My view – and it has been my view for a long, long time – is that partition is the primary cause of the conflict.

It is also the primary reason why genuine reconciliation has proved impossible, even among those who would describe themselves as moderate, liberal or, cutting to the chase, Alliance.

I do accept that there are people who do want to get on with everyone else and wish that our parties would similarly just get on and govern together for the good of everyone.

But deep down, even those with a heart for cooperation in government also have a heart for their own constitutional preference.

Brian Feeney: Partition is the problem and unity is the only solution

Alex Kane: History means there will always be a ‘UK dimension’ in Ireland

The majority, according to opinion polls – and the electoral evidence tells the same story – have already picked a side on the united Ireland versus United Kingdom debate.

And the remaining 20 per cent or so know that, to paraphrase Bucks Fizz, soon there will come a time for making your mind up.

What partition did was divide an island that had been a single entity within the United Kingdom. Indeed, it had previously been the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

But that form of reunification is not what the united Ireland lobby is talking about.

And even then, and dating back a few hundred years earlier, there was a demonstrably pro-British majority within the province of Ulster.

You can say that was because of the Plantation, yet the fact remains that there is still a demonstrably pro-British majority in what is now Northern Ireland.

If that majority didn’t exist, there wouldn’t even be a debate about the timing, terms and conditions for a border poll.

So, what sort of united Ireland are advocates talking about?

It seems to be one that the present taoiseach and his party reject, because it would mean their political and electoral demise.

The prospect of Fianna Fáil being wiped out by Sinn Féin doesn’t sound very appealing to those from a pro-union background.

I have written that I have yet to be persuaded that a united Ireland would facilitate the reconciliation et al – ‘solve all the problems of the past’, as more than one united Irelander has put it to me – that was not possible while Ireland was partitioned. I don’t believe that.

While I accept that partition is a primary source of the post-1920 conflict in Northern Ireland, I do not accept that Irish unity would, in and of itself, fix things.

Actually, I suspect conflict would manifest itself in other ways: as it did in Northern Ireland when elements of republicanism rejected partition.

As it happens, while I think a border poll is inevitable, I don’t think Irish unity – certainly in the sense that some people wish for – is similarly inevitable.

There is a case to be made that the 1800 Act of Union was a bespoke arrangement. As was the 1920 Act. As, indeed, was the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

I believe – and yes, it might well be a form of wish fulfilment on my part – that another sort of bespoke arrangement is more likely than not.

The debate on unity has been very one-sided so far. But there will come a time when the unionist side will be heard.

A time when fully thought-through debate about what, precisely, Irish unity actually means, and what the consequences for unionism will be, will form part of the engagement.

Off the top of my head I can think of dozens of issues which haven’t even been mentioned by the united Ireland lobby.

Issues which will have a significant bearing on the direction of subsequent debate, particularly on the southern side of the border.

There is mention of the creation of political mechanisms to resolve the conflict.

Personally, I haven’t heard of any mechanism that could achieve that in either a united or partitioned Ireland.

Partition may be the primary source of the conflict, but the roots go much deeper than any mechanism could reach.

As for the decolonisation process. I don’t believe Northern Ireland is your typical colonial situation.

All sorts of Ds will come into play: departure, disengagement, disconnection, detachment and disentanglement come to mind.

But the relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom is now so close, and has been for decades, that I still think we’re looking at a bespoke deal which leaves a considerable British presence.

A sort of ‘UK dimension’, if you like. Which many won’t, of course.

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