United Ireland needs Protestant support to succeed says SF’s Máirtín Ó Muilleoir

But he says unionist engagement is important.

“Every time I meet a unionist, what do they want to talk about? They want to talk about a united Ireland,” he told BBC News NI’s Red Lines podcast.

“Either they’re afraid of it, or they’re not afraid of it.”

The former Lord Mayor of Belfast, who left frontline politics in 2019, added: “Or what will it mean for their business, or what will it mean for their culture or their sport?

“So the reality is that unionists are engaging with the issue”.

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“There was, however, a shot across the bows of his fellow nationalists and republicans.

The onus will be on them, he warned, to make everyone feel comfortable in a new constitutional arrangement – and that will mean respecting unionists’ British identity, being prepared to discuss what a future Irish flag and anthem might look like, and even being prepared to accept some kind of continuing devolved role for Stormont in a new 32-county state.

“Everything has to be on the table,” he said. “Respect, social justice, reconciliation.”

A regular question regarding reunification is how to secure Unionist support for new constitutional arrangements in the event that the pro-union side loses a border poll. It seems the main crux of the issue for nationalists is that whilst many of them recognise that the greater the level of support they can garner from Unionists, the better, they are loath to concede a veto. How can that particular circle be squared?