United Ireland?

[minionofmidas]

I would like to just point out that while nobody from Northern Ireland has posted in this thread (or, as far as I know, on this forum, ever) the two people from the Republic have made an interesting point that everybody else has ignored. Though I'm not sure it is literally true, there is obviously a lot of truth to it.

[minionofmidas]

I do agree it's somewhat unlikely West Germans would still have *wanted* reunification if a longish period of democratic rule in the East and some kind of Good Friday equivalent had gone beforehand.
As it was, the Right wanted it and the Left didn't know what it was wanting (and showed noticeably reduced turnout in the 1990 elections as a result; including the bobo kinds of leftie that always vote).

[minionofmidas]

If Scotland were to cut it's ties with England, is there any chance Northern Ireland would rather go with Scotland and would Scotland be willing to take them if they did?

No & no.

[minionofmidas]

...as that made it easy to paint them as just another talkshop and waste of taxpayer money.
The fact that a referendum actually went ahead despite a complete lack of establishment enthusiasm for the idea really says more than the actual results. Then again, there's a reason the Northeast was the place that had a referendum. Can you imagine the spectacle of a pilot referendum in the government's definition of the "Southeast"?