Emma de Souza: The united Ireland question won't go away until we finally have an answer

In the 23 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, society in Northern Ireland has been drastically transformed, even in spite of persistent sectarian politics

British prime minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at Castle Buildings, Belfast, signing the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998.  File Picture: Eamonn Farrell

“Talking about, creating and designing a new Ireland can no longer be seen as subversive”, according to the SDLP’s Claire Hanna during a BBC special on a united Ireland last week. 

The programme joins a growing list of primetime debates, policy documents, and pro-unity groups all engaging on a topic which  — even five years ago — would have seemed implausible.