THE threat posed by the Brexit negotiations to the union of Northern Ireland with Great Britain may be viewed with greater equanimity by some of us than others.

An independent united Ireland can be seen as a natural outcome which has been delayed for over a century by the antics of the IRA, going back to a time when peaceful transition was within reach.

There is reason to feel that reconciliation is again plausible, the Irish people having in recent decades liberated themselves from the tyranny of the Catholic church.

The EU needs, however, to be aware that if it forces such an outcome then its cohesion fund will be taking on responsibility for maintaining the north of Ireland at a level of prosperity sufficient to stupefy any resulting dissent.

One might hope to see the Protestant community playing a positive and harmonious role within a united Ireland, perhaps even drawing home some of their post-independence diaspora. In the longer term such developments might conceivably take us towards a Federation of the British Isles.

John Riseley, Harrogate.