The first steps to a united Ireland will happen not in Dublin. They will be taken in Belfast and until nationalists realise that, Irish unity will remain a distant mirage.

The reason for making this point is that Sinn Féin recently introduced a bill in the Dáil calling on the Irish government to plan for a united Ireland. The bill advocated a citizens’ assembly on unity and a government green paper on the subject.

Apart from the fact that the Dublin government has limited interest in Irish unity, the bill was flawed in both content and intent. The content’s weakness was that the purpose of a citizens’ assembly is to decide if there should be a united Ireland.

However, Sinn Féin wanted it to determine how, not if, unity should be achieved. That is not a citizens’ assembly; it is just a planning application.

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The bill’s intent was to begin the process of constitutional change – but nationalists fail to recognise that constitutional change is the last stage in achieving a united Ireland, not the starting point.

Unity is not a re-writing of constitutions. It is a meeting of minds through a unity of........

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