Book review: O’Doherty shows how ill-prepared we are to even discuss the possibility of a United Ireland 

Anyone with even a vague interest in the idea of a United Ireland should read this book, writes Jack Power 

Can Ireland Be One by Malachi O'Doherty

• Can Ireland Be One?
• Malachi O’Doherty
• Merrion Press, €15.99

The essence of that old wisdom “ní hé lá na gaoithe lá na scolb” — “don’t thatch your house on a windy day” — seems an apt lesson to take from this timely book.

The adage is also a synopsis of this eminently sensible, sobering, altogether challenging dissection of the momentum gathering around the idea that a poll on Irish reunification can be expected in the imaginable future.

O’Doherty is a prolific author in this area — he wrote Gerry Adams: An Unauthorised Life some years ago. 

In his latest book, he plays a dispassionate auditor asking the nuts-and-bolts questions behind ending divisive tribalism.

Who, he wonders, would pay the pensions of the tens of thousands of Northern Ireland residents who worked for the British government? 

Can Ireland Be One by Malachi O'Doherty

He puts a price of over €2bn a year on this — a not-insignificant figure, especially as any London administration can argue, with credibility, that they have supported the statelet well enough for long enough.

There is a recurring identification of the trip-wire ironies involved. 

O’Doherty points to a probability that many of those Northern Ireland voters optimistic enough to consider voting for a reunited Ireland might reject the idea when the terms of our Official Languages Act 2003 are made clear to them.

That decrees that by 2030, 20% of the staff in public bodies must be proficient in Irish. 

This, effectively, would exclude the vast majority of people from Northern Ireland — and a huge number in the Republic too — from 20% of state jobs; hardly a prospect a rational person might embrace. 

O’Doherty recognises how Irish has been weaponised and wonders if the mandatory teaching, if not learning, of Irish could survive any new polity; could the aspirations-cum-fantasies of Gaelic revivalists be foisted on a million disinterested co-citizens?

Another irony is the fact that some unionists would not engage with O’Doherty as they believed that discussing the prospect of four green fields as one generated unintended momentum.

Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald during the launch of Sinn Fein to publish alternative budget proposals 

Countering that, O’Doherty points to some of the earnest debate south of the border which he describes as misinformed, naive, dishonest, and unhelpful. He is particularly scathing of Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald’s appreciation of the realities facing all communities in the North. 

That judgement is reflected by Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie, who argues that Sinn Féin in government in the Republic would be the best guarantor of Northern Ireland’s future within the United Kingdom.

Even if there seems to be an appetite for change on the wind, the lá na gaoithe principle applies.

In a world with ever-sharpening conflict, and, most of all, accelerating climate change it is hard to see where the time and energy — or will — to confront this centuries-old issue might be found.

Irish journalist, author and broadcaster Malachi O'Doherty 

This may be a blessing because O’Doherty’s fine book shows how ill-prepared we are even to properly discuss the possibility. 

Until we can answer all of the questions he raises, any border poll would be dangerously premature and counterproductive.

Anyone with even a vague interest in the idea should read this book, it would lead to a more informed, unemotional debate. 

A lot done but an awful lot more to do, especially in our capacity to compromise some of the founding principles of this Republic.