Obsession with Northern Ireland’s constitutional position condemns people to a lifetime of crisis and tension

George Osborne’s recent remarks on a united Ireland should not trigger shockwaves as he was merely acknowledging a badly kept secret.

As someone who has lived many years in England I can confirm that there is little affinity with the Province. Everyone on your side of the Irish Sea, regardless of political allegiance, is a ‘Paddy’.

So you can imagine the result of a border poll or referendum on Scottish independence if it was extended to the whole of the UK.

Northern Ireland is sometimes likened to a lady with two suitors, one of whom sometimes mistreats her and is unfaithful and the other dumbstruck in adoration but the lady prefers the former dangerous chap to the boring steady guy.

However this is a gross oversimplification. Having also lived in the Republic my contacts assure me that the majority have no wish to see their tranquil life threatened by the absorption of what they perceive as a belligerent and truculent population.

Regardless of the present or future constitutional status of Northern Ireland it is not going to be populated by either people from GB or the Republic and neither arrangement can guarantee a good quality of life.

In my youth I recall a film in which Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier played two escaped convicts who were chained together at the ankle. Although they loathed each other it finally dawned on them that they wouldn’t make any progress until they co-operated.

After 100 years that penny still has to drop in Northern Ireland.

Instead we have some members of one community parading to celebrate victories over their neighbours’ ancestors and some in the other community commemorating dead men of violence.

The obsession with the constitutional position results in condemning people to a lifetime of constant crisis and perpetual tension.

Perhaps it’s time to defuse matters by agreeing a border poll in say 2030 and for political parties to pledge they will refrain from promoting the Union/ new Ireland in the interim and focus instead on concrete tangible goals such as better schools, hospitals, mental health, leisure centres, parks, social mobility, justice and a thriving green economy.

As someone who was once asked their opinion on Chrisianity replied, “It sounds like a great idea. Perhaps we ought to give it a try!”

Gerard O’Boyle, Devon

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