Derry launch for 'The Irish Unity Dividend’

How it started: Not going to be forced into a United Ireland by violence or threats of violence.

How it’s going: Derry launching his new book ‘The Irish Unity Dividend’ in the Museum of Free Derry on Monday evening.

Author Ben Collins who grew up in a pro-unionist, pro-British family in East Belfast described the 1998 Good Friday Agreement as “changing everything”, in an insightful interview with The Derry News. 

“It allowed me to look at things differently,” said a reflective Collins.

“I had always felt Irish in addition to being British,” he added, “but then I went off to university in Dundee, where I met people from all over Ireland, and, outside the context of being in Belfast during The Troubles, that also allowed me to look at things differently. 

“I finished my law degree in 1998 and came back to Belfast, just after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. I did a couple of degrees here before going back to Scotland to work for a public affairs company.

“The Scottish Parliament had just been set up and it was good to be able to focus on bread and butter issues.

“Ironically, working in Britain made me feel less British and more Irish. I don’t mean that in any negative way, it was just other people considered me to be Irish and my own sense of Irishness grew. 

Author Ben Collins who will be speaking in Derry on Monday evening. (Photo: Violet Collins)

“Having grown up with a unionist background, where you are brought up to believe you are British, and again I don’t mean this in any negative way, I realised the idea of Britishness held by certain elements of unionism in Northern Ireland does not exist in Britain. They do not consider themselves to be British. People in Britain are different from people in the North,” said Collins.

“Whatever the idea of Britishness is in Britain, I think it is fundamentally different to the idea of what Britishness tends to be in Northern Ireland.

“I just felt much greater affinity with my fellow Irish man and woman,” he added.

During his time in Scotland, Collins recalled seeing “things changing”. 

Attending the Scottish National Party conference in 2002, he remembered discussion around “fiscal autonomy” for Scotland.

An Evening with Ben Collins: Reflections on Irish Unity and Identity in Museum of Free Derry.

“I thought, ‘This makes a lot of sense’ because you want to have more control over your own affairs,” said Collins.

“Admiring Scottish nationalism from the outside was the gateway to me thinking, ‘Well actually, maybe we could have a United Ireland’, " he added.

“The thing was, growing up I was not taught Irish history at all. The first time I found out Ireland had been one country originally was when I watched a black and white documentary about the Easter Rising. I can’t remember what age I was but I remember thinking, ‘What, they shot people for being part of the Rising?’ and then realising we were one country.

“Because you grow up in a Unionist background and you are told to believe Northern Ireland has always been British but that is obviously not right.

“It was beginning to understand that and then learning basic things like the Tricolour was green, white and orange, the green and orange representing the two main traditions in Ireland, with peace between them. That was really transformative because growing up, we had always been told the Tricolour was green, white and gold. 

“Coming from a unionist background in East Belfast and grown up during The Troubles, the flag regresented violent Republicanism and I do think we need to reclaim the Tricolour but I think, ultimately, the symbolism, the idealism it represents, is still as relevant today as it was when it was designed in 1848, said Collins, who was also inspired by the United Irishmen and Women - Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter.

“I am a Dissenter from a Presbyterian background and realising there were people from me, from a Presbyterian background, who wanted to bring all parts of Ireland together, were opposed to slavery, and wanted everyone to have the vote, really resonates today,” he asserted.

“Certain unionist people were saying to be truly Irish you had to be Catholic, involved in the GAA and speak Irish. Then you realise that is not the case at all. 

“I was talking to an American relative in a pub in East Belfast in 2012, at the time of the London Olympics, and I said, ‘I really want to write a book on why there should be a United Ireland and how it should be a pluralist Ireland and outward looking, where we come together for the common good. 

Celebrate the festive season across Co Derry with artisan makers, handmade treasures and Christmas cheer

County Derry is beginning to sparkle with a host of Christmas craft fairs planned for towns and villages in the area

The Derry News book review column

Léitheoir reviews 'A Short History of Ulster' by Jonathan Bardon

Welcome to The Derry News book review column.

This week our reviewer, Léitheoir, gives his thoughts on A Short History of Ulster by Jonathan Bardon.

“This was before the Scottish Independence Referendum (2014) and the Brexit vote (2016). It is not something I have come up with overnight. My thinking evolved over decades but what was a long-term aspiration for me became an urgent necessity after Brexit.

“Brexit forced us to choose. Brexit is why you are seeing more people from Northern Ireland than ever before getting Irish passports. They want to maintain the European identity. An increasing number of people from a unionist background, like me, are open to the idea of Irish Unity for all sorts of reasons, including European identity.

“I believe the EU is the greatest peace project our continent has ever seen. I think it is hugely important and I do not want to lose that and that is one of the things I was very concerned about after the Brexit vote. We in the North voted to stay in the EU, like Scotland, but we were taken out of it and I think that, in a very real sense, emphasised to me, if we want to control our own destiny, we need to have a United Ireland,” said Collins, who compared getting an Irish passport as ‘crossing the Rubicon’. 

Looking clearly to the future, Collins posited Taoiseach Micheál Martin would be standing down as Fianna Fáil leader before the next Irish general election.

He added: “The Shared Ireland Unit is doing lots of good work but I think we need to move beyond that and the next leader of Fianna Fáil, whenever he or she takes up the post, will have a key role to play in reunification.

“What we need - individuals, civic groups, academics - is preparation by the Irish Government. It needs to start preparing citizens’ assemblies and bringing forward the green and white papers. We cannot afford procrastination. We need to start preparation. 

"The Irish Government needs to say to the British Government, ‘We want a unity referendum’ because I do not think the British Government will call a Border poll until the Irish Government asks for it and the Irish Government needs to prepare.

“That’s how you deal with the concerns people may have North and South of the Border.”

‘An Evening with Ben Collins: Reflections on Irish Unity and Identity’ takes place on Monday, November 24, 2025, at 6.00pm, in The Museum of Free Derry.

Tickets for the event are  free but should be reserved here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/an-evening-with-ben-collins-reflections-on-irish-unity-identity-tickets-1907445052499 

‘The Irish Unity Dividend’ by Ben Collins is published by Luath Press and costs £14.99.

His previous book 'Irish Unity - Time to Prepare' is also available from Luath Press and costs £14.99.