For and Against a United Ireland by Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride is a direct challenge to any assertion that to debate is to polarise and thus to put peace at risk

For and Against a United Ireland Author : Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride ISBN-13 : 9781802050356 Publisher : Royal Irish Academy Guideline Price : €20

“We have a very, very divided community ... If you raise issues that raise the tensions and the divisions even more, you force people further apart than they already are. So why would people want to engage in a process that will lead to exactly that conclusion: forcing people further apart?”

Thus the DUP’s Gregory Campbell placed himself as an unlikely defender of Taoiseach Micheál Martin on the topic of a Border poll. He was speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback (October 8th), addressing Leo Varadkar’s claim that his successor’s emphasis on reconciliation before constitutional change placed an “artificial barrier” to Irish unity. Needless to say, the phone-in programme went predictably around-and-about the well-trodden circles of such discussions.

For and Against a United Ireland is a direct challenge to any assertion that to debate is to polarise and thus to put peace at risk. The alternative to political violence is not silence but democracy. O’Toole and McBride set out to demonstrate a core principle of liberal democracy: that free and reasoned deliberation can help ensure good quality, consensual outcomes. In a world of hyper-communication, reasoning has become more difficult just as it has become more essential. This is partly because reason requires collaborative effort; it is the power of thinking that is formed under the influence of conversation and it is necessari