THERE are those who tell us a border poll is a distraction, an irrelevance. The public’s focus North and South is on day-to-day living, putting bread on the table, paying the mortgage, managing car payments. For something so lacking interest, it’s getting a lot of attention.

In recent days there have been comments and judgements from all sorts of sources.

The new Labour Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, declared a border poll is “off the table”, which aroused a lot of discussion as to whether there was an Implicit “for now” attached to his declaration. But the British Secretary of State was quick to explain that his PM was speaking about the situation “now” and both he and his boss were “full square” behind every single part of the Good Friday Agreement.

The DUP, of course, welcomed Burnham’s “off the table” comment. Gavin Robinson urged Micheál Martin to dial down the rhetoric on a cross-border poll (no, seriously).

Eimear Currie the Fine Gael TD, who heads up the group examining a blue paper on a border poll, has warned against holding it too soon. 

Carla Lockhart DUP MP has declared that she welcomes the confirmation from the Prime Minister that there are no plans for a border poll. “Sinn Féin and their useful puppets have been agitating this issue which hasn’t gained support in 25 years.” 

Professor Peter Shirlow takes a similar line: “Our survey shows a small decrease in support within the pro-unity bloc, rather than the significant growth needed” (to achieve a border poll). 

Neale Richmond, Fine Gael spokesman on Europe, begs to differ. “Now is the time for us in Fine Gael, the United Ireland Party, to clearly map out what our vision for a new State would look like. This week’s Young Fine Gael poll has revealed that 84 per cent of members are in favour of unity; clearly a massive amount of people within our political movement desire a United Ireland. We must take that enthusiasm and use it to form a clear Fine Gael vision of a United Ireland.”

Sinn Féin, of course, have named 2030 as a target date for holding a poll, and have urged everyone to put in the work of preparation in the meantime. They tried in the Dáil with their proposed green paper and their call for a citizens' assembly. Micheál Martin said all this border poll talk was doing his head in. 

The Irish Border Poll website notes the twist put to opinion polls: “Interpreting the polls is always hotly disputed on the constitutional question and spun in very different ways. No better example than last year’s 2025 ARINS research findings. Headlined in one newspaper as 'Irish Unity would be soundly defeated' in the North. But on the same day in another paper reported as, 'Support for Irish Unity grows significantly.'"

The truth is, we’re not there yet. There are a lot of Irish people, principally in the North, who are, to use Brendan O’Leary’s term, ‘persuadables’.  That is, they lean to one side but they are willing to look at the evidence and the possible shape of a new Ireland.

Which is as it should  be. With all respect to Carla Lockhart, I think Professor O’Leary might . 

But isn’t it odd, so many people commenting for and against a topic that nobody’s interested in?