Sir, - Philip Orr argues (February 25th) that support is declining in Northern Ireland for union with the rest of the UK. He bases this unlikely proposition on a poll undertaken by two Queen's University academics and published in the Belfast Telegraph last week.
The poll showed an apparent fall in support for remaining part of the UK, at 54 per cent now, down from 69 per cent 10 years ago. This curious poll however shows no rise in support for a united Ireland. Indeed, support for unifying with the rest of Ireland, at 21 per cent, was down from 24 per cent a decade ago. What had risen was support for an independent Ulster, up from 1 per cent to 11 per cent.
Since no other polls show any significant support for this impractical suggestion, this result throws the whole poll into doubt. This is especially so since the poll suggested that most of the support for independence came from the Catholic population, 18 per cent of whom purported to support it.
Mr Orr also argued that few in Northern Ireland perceive much advantage in union with Britain. Even without the common identity felt by the great majority this view would be nonsensical. UK Treasury support for public services at £3 billion per annum, or £2,000 per head, is hardly a small matter. - Yours, etc.,
Sam Foster, MLA, Fermanagh and South Tyrone Unionist Association, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.