A couple of weeks ago Sinn Féin introduced a unity Bill in the Dáil which, among other things, would oblige the Irish government to draft and publish a Green Paper on reunification within 12 months.

It said: “Drafting this Green Paper requires consultation with the broad spectrum of society, civil groups, experts, all political traditions and, of course, unionist and Protestant representatives.”

What struck me as odd was that there is no requirement for specific consultation with the political parties representing unionism in Northern Ireland.

I know Sinn Féin – and some of the other organisations pushing hard for unity in the post-Brexit decade – have invited people from a pro-unionist and Protestant background to attend and address conferences; and I have no difficulty with that whatsoever.

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But I also know, because I know some of those people, that they would not claim to represent the views of political and electoral unionism.

If ‘all political traditions’ includes the DUP, UUP, TUV, PUP,........

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