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Working towards Irish Unity

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Opinion

Irish Nationalism in Britain – Book Review

Last month the Irish community in London gathered in Islington to unveil a plaque to Michael Collins at the spot he was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood –  the revolutionary organisation dedicated to achieving Irish independence. But how  successful were Irish nationalists in Britain in shaping the struggle for Irish freedom? Conflict, Diaspora, and […]

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Opinion

Let The People Sing

It’s Groundhog Day again. Last August Unionist politicians and media including sections of the Dublin media went out of their way to be offended by the WolfeTones concert at Féile, in particular their song Celtic Symphony. This year howls of outrage from the usual moral entrepreneurs are in full swing before the group has even […]

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Opinion

A Unionist veto dressed as conflict resolution

Imagine people in Britain were told Brexit would not happen because only a narrow majority had voted for it? That the issue was so divisive it required a supermajority of 60 percent before it passed? Or how about divorce in the south of Ireland which won by less than 1 percent of the vote, 50.28% […]

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Brexit and the Protocol: Bad for the Union – Good for Irish Unity?

Watch this online Irish Border Poll discussion with speakers Kevin Meagher, Ben Collins and Brian Feeney recorded on Thursday 2nd March. How should we view the new UK-EU Protocol deal? Will it lead to NI becoming economically semi-detached from GB with a border in the Irish Sea and the North becoming more closely linked economically […]

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Opinion

Unionists need to accept this is as good as it gets

So, there we have it: the Windsor Framework. The oldest trick in the book is to rebrand a problem.  It might still be the Northern Ireland Protocol (Reformed Version), but it now bears the Monarch’s secular name. It’s hardly subtle. Rishi Sunak has set a purity test for die-hard unionists: Get with the programme or […]

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Opinion

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of 2022

In 1968 Sergio Leone directed one of my all time favourite films, the classic spaghetti western The Good, The Bad and the Ugly starring Clint Eastwood. As we look back on the year that was 2022 I give you my good, the bad and the ugly of the Constitutional debate. The Good: The May Assembly […]

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Opinion

Northern Protestants: Time For a United Ireland?

irishborderpoll.com hosted this online discussion on 5th December Is it time to ditch the misnomer ‘PUL Community’ when, since Brexit, increasing numbers of Protestants publicly reject the Union in favour of a United Ireland? Northern Protestant Claire Mitchell argues in her new book The Ghost Limb that there is a growing community of Protestants who […]

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Opinion

The UK: A Union of coercion rather than consent?

Not long ago I was lucky enough to be among ten political party leaders and thousands of people gathered in Dublin’s 3 Arena to discuss preparation for Irish unity and a border poll. It was a huge, exciting and seminal event, probably the largest gathering of United Irelanders since Ireland was partitioned. But for all […]

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Opinion

Let The People Sing

My wife, a CEO of a London based media charity, has two party piece songs inherited from her father, a Dublin man who emigrated to Manchester. His favourite songs were ‘The Dublin Saunter’ and ‘The Men Behind the Wire’. The first is a sweet, sentimental ode to a Dublin of yesteryear, the second a feisty […]

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Opinion

The UK today: A Union of Consent or Coercion?

Join us on 18th July for this important Irish Border Poll debate. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced plans for a referendum on Scottish Independence on October 19th 2023. A clear majority of MSPs support the IndyRef. If Boris Johnson blocks the poll – is the UK a Union of consent or coercion? This debate aims […]