Irish unity is not a manifesto item for electoral advantage

To date, pro-unity parties have not succeeded in creating the kind of movement needed to deliver a successful border poll, writes Emma de Souza

Tánaiste Simon Harris has confirmed Fine Gael’s blueprint for a unified island will be launched at the party’s ard fheis in November, the same month in which he is to become taoiseach.

No single political party “owns” the conversation on Irish unity, Tánaiste Simon Harris remarked following the announcement his party intends to bring forward a blueprint for a “Unified Island” in November, coining the latest in a lengthy procession of party-political rebrands of the premise of a united Ireland.

From the Social Democratic and Labour Party’s (SDLP) “New Ireland”, Micheál Martin’s “Shared Island”, Sinn Féin’s “Irish Unity”, and now Fine Gael’s “Unified Island”, party political strategists have worked hard to put their party’s slant on uniting Ireland.