It's strange that the number one argument against a united Ireland in the south seems to be; “We can’t afford it”.
It’s the wisdom of the barstool philosopher, the guy (and there’s always one) who just loves to pour a big bucket of cold water over anything that’s in danger of making people happy.
Turn up in a new motor and he’ll be; “Looks pricey, how are ya paying for that?”
Tell him you’re moving the family into a new home and it’s all; “Really? And they were only saying on the radio yesterday that we’re heading for another crash”.
So the naysayers will tell you we would be crazy to reunify this island because the North’s a basket case and sure it’s only the billions the English are pumping into the place that’s keeping them afloat.
As an argument, it’s not actually a million miles off the mark.
The north does not have a functioning government and the unionist politicians in particular are more worried about the colour of the flag flying over Belfast City Hall than the health, happiness and prosperity of the people beneath it.
Seriously, you’d have to look long and hard for a more useless shower of loons than the DUP - they’d rather their own people go hungry than let the other side “win” anything.
But change is coming. A poll this week confirmed the DUP’s worst fears. Some 60 per-cent of Tory party members said they’d be happy to lose Northern Ireland if it meant they could get Brexit.
Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and the rest of them would drop the north in a heartbeat to get what they want.
They’d throw the unionists under the bus before you could say; “32 County sovereign republic” And by God do the DUP know this.
The more sane unionists - and there are plenty of them - must be looking south now and thinking that maybe they could live in a unified Ireland after all.
They look to London and see a bunch of maniacs who are happy to crash the UK economy and destroy the union if it means they can “take back control” (whatever the feck that means).
Us in the south should welcome it. But we should also - to be fair - make sure we don’t get stuck with the bill.
When it comes to it, the English will have to pay (and can do so with ten or 20 years of continued support after a border poll) and the EU will have to back a prosperous and peaceful island of Ireland with more than kind words.
Nobody wants a hard border? The English and the EU want a “good divorce” and a future trade deal? No problem lads, but Ireland will need a few things sorted as well.
