"Northern Ireland's status accords with the declared wishes of a majority of its population,"
Only after a border had been carefully drawn to ensure that majority.
Originally the intention was to include the whole of the nine counties of Ulster into the Province, but when those involved realised that this would give a Catholic majority, three counties were hastily dispensed with (I think it's called 'gerrymandering'). The First Minister was then in the position to declare that he would govern over a 'Protestant State', in spite of a sizeable Catholic minority (one-third, I think) - a built in disaster waiting to happen, I would have thought.
I really can't recall a referendum on the subject, can anyone?.
Sorry - I really am not arguing the rights and wrongs of all this - it just doesn't seem to me to be a stable way to govern a country.
It's always amused me that we are in the somewhat ludicrous position that the northernmost point of Ireland is in the South.
Jim Carroll