ACTOR Jamie Dornan has said he is intrigued by the possibility of a united Ireland.
The star was speaking to the Radio Times ahead of the second series of BBC drama, The Tourist.
The new season relocates the action from Australia to Ireland, with much of the filming taking place in Dublin and Wicklow.
Co. Down actor Dornan said he was delighted the show could showcase the beauty and talent of Ireland as 'everybody sort of has a bit of a love for the place and the people'.
However, he had also pondered the future of the island and felt people needed to look beyond politics at the practicalities of a united Ireland.
"I'd be very intrigued to know what that looks like," he told the Radio Times, according to Yahoo.
"The wrong language has been used for too long and they need to tell people how it would look for health and education and economically, and the actual everyday things of life, rather than the sentimentality of it, the flag in it, and all that b******* that's been wrecking the place for many, many years.
"There's more of a willingness to talk about it than there has been in my lifetime and I'm very open-minded to the idea of it."
Calls for united Ireland
Talk of a united Ireland has increased since Brexit and the collapse of power-sharing at Stormont.
Sinn Féin — the largest party in Stormont and the main opposition in the Dáil — has long-campaigned for a referendum.
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald told the party's Ard Fheis last month that the government must form a Citizen's Assembly on the issue.
"Momentum is building, the conversation is live, history is happening now," she said.
"Irish Unity is the very best opportunity for the future."
In September 2022, then-Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Kyle said he would call a border poll if the referendum terms set out in the Good Friday Agreement were met.
That followed the publication of the 2021 Census figures a month earlier that showed Catholics outnumbered Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris recently said there were no plans to alter the terms of any referendum set out in the agreement — which currently requires only a simple majority — amid suggestions from NI Minister Steve Baker that a super-majority may be required.
The Tourist returns to BBC One at 9pm on New Year's Day and is also available on BBC iPlayer.
