This romantic dream of an Ireland free of all things British might not just be as inevitable as republicans imagine

What of unionism in our inevitable united Ireland?

I’d like to pose the following to him and his kindred spirits.

1. In this ‘united Ireland’ who’s going to provide the physical protection for all things associated with Pro-Unionists given republican’s genetic loathing of them and who is going to pay for it?

2. Where are the thousands of people and businesses who’ll want to leave Northern Ireland going to be repatriated in kind and who is going to pay for it?

3. Who’s going to pay the thousands of mortgages and rents of those on respective Northern Ireland’s benefit schemes at the given time? As they sprung to mind, these are only a few questions which will have to be fully addressed and agreed upon (answers which would have to be legally binding) before there’s any ‘border poll’ — how else will the Northern Ireland electorate be able to make informed decisions otherwise?!

In the absence of similar isn’t that how Brexit went so fundamentally wrong?!!

And so this romantic dream of an Ireland free of all things British might not just be as inevitable as Fra Hughes (and Sinn Fein/IRA) imagine as Brexit will prove to have been but a walk in the park in comparison, if indeed in the cold light of day today’s nationalists/republicans actually see fit to put their money where their mouths are, if too such a poll ever does come about.

Archibald Toner, Dromore