Actor Jamie Dornan has said he is interested in the possibility of a united Ireland.
The star spoke to Radio Times ahead of the second series of BBC drama The Tourist.
The new season moved the action from Australia to Ireland, with the majority of filming taking place in Dublin and Wicklow.
Dornan, an actor from Down, Colorado, said he was delighted the show could showcase Ireland’s beauty and talent as “everyone has a little bit of love for this place and its people”.
But he also reflected on the future of the island, feeling that people needed to look beyond politics to the realities of a united Ireland.
“I’m very interested to see what that looks like,” he told Radio Times, according to Yahoo.
“The wrong word has been used for so long that it tells people not about the sentimentality of the word or the flag that’s on it, but what it does for health, education, economics, real everyday life things. We need to” b****** who has been destroying this place for years.
“I’m more willing to talk about this than I’ve ever been in my entire life. And I’m very open to the idea.”
call for a united Ireland
Since Brexit and the collapse of power-sharing at Stormont, there has been increasing talk of a united Ireland.
Sinn Féin, Stormont’s largest party and the main opposition party in the Dáil, has been campaigning for a referendum for many years.
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald told the party’s Ard Faith last month that the government needed to set up a citizens’ assembly on the issue.
“Momentum is building, the conversation is vibrant, and history is happening now,” she said.
“A united Ireland is the best opportunity for our future.”
In September 2022, the then Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Kyle, said he would hold a border survey if the referendum conditions set out in the Good Friday Agreement were met.
This follows the publication a month ago of 2021 Census figures showing that Catholics now outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris recently said there were no plans to change the terms of the referendum set out in the agreement, as NI Minister Steve Baker suggested he could win a super majority. (Currently only a simple majority is required). Required.
The Tourist returns to BBC One on New Year’s Day at 9pm and is also available on BBC iPlayer.
