Should Ireland be united?

Over 4,000 votes were cast within 48 hours of the poll being launched on our website on Tuesday.

The results show a massive groundswell of support from among ‘Journal’ readers for a united Ireland.

The poll was launched after comments this week by political leaders north and south that a future border poll was now a real possibility following the Brexit vote, despite a decision by the majority of voters in the north to remain within the European Union.

We asked our readers if they believed the time was now right for a Referendum on a United Ireland.

Of the thousands who voted, 84 per cent said they believed it was now time for a vote.

Around six per cent of those polled said no, whilefour per cent said there should never be a vote on the matter. The remaining six per cent said they didn’t think the time was right yet.

In terms of how people would vote if such a referendum was to be held on breaking from the UK and merging with the Republic to create a new one-nation Ireland, a massive 87 per cent said they would vote for a united Ireland.

One in 10 people voted for the north to remain within the UK, and another three per cent said they didn’t know or were unsure how they would vote.

Earlier this week Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin addressed the issue of a possible border poll while speaking at the MacGill Summer School in Donegal. Micheál Martin said a border poll should be triggered if there was evidence of sufficient support.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, a border poll can be called if there is majority support for it. Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams claimed this week: “In the context of the north being dragged out of the EU by England, there is now a greater opportunity to achieve this.”