People change, and it's my perception that unionists, and even loyalists, are a *lot* less hostile to the idea of a 32-county Republic than they were even 10 years ago, much less 20 or 30 or 40.

There was the same kind of divide in the Republic of Ireland at the time of the formation of the Free State; the numbers were not so evenly balanced (I think it's something like 55% Protestant, 45% Catholic now in Northern Ireland) - but even so, the Protestant population was significant and was influential and wealthy.

Many left; those who stayed contributed hugely to the country's industry and administration, and still do so.

There are figures floating around that show the Protestant population as having plunged, but as I understand it, these are based on misunderstandings of the census figures, which were all-Ireland figures before the Free State (1922-today) but Republic-of-Ireland-only figures from 1922 on; this artificially made it appear that the Protestant population had plunged, since the northern counties are more heavily populated with Protestants.

*If* the result of a 32-county Republic was to produce inequality and injustice towards the Protestant population, then of course the guns would come out. Otherwise, I doubt it.

After all, the 'armed struggle' had fallen virtually silent in the 1960s; it only revived when thousands of Catholics were burned out, driven from their homes and refused civil rights in the late 1960s.

Mostly people become violent as a last resort.