Poll: Majority want ‘United Ireland’ – but it’s a close one

The vote is in - not the actual one, that's not until 2016 at the earliest - and the result is closer run that you might have thought.

There were more than 700 responses to the question 'Do you think a united Ireland would be good for the country?'. Not all Irish people are as enthusiastic about reuniting Ireland as they may previously have been.

Our poll would seem to suggest the numbers have gone south. More than 40 per cent thought it wouldn't be good for the country if the two jurisdictions were joined. Some of the arguments against reunification are that it would be a logistical nightmare and hard to incorporate northern unionists into a 32 county Irish Republic.

The idea seems to be an increasingly divisive notion for Irish people. Nevertheless the majority of those who voted want to see a whole island state.

The whole debate came to the fore yesterday when Martin McGuinness put a timeframe on Sinn Féin's aim for united Ireland. Martin wants to crack on with a vote as early as 2016. The timing seems to have been inspired by Scotland's attempt at an independence vote.

Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, is pushing for Scottish withdrawal from the UK big style. Both Scotland and Northern Ireland are currently dependent on the UK coffers in London at the moment. But, Salmond says the Scots can survive on their natural resources.

With the UK in uncertain territory and an ever increasing nationalist population in the North, it seems Martin McGuinness now thinks the time is right to properly push for reunification. It looks like we might see many of the parties in the Dáil being tested on their commitment to their original republican ideals.