80 percent of Irish voters want a united Ireland

A new poll shows that four out of five Irish voters want to see the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland united following Brexit.

A poll, carried out on behalf of the Sunday Times by a UK company, has shown that 80 percent of Irish people want a united Ireland and 40 percent believe they will see this happen within a decade.

The Sunday Times poll was carried out by a United Kingdom company, Panelbase, between January 24 and 30. Britain officially left the European United on Jan 31 following the three-year Brexit negotiations, after the 2016 referendum.

The poll found that 40 percent of Irish voters said that they wanted to see a united Ireland in the next decade. Another 19 percent said they wanted unity within 20 years.

As Ireland also prepares for a General Election on Feb 8 this poll is also strikingly pertinent. It shows that of those Irish voters who supported Sinn Féin in 2016, "54 percent want unity within the next ten years. This compares with 32 per cent of those who voted Fine Gael and 39 per cent of Fianna Fáil voters from 2016. Half of those who did not vote in 2016 want a united Ireland within the next decade."

The Sunday Times poll also showed a surge in support for Sinn Féin, at 21 percent, ahead of the current government party, Fine Gael at 19 percent. Fianna Fáil are now in the lead with 23 percent.

Mary Lou McDonald, the President of Sinn Féin, told the Sunday Times, that an official public poll on Irish united was "an absolute necessity” following Brexit.

She said “I have said very clearly that I believe that we should have a border poll within the next five years and more importantly that preparations for constitutional change need to start. This shouldn’t be written up as some sort of exotic red line for Sinn Féin, this is an absolute necessity."