Irish government to scope out possibility of unity with Northern Ireland for the first time

Taoiseach Micheál Martin intends to bring a memo to Cabinet before Christmas with the first steps for the new body
Photo: PA

Ireland will set up a Government body that would for the first time undertake research and preparations for the possibility of future unity with British-run Northern Ireland Prime Minister – Taoiseach, Micheal Martin was quoted as saying on Friday. The initial steps would be taken in the coming months.

Martin told The Irish Times that the new body would be tasked with scoping out the models and challenges for different potential outcomes, including Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom or maintaining its devolved entity but as part of a united Ireland. The new Government body is to be tasked with scoping out the models and challenges for different potential “constitutional futures” for the island.

It will involve, for the first time, the Government undertaking research and preparations for the possibility of unity, but also for other potential outcomes, including a continuation of the link between Northern Ireland and Britain.

The body, likely to be established under the authority of the Department of the Taoiseach, will be responsible for assembling expert research on three potential future scenarios.

These are: a unitary 32-county all-Ireland state; the continuation of the status quo; and a future united Ireland in which Northern Ireland would remain a devolved entity, maintaining its own separate assembly and government, civil service, public services and police.

The Taoiseach had flagged the initiative in a speech in Dublin on Wednesday evening, but has fleshed out his proposals in an interview with The Irish Times.

The Taoiseach said that by keeping the option of maintaining the union with Britain as part of the project, he hoped unionists would engage on the basis that they could make the argument for the union.

“They need to have their voice heard. We need to invite that voice on the future of the island of Ireland,” Martin said.

Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, the British government is obliged to call a referendum on Irish unity if it appears likely that a majority of Northern Irish voters would back it.

While opinion polls consistently show a majority in favour ⁠of remaining in the UK, the gap has narrowed since the UK voted to leave the European Union a decade ago and Irish nationalist parties like Sinn Fein stepped up calls for a referendum.

Martin's ⁠proposal, the first steps of which he said he would bring to cabinet before the end of the year, is the latest gradual move by the dominant government parties south ⁠of the border to consider what a united Ireland might look like.

His government partner Fine Gael will publish what it has described as a blueprint for a unified island at its annual conference next week.

...The disintegration of the United Kingdom takes a formal political and legal framework. Northern Ireland intends to break away from London’s rule and reunite with its brethren in Ireland. In this way, the island of Ireland will become a single, unified state.

The United Kingdom currently includes also Scotland and Wales, both of which are contemplating a similar prospect of severing ties with London. Should this come to pass in the foreseeable future, the United Kingdom itself will shrink to the dimensions of England alone, and the dissolution of the once-mighty British Empire will reach its logical conclusion.

It is worth noting that, quite recently — in September 2026 — the leaders of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland issued a joint statement expressing their desire for independence from England and their intention to withdraw from the United Kingdom.

Sic transit Gloria Mundi...

Just appreciate as the British Empire looked like at the beginning of the 20th century: