The First Colony Part II – The Move Toward Irish Reunification
The First Colony Part II
Directed by Hassan Tavakoli (2025)
Film Review
The 2014 Scottish independence referendum was the first big wake-up call for Irish reunification. The second was the UK’s decision to leave the EU in 2016 (Ireland still belongs to the EU) and the decision by Boris Johnson to create a “hard” EU border between Northern Ireland the the UK. The third was Queen’s death in September 2022. The unpopularity of her son Charles III led to new calls for Australia* to become a republic and dozens of books on Irish reunification.
Last year the power sharing government in Northern Ireland collapsed twice. The pro-unification party Sinn Fein has held a majority in the Northern Ireland assembly since 2022. However the until last year the protetant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to participate in a Sinn Fein government (with Michelle O’Neill as first minster) until last year.**
There has been a call (by both Sinn Fein and DUP supporters) for the Republic of Ireland to create an Ireland-wide citizens assembly to discuss reunification. In the past Ireland successfully used the citizens assembly model to resolve conflict over policies involving abortion and and same sex marriage.
The contentious Brexit vote (for the UK to eave the EU) in 2016 has influenced many former DUP supporters to favor reunification, especially with Northern Ireland’s deteriorating economic conditions resulting from declining inter-European trade.
*See Australia Abandons Plans to Have a Referendum on Replacing King Charles and Becoming Republic
**According to 2024 census data Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland by 42.3% to 30.5%
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