There is probably no one better than Belfast man, Sam McBride to discuss the possibility of unification. His recent book, For and Against a United Ireland was one of the big influences on this series. He is the Northern Ireland Editor of the Belfast Telegraph and the Sunday Independent newspapers. He also writes on Northern Ireland for The Economist. He is a former Political Editor of the Belfast News Letter and has made a BBC film about the Northern Bank robbery. He is author of The Sunday Times bestseller Burned: The Inside Story of the 'Cash-for-Ash' Scandal and Northern Ireland's Secretive New Elite and is a regular broadcaster.
In October 2025 BBC NI published a podcast series, Borderland, that tackled the question of Irish unity. While the series explored both sides of the argument on the question of unity, there was one clear agreement. It’s time for the south to seriously engage with the Northern question if there is to be any real debate on the possibility of a united Ireland. Notre Dame University are also running a major research project investigating the constitutional future of Ireland called ARINS (Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South) that probs these questions.
This limited series in an answer to this work and looks to further the conversation amongst ordinary young people in the south. Shockingly, only 22% of southerners have made repeat trips north of the border so what do we really know about life in the North? What would a United Ireland look like? Is it something we really want? What does a modern Ireland for all look like? What are the concessions we would have to make and can we make them? This series looks to engage with the question of the North beyond the romantic notions ask practical questions of the south. How do we go about building a united Ireland for all?
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