  thumb|right|political map of ireland showing the republic of ireland and northern ireland thumb|right|the island of ireland on the european continent a united ireland is a movement for a sovereign state covering all of the thirty-two traditional counties of ireland.cain: politics â an outline of the main political 'solutions' to the conflict, united ireland definition. the island of ireland includes the territory of two independent sovereign states: the republic of ireland, which covers 26 counties of the island, and the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, which covers six counties. a united ireland, fully independent of the united kingdom, is supported by irish republicans and irish nationalists. conversely, unionists and loyalists oppose this and support northern ireland remaining part of the united kingdom, and even the republic joining them. several different models for reunification have been suggested, the three most common include, a system of government akin to the federalism practiced in switzerland which was a model entitled Ãire nua ("new ireland") a confederalism and a unitary state. article 15.2 of the constitution of ireland (enacted in 1937) provides for the possibility of an irish federation of parliaments with devolution within the present unitary irish state,the constitution of ireland, article 15, section 2, subsection 2. retrieved from http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/upload/static/256.htm on 18 august 2010. extract: "provision may however be made by law for the creation or recognition of subordinate legislatures and for the powers and functions of these legislatures. " this theoretically provides that sub-national legislatures may be established by the oireachtas. originally intended to absorb the old stormont institutions of northern ireland. in demographic terms, the six counties of northern ireland taken as a whole contain a slim majority of protestants{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ni/religion.htm |title=ca
Celtic_nationalism Irredentism National_unifications Politics_of_Ireland Proposed_countries