaffordable at present

Partition would also appear to be unaffordable for the north at present.