United Ireland

This article is about the Irish political movement. For other uses, see United Ireland (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Unionism in Ireland.

Ireland map; Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and their respective capitals
Satellite image of Ireland, nicknamed "The Emerald Isle"
Ireland in Europe

United Ireland (Irish: Éire Aontaithe), also referred to as Irish reunification[1][2][3] or a New Ireland,[4][5][6][7][8] is the proposition that all of the island of Ireland should be a single sovereign state.[9][10] At present, the island is divided politically: the sovereign state of Ireland (legally described also as the Republic of Ireland) has jurisdiction over the majority of Ireland, while Northern Ireland, which lies entirely within (but consists of only 6 of 9 counties of) the Irish province of Ulster, is part of the United Kingdom. Achieving a united Ireland is a central tenet of Irish nationalism and Republicanism, particularly of both mainstream and dissident republican political and paramilitary organisations.[11] Unionists support Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom and oppose Irish unification.[12][13]

Ireland has been partitioned since May 1921, when the implementation of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the states of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, with the former becoming independent, and the other petitioning to remain a part of the UK. The Anglo-Irish Treaty, which led to the establishment in December 1922 of a dominion called the Irish Free State, recognised partition, but this was opposed by anti-Treaty republicans. When the anti-Treaty Fianna Fáil party came to power in the 1930s, it adopted a new constitution which claimed sovereignty over the entire island. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) had a united Ireland as its goal during the conflict with British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries from the 1960s to the 1990s known as The Troubles. The Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998, which ended the conflict, acknowledged the legitimacy of the desire for a united Ireland, while declaring that it could be achieved only with the consent of a majority of the people of both jurisdictions on the island, and providing a mechanism for ascertaining this in certain circumstances.

In 2016, Sinn Féin called for a referendum on a united Ireland following Brexit, the decision by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU). The decision had increased the perceived likelihood of a united Ireland, in order to avoid the possible requirement for a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland,[14][15] though the imposition of a hard border has not, as yet, eventuated. Fine Gael Taoiseach Enda Kenny successfully negotiated that in the event of reunification, Northern Ireland will become part of the EU, just as East Germany was permitted to join the EU's predecessor institutions by reuniting with the rest of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall.[16]

The majority of Ulster Protestants, almost half the population of Northern Ireland, favour continued union with Great Britain, and have done so historically. Four of the six counties have Irish Catholic majorities, and majorities voting for Irish nationalist parties,[17][18] and Catholics have become the plurality in Northern Ireland as of 2021.[19] The religious denominations of the citizens of Northern Ireland are only a guide to likely political preferences, as there are both Protestants who favour a united Ireland, and Catholics who support the union.[20] Two surveys in 2011 identified a significant number of Catholics who favoured the continuation of the union without identifying themselves as unionists or British.[21] In 2024, a survey showed supporters of the Union in the minority in Northern Ireland for the first time, at 48.6%, while supporters of Irish unity were 33.76%.[22]

  1. ^ Merrick, Rob (2 August 2017). "United Ireland referendum is inevitable after Brexit, says Irish parliamentary report author". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017.
  2. ^ Meagher, Kevin (9 January 2018). "A United Ireland Is Five Years Away. We Need To Start Planning For It Now". HuffPost UK. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018.
  3. ^ O'Toole, Fintan (15 August 2017). "United Ireland will not be based on '50 per cent plus one'". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  4. ^ McGonagle, Suzanne (4 September 2023). "DUP founding member says 'New Ireland' is now inevitable". The Irish News. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  5. ^ Hardy, Jane (8 June 2023). "The border poll goes mainstream in Grimes and McKee's New Ireland". The Irish News. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  6. ^ Correspondent, John Manley Political (15 June 2023). "Patsy McGlone calls for debate about British identity and a 'new Ireland'". The Irish News. Retrieved 18 October 2023. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. ^ "Ireland's Future: Leo Varadkar and Jimmy Nesbitt speak at united Ireland event". BBC News. 1 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  8. ^ "Days of treading water on planning for Irish unification are over, McDonald says". The Independent. 1 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  9. ^ CAIN: Politics – An Outline of the Main Political 'Solutions' to the Conflict Archived 9 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, United Ireland Definition.
  10. ^ Tonge, Jonathan (2013). Northern Ireland: Conflict and Change. Routledge. p. 201. ISBN 978-1317875185. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  11. ^ Byrne, Sean (2015). "The Politics of Peace and War in Northern Ireland". In Carter, Judy; Irani, George; Volkan, Vamik D. (eds.). Regional and Ethnic Conflicts: Perspectives from the Front Lines. Routledge. p. 219. ISBN 978-1317344667. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  12. ^ Hogan, Caelainn (11 February 2019). "A united Ireland now looks like an increasing possibility". NewStatesman. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  13. ^ Patrick Kielty (26 February 2019). "If we're heading for a hard Brexit, then we're heading for a united Ireland". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  14. ^ Egan, Timothy (16 March 2019). "Opinion | A St. Patrick's Day Miracle: United Ireland". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  15. ^ Waldie, Paul. "Brexit is making Irish reunification a real possibility". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Enda Kenny welcomes EU's united Ireland agreement". The Irish Times.
  17. ^ "New light shed on prospect of Catholic majority in North". The Irish Times.
  18. ^ "Northern Ireland Elections". Ark.ac.uk. Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  19. ^ "2021 Census". Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  20. ^ "2006 Survey: What do you think the long-term policy for Northern Ireland should be?". Northern Ireland LIFE & TIMES. Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive. 17 May 2007. Archived from the original on 28 June 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  21. ^ Clarke, Liam (17 June 2011). "Most Northern Ireland Catholics want to remain in UK". The Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  22. ^ "Research reveals supporters of the union are now a minority", Irish News, October 2024