FIRST Minister Michelle O’Neill renewed calls for a border poll in 2030 as part of her new year’s message.

As a united Irelander, the possibility of a referendum on the constitutional future is an exciting prospect.

But given the progress made in the nine years since Brexit, I struggle to see four years as a realistic timeframe to prepare the public for a vote of this magnitude.

There is no question that Brexit fundamentally shifted the debate on unification.

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In the years since, what was once a nationalist aspiration has become a mainstream, national question with a growing body of academic reports, public events, books and lengthy catalogue of opinion pieces, amongst which this article now resides.

But what has truly been achieved to prepare for a referendum in 2030?

Political parties continue to work in isolation, public participation remains limited, and the debate is growing stale, circling the same topics and speeches.

Demands are made for a formal plan, but no-one appears willing to develop one.

There’s no shortage of republican parties, each with an aspiration to unite this island: Sinn Féin, the SDLP, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Social Democrats,........

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