{"id":509151,"date":"2026-06-20T06:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T06:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/509151\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T06:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T06:07:08","slug":"whatever-simon-harris-says-we-are-far-from-a-blueprint-for-a-united-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/509151\/","title":{"rendered":"Whatever Simon Harris says, we are far from a \u2018blueprint\u2019 for a united Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years after their 2016 \u201cconfidence and supply\u201d<\/a> arrangement and well into their second coalition, that old wariness still lingers between Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> and Fine Gael<\/a>. Not as pervasive as it once was; not as tense. But there all the same. <\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s not surprising \u2013 after all, the two parties have been co-operating for only one decade; they were deadly enemies for nine. And they remain, let us not forget, electoral rivals. Fianna F\u00e1il had the best of it last time out; Fine Gael is determined to turn the tables next time. <\/p>\n

So when Simon Harris<\/a> promised his \u201cblueprint for a unified Ireland\u201d last weekend, the reaction from Fianna F\u00e1ilers was pretty much the same as anytime they hear him: \u201cWhat the f**k is he up to now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1ilers assumed this was some effort to give Fine Gael an edge over them at the next election. There was lively chatter on the Fianna F\u00e1il Whatsapps, with some abuse directed at Fine Gael and the usual finger-pointing at Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>, in this instance for insufficient interest in a united Ireland.<\/p>\n

But I find any political edge for Fine Gael hard to see here. Sure there are voters who believe that achieving a united Ireland should be a top priority. It\u2019s just there aren\u2019t very many of them, and none of them is going to vote for Fine Gael anyway. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0For and Against a United Ireland by Fintan O\u2019Toole and Sam McBride: Arguing to end apathy of \u2018undecideds\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Repeated surveys suggest that a united Ireland is regarded as a priority for between 1 and 2 per cent of voters. For the rest of the electorate in the Republic, a united Ireland is something that about two-thirds are vaguely in favour of, as long as they don\u2019t have to do anything that might actually bring it about.<\/p>\n

Harris knows all this well. Not so long ago, he was averring that a united Ireland was \u201cnot a priority\u201d for him. Instead, the Government\u2019s flagship cross-Border project is the Shared Island initiative, now in its sixth year, which has seen hundreds of millions of euro spent on projects that emphasise all-island co-operation and knowledge-building. It is very much not an overtly unity-themed project \u2013 though you\u2019d have to be blind not to see its unity implications \u2013 and has won broad approval from unionists. It is also very much Martin\u2019s baby, though, and widely identified as such. Perhaps this is Harris\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

Talking about planning for a united Ireland is easy. Actually planning it is going to be very hard<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s in it? Harris promised a \u201cblueprint\u201d. A blueprint is a detailed plan or design that can be followed to make or build something. Harris is promising it by the time of the Fine Gael ardfheis in November. I can tell you that is not going to happen. The issues involved are too vast and too complex to come up with solutions in five or so months.<\/p>\n

The best that Harris will manage is to produce a guide to the issues that will need to be considered if unity is to be achieved and \u2013 more importantly, this \u2013 implemented successfully. Readers might spot that those two things are not the same.<\/p>\n

Sources tell me that Prof Deirdre Heenan, whom Fine Gael said would facilitate its work on this, was somewhat surprised to be suddenly cast into a starring role in uniting Ireland by Christmas. She will produce a piece of independent academic research for the party on the next steps that it might consider if it wishes to push forward the united Ireland agenda. Not a blueprint.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0From majority-rule to inclusive coalitions: five possible models for governing a united IrelandOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The good news for Fine Gael is that there has been a fair amount of thinking about all this over the past decade; the bad news is that we are very far away indeed from a \u201cblueprint\u201d. Mostly what we have had is people calling for \u201cconversations\u201d and for the Government to \u201cplan\u201d. But what would be said in those conversations and what would actually be in those plans are a lot less clear.<\/p>\n

For instance, what is the plan for the future constitutional shape of the island if there is to be unity? Should Northern Ireland continue to exist as a devolved entity within a 32-county Ireland, with \u2013 either for an interim period or permanently \u2013 its own police, justice system, civil service, public services, agencies and local government? Or is it simply to be assimilated into the 26-county State? If the latter \u2013 how long does that take?<\/p>\n

How much would it cost to unify the two jurisdictions? Or rather: how much will it cost southern taxpayers to take on the significantly weaker economic entity north of the Border? This is most assuredly not an issue where wishful thinking masquerading as analysis will do.<\/p>\n

Assuming the inevitable equalisation is upwards \u2013 in other words, Northern welfare payments and public sector wages will go up, Southern rates will not go down \u2013 how long is the adjustment period? Would the UK pay the North\u2019s pensions? How is all this to be negotiated \u2013 and between whom will it be negotiated?<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Some claims about the cost of a united Ireland don\u2019t stack upOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

All that is before we get to questions of defence, security, identity, flags, anthems and symbols. How much are Irish people prepared to acknowledge the British identity of the unionist minority \u2013 and to recognise this in the institutions and practices of the unified state? If you want an idea of how contentious this stuff will be, ask the lads in the pub if they\u2019re ready to join the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

If Harris and the FG brains trust have answers to all of this by November, I\u2019ll bake them a giant hat-shaped cake and distribute slices to everyone at the ardfheis. Talking about planning for a united Ireland is easy. Actually planning it is going to be very hard. That\u2019s not a reason not to do it. But it is a reason to know what you\u2019re getting into.<\/p>\n

For more information, see the Irish Times\/Arins joint research initiative between the Royal Irish Academy and the University of Notre Dame on Ireland\u2019s future<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten years after their 2016 \u201cconfidence and supply\u201d arrangement and well into their second coalition, that old wariness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[895,3775,61,60,1843,43,42555,70],"class_list":["post-509151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-fianna-fail","tag-fine-gael","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-pat-leahy","tag-simon-harris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}