Is Ireland Ready to Plan for Unity?

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Transcript

00:00Taik, what do you think? Do you agree with what Jamie says, that there's no momentum?

00:05Or do you see this as an inevitability?

00:07Well, I certainly don't agree that there's no momentum.

00:10I think there's never been such a strong feeling north and south about wanting to have this debate

00:15and wanting to set up things like citizen assemblies.

00:19And that's exactly what Mary Lou MacDonald was talking about.

00:21Recent polling would suggest, according to the General Elections Survey of 2024,

00:28that about 47% of voters in the north of Ireland under the age of 25 would like to see Irish unity.

00:38And that's the same figure of 47% that would like to be connected to the union,

00:43like to pursue being part of the United Kingdom, which I would say,

00:47just to a point of information on what Jamie was saying there,

00:50probably was at one point an extremely successful union, but is not economically what it once was.

00:56The empire is gone. Momentum towards a second referendum in Scotland is happening.

01:02Welsh independence voices are the strongest they've ever seen.

01:05The United Kingdom is dissolving.

01:07And I think the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,

01:11it's incumbent on him to call for a border poll if there is a likelihood of enough people in the north of Ireland wanting Irish unity.

01:19Well, if under 25 are polling at about 47%, and that's without the actual specifics of what people are voting on laid out,

01:27I would argue that there's a likelihood there right now and certainly in the future.

01:32And that's what Mary Lou MacDonald is talking about.

01:34It's incumbent on the Irish government in Dublin and the British government to start planning for unification,

01:40because just in terms of demographics, it is an inevitability.

01:44One of the founders of the DUP, for instance, has acknowledged that it's just a matter of when, not if.

01:50So I think unionists and particularly loyalists, who I think Jamie would be fair to say is a loyalist,

01:57when there is a bit of a difference there, can stick their head in the sand as long as they want.

02:01But we would rather, those of us who would like to see united Ireland, start planning for it now and bring in those unionist voices,

02:09because they are going to be so welcome in a new Ireland that's going to be a free, democratic, inclusive place

02:16for not just unionists and Republicans, but people from all cultures and faith.