Does the South really want the North as part of an eventual united Ireland? Opinion polls over the past decade or so show that a bare majority of people in the Republic now say they want Irish unity. [1] As long ago as the mid-1980s the political scientist Peter Mair described the attitude of Irish voters as: 'Unity would be nice. But if it's going to cost money, or result in violence, or disrupt the moral and social equilibrium, then it's not worth it.' [2] This view was stated again in a 2011 survey of attitudes to North-South relations among a sample of University College Dublin and Queen's University Belfast social science students.  As one UCD student put it: 'Neither of us want it [Northern Ireland]: neither us nor the UK government. I'd say if you asked the majority of Irish people -- yes, nationalists, out of a sense of allegiance, might say they wanted a united Ireland -- but it's really far more trouble than it's worth. I mean, to integrate Northern Ireland into this state -- why would you be bothered? The status quo satisfies everyone.' [3] But history doesn't stand still. If Scotland becomes independent after a referendum in 2014 (or maybe five to ten years later if there is an inconclusive result and the Scottish Nationalists demand a re-run), it will surely only be a matter of time before the English government (because it will be largely English by then) and people start asking themselves what