It all depends on who you’re talking to. A Protestant friend of mine is not hostile to the idea of a border poll, but he points out forcefully that there are people and whole communities who will resort to arms if a border poll is called. Maybe in 15 or 20 years we could look at it again, he says.
With views like that he could register with the Fianna Fail or Fine Gael party, no questions asked. They, like him, are comfortable, even friendly towards the idea of a border poll. But he, like they, urges that we should push it considerably further into the future. People on both sides of the border have other things to be bothering with.
Others, like Sinn Fein, are impatient with such prevarication. We’ve been yearning for a reunited Ireland for more than a hundred years. The Good Friday Agreement was some 30 years ago. It’s time to quit making friendly noises while sitting in your comfortable corner. Let’s do this thing.
I find my sympathy lies with the Shinners. I’d quite like to see my country reunited before I shuffle off to commune with my Maker. I also sympathise with the Kerry farmer who struck his donkey a blow on the head every morning to get its attention. In Irish electoral terms, that’d involve setting a date for a border poll, and 2030 seems as good as any to me.
“But it’d be voted down!” you cry. Mmm.Maybe. But a fixed date for a poll would make what is at present watery and insubstantial into a rock-hard deadline. If 2030 was coming down the track at you with a border poll aboard, wouldn’t you suddenly come alive and want to know what kind of UI was on offer? That would be a highly desirable state of mind. Constantly pushing the notion of a border poll to the back of our minds, or even out of our minds, is a recipe for eventual disaster.
Very good Jude