{"id":538703,"date":"2026-07-08T05:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T05:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/538703\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T05:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T05:43:14","slug":"united-ireland-conversation-may-be-just-beginning-but-the-conclusion-seems-clear-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/538703\/","title":{"rendered":"United Ireland conversation may be just beginning, but the conclusion seems clear \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A chara, \u2013 Eoin \u00d3 Murch\u00fa asks what would be the point of a devolved six-county entity under Dublin\u2019s jurisdiction in a united Ireland if it too had a nationalist majority (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/letters\/2026\/07\/07\/new-approach-to-a-united-ireland-needed\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/letters\/2026\/07\/07\/new-approach-to-a-united-ireland-needed\/\">\u201cNew approach to a united Ireland needed\u201d, Letters, 7th July<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Instead of ignoring the concerns of Northern Protestants, an alternative approach might be to consider the upsides for people in this jurisdiction?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Many of us have been lifelong supporters of a united Ireland, while also having a great pride in the fine country that has been built here since independence. This patriotism brings with it a natural reluctance to contemplate fundamental changes to the Irish Republic as it exists today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Opposition to the compromises that might be required if the immediate endgame were a 32-county unitary state could easily lead to the rejection of a border poll in the 26 counties, leaving the campaign for unity in complete disarray.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Instead, a proposal which, for the moment at least, leaves both parts of Ireland largely as they were but united as a confederation within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/european-union\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/european-union\/\">European Union<\/a> might be the one ballot measure likely to gain majority support North and South. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The conversation may only be beginning, but to some of us the conclusion already seems clear. \u2013 Is mise<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">DAVID CARROLL,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Dublin 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A chara, \u2013 Eoin \u00d3 Murch\u00fa asks what would be the point of a devolved six-county entity under&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,61,60,43,2443],"class_list":["post-538703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538703","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=538703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}