Comedian and presenter Patrick Kielty gave his forthright views on what a united Ireland would mean when he was a guest on the Tommy Tiernan Show on Saturday night on RTÉ One.
The interview saw Kielty discuss the murder of his father Jack by the UFF in Co Down in January 1988, his experiences of grief over the decades, attitudes across the island, and his assessment of where things are "right now".
"There's a general sense of frustration here, I think, with the north at the minute," said Tiernan. "And my sense of it is that there is a phenomenal amount of goodwill towards everybody who's living in the north from the south, right now. What's your sense of what's going on in the north right now, and how does it affect you?"
"The north has always sorted itself out in spite of the politicians," Kielty replied.
"Most people in the north are really very interested in what's happening down here - and how you guys are going to move forward.
"You know, if you look at two peoples in the north, who were polar opposites and wanted each other dead and you have to compromise to live - you have to compromise, you have to give ground.
"If you've got people down here talking about a new Ireland and what that's going to look like... you know, people down here don't have to give up anything, but if they want that, they're going to have to start thinking about maybe making some compromises in some things that people up the road were forced to do. That's going to come down here. We find that interesting."
"So compromises that the Catholics made in the north, you feel that in some strange way accommodating the whole of the six counties is going to force compromises on the south?" asked Tiernan.
"No, what I'm saying is that you can't physically unite the island and have nearly a million Unionists up the road joining this country without changing some furniture to make those people feel welcome," Kielty explained.
"What do you think they'd like?" asked Tiernan in a comedic voice.
"I think you could probably start with not singing, 'Oooh ah, up the 'RA' in the changing rooms maybe," offered Kielty.
"That's so harmless, that's harmless," Tiernan opined.
"I know it is, but, you know, what's funny about it is that if you were asked to rejoin the Commonwealth and you saw the Northern Ireland Ladies' Team up there singing they're up to their neck in Fenian blood and singing the Sash, you'd sit there and think to yourself, 'Jeez, I'm not sure about that'. You see? Right?" asked Kielty.
"What I always say is, it's a lot easier to sing a rebel song about a united Ireland than not sing it to have it," he continued.
"Than to have the maturity to deal with the fact that it may actually be happening and it's going to affect people's lives in the Unionist population, that it's going to affect their lives in such a huge way. That we have to have the maturity and love to make that as okay as we can for them," said Tiernan.
"Look, I kind of think so," said Kielty. "Unionists don't need to convince anybody down here to join the UK. If there's going to be a border poll, the way that's going to work is that someone's going to have to convince Unionist people that their future is here. So there's going to have to be certain things, you know, mood music, whatever that is.
"I mean, like, the idea of, you know, how many Unionist TDs will be down here? You know? Like, the idea of Sinn Féin is the number one party in the north, the number one party in the south, but if they can't form a government there, Ireland will probably end up be[ing], you know, a united Ireland, may well end up being governed by a rainbow coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Greens, and Unionists.
"You can't ask people to come and join the country and not actually say, 'You're part of the country'. There's nobody up the road needs conversion therapy. They know they're British, the way that when I was growing up I knew I was Irish.
"If there's going to be a united Ireland, that Ireland is going to look different."
"Yeah, I see that," said Tiernan. "This has been quite a serious chat. Is your standup like that?"
"It's exactly like the last ten minutes!" laughed Kielty. "Tickets are available at patrickkielty.com!"
"I hope we see a lot more of you," Tiernan concluded. "It's been a revelation and good craic talking to you."
Watch the full interview here.
The Tommy Tiernan Show airs Saturday nights on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.
