Half of all Irish people think that a united Ireland is more likely as a result of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, a new poll has found.

After nearly two years of negotiations that have at times openly strained relations between London and Dublin, the poll also found evidence that Brexit is re-polarising political relations across the Irish Sea.

The annual Red C poll for the European Movement in Ireland also revealed that the Irish electorate remains strongly committed to EU membership as its government pivots firmly towards Brussels as the UK prepares for a future outside the bloc.

Some 93 per cent of the Irish electorate expressed support for EU membership, with 58 per cent even agreeing that Ireland should contribute more to EU coffers. Despite the 2012 financial crisis 86 per cent agreed the Euro had been “positive for Ireland”.

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At the same time, some 58 per cent of Irish voters agreed that the Brexit negotiations - which have seen Brussels and EU member states strongly backing Dublin’s stance over the Irish border - had “improved their opinion” of the EU.

With Brexit threatening either the return of a commercial border in Northern Ireland or the North being left more closely tied to the EU single market than the rest of the UK, some 50 per cent of the respondents agreed that a united Ireland is “more likely in the wake of Brexit”.

Dr Katy Hayward, a leading sociologist who specialises in the politics of Irish border issues at Queens University Belfast, said the poll findings reflected a “generational” shift in Irish-UK relations after decades during which the two governments had been moving closer together.

“The fact that almost 60 per cent of respondents say Brexit has improved their opinion of the EU hints at a trend of polarisation between Ireland and Britain,” she said. “There is a push-pull dynamic between the two countries that we haven't seen for a generation.”

The European Union's strong support for Ireland during the Brexit negotiations appears to have deepened the Irish electorates positive view of the bloc credit: Bloomberg

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement the British government must grant a referendum on Irish unity if “at any time it appears likely” that a majority would vote in favour. Northern Ireland would automatically become part of the EU if that happened.

At present experts like Dr Hayward say that despite polls showing voters believing there is a rising chance of unification, these still fall a long way short of an actual majority for unification, with the majority remaining “non-committal” on the subject.

She added that polls in Northern Ireland have also shown Catholics believe the prospects of unity are increasing, but will wait to see what Brexit means for the UK first.

“Most people's view when it comes to Irish unity and Brexit is that 'it depends'. It is wise to see what Brexit means for the unity of the UK as much as for the island of Ireland,” she added.

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The Irish issue continue to bitterly divide the Brexit debate. This week Tony Blair, who was prime minister at the time of the Good Friday Agreement, accused Conservative brexiteers “putting the Union at risk” in their pursuit of a clean-break with the EU.

He warned in an interview with the Institute for Government that a hard Brexit risked pushing moderate Irish nationalists who were content to live in Northern Ireland with Irish passports and an invisible border - as the Good Friday Agreement allows - into reconsidering their position.

“If Brexit acts as a destructive force on that, then it will encourage within the nationalist community, and even within parts of the more liberal unionist community, a feeling towards a border poll that just wasn’t present during the years that I was in office,” he said.

The Red C poll was conducted on 21-27 March 2019 among a representative sample of 1,000 people aged 18 and over from across Ireland.