As a Catholic unionist, I think that the DUP is the real reason moderate Catholics are turning against the Union

Previously the pariah of Irish politics, Sinn Fein are now the most popular party on the island and have a decent chance of entering government in the Republic.

As an Ulster Catholic and a British unionist, I will leave my personal views on Sinn Fein to one side (but it’s fair to say they would never attract my vote).

However, if Sinn Fein do enter government in the Republic (and even if they do not), a border poll might be called within the next five years.

In order for a united Ireland to win the support of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland, it will take moderate Catholics to change from supporting the Union with Great Britain to supporting a united Ireland.

A BBC poll in 2013 showed almost 40% of Catholics in Northern Ireland supported the Union with Great Britain. Various factors have reduced that support and while Brexit may be one of them, I think the extent to which Brexit is a factor is limited.

The real reason moderate Catholics are changing their stance is because of the DUP. The DUP claim to be the personification of unionism in NI (and their large vote share gives them a claim to this). But their firebrand, divisive, and tribal form of unionism has driven moderate Catholics away from unionism.

Moderate Catholics, who generally have no emotional attachment to the Union and support it purely for reasons of practicality, do not have any desire in being subject to a government led by and a province represented by the DUP.

No longer a priest-ridden backwater, Ulster moderates see an open, diverse Republic of Ireland with a gay immigrant Taoiseach and a population voting in their droves for abortion reform and gay marriage.

By contrast, the one place, ironically, where Rome Rule exists is in Northern Ireland at the behest of the anti-gay, anti-rights DUP.

With political turmoil in the UK and the DUP entrenched in government in NI, a reunification with the south seems more attractive than ever.

I believe passionately in the Union, but it is becoming increasingly hard to make the case for it in the current political situation.

If the time comes when Northern Ireland votes to reunite with the south, the DUP will bear a huge brunt of the blame.

The current slow march towards a united Ireland can be slowed or even halted, but it will require the DUP to, in the words of a famous Irishman, change and change utterly.

Given their history, I doubt the DUP are capable of that.

Christopher Madden, Carrickfergus