The road to Irish unity is far from straight | Letters

Readers respond to an article by Susan McKay discussing the prospect of a united Ireland and the need for constitutional change

Susan McKay falls into the same trap as others who predict the imminence of a united Ireland (On the far side of borders, a new Ireland is taking shape, 9 October). She fails to address the question of what form reunification would take.

Does she envisage the six counties and their 18 Westminster constituencies simply decanting into the Irish Republic, to be governed directly from Dublin? Or would she favour some kind of federation preserving the Belfast agreement and guaranteeing northern unionists a separate status with a say in their own affairs? These are the key questions that resulted in partition in 1918-20. No referendum could be fought today without answering them.
Alan Boyle
Emeritus professor of international law, University of Edinburgh