About this episode
The episode features Sam McBride discussing the potential for Irish unification and the importance of engaging with Northern Ireland's perspectives.
There is probably no one better than Belfast man, Sam McBride to discuss the possibility of unification. His recent book, For and Against a United Ireland was one of the big influences on this series. He is the Northern Ireland Editor of the Belfast Telegraph and the Sunday Independent newspapers. He also writes on Northern Ireland for The Economist. He is a former Political Editor of the Belfast News Letter and has made a BBC film about the Northern Bank robbery. He is author of The Sunday Times bestseller Burned: The Inside Story of the 'Cash-for-Ash' Scandal and Northern Ireland's Secretive New Elite and is a regular broadcaster. In October 2025 BBC NI published a podcast series, Borderland, that tackled the question of Irish unity. While the series explored both sides of the argument on the question of unity, there was one clear agreement. It’s time for the south to seriously engage with the Northern question if there is to be any real debate on the possibility of a united Ireland. Notre Dame University are also running a major research project investigating the constitutional future of Ireland called ARINS (Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South) that probs these…
People in this episode
Guest: Sam McBride
Topics covered
- Irish unification
- Northern Ireland
- political discussion
- youth engagement
- cultural understanding
Keywords
- unification
- Northern Ireland
- Irish unity
- Sam McBride
- politics
- youth engagement
- cultural understanding
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Independent, The Economist, Belfast News Letter, BBC, Notre Dame University
Books & works: For and Against a United Ireland, Burned: The Inside Story of the 'Cash-for-Ash' Scandal and Northern Ireland's Secretive New Elite, Borderland, ARINS (Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South)
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