- Question
Should there be a united Ireland?
The status of Northern Ireland has been the subject of intense debate and decades of violence known as the Troubles, which started in the 1960s. Though Northern Ireland has been at peace since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the question of whether Northern Island should remain in the United Kingdom or join the Republic of Ireland remains a source of contention. Should there be a united Ireland?
Yes, Ireland should be united
This position holds that Ireland should be united into a single nation with no land border. Its arguments range from streamlining the economy and responding to Brexit, to claims that British rule was never legitimate and that Ireland is one nation most of whose people support unity.
- The majority of people in Ireland as a whole support it
- It would streamline Ireland's economy
- A united Ireland would allow Northern Ireland to have a greater voice
- Britain doesn't care about Northern Ireland
- Brexit has made a united Ireland necessary
- British rule in Ireland was never legitimate
- Ireland is one nation and should be one sovereign state
No, Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom
This position holds that Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK. It argues that unification would reward the IRA and risk the hard-won peace, that Brexit showed the dangers of change by referendum, that most Northern Irish people want to stay, and that the cost would burden Ireland.
Northern Ireland should become its own independent country
This position holds that Northern Ireland should become its own independent country, abandoning both British unionism and Irish nationalism. It argues that neither London nor Dublin has Northern Irish interests truly at heart, and that the region has a distinct culture of its own.
Ireland should be united as part of the United Kingdom
This position holds that Ireland should be united within the United Kingdom, as it was between 1801 and 1920. It argues that a single Irish nation would be stronger economically and politically as part of the UK than divided or fully independent.