In April 2014, the then First Minister of Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson, called on his party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to stop looking for “lundies [traitors to the Unionist cause] and start looking for converts”. Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, has made similar calls to persuade Unionists towards a united Ireland. So who is winning the battle for hearts and minds?

The 2011 census showed that Northern Ireland’s Catholic population had reached 45 per cent (up 1 per cent from the 2001 census). Based on projections, by 2037 there will be a Catholic majority in the province, so one can see why people might think the Unionists need converts.

Yet, although there is a significant correlation between denomination and voting in Northern Ireland elections, it is not as strong within the Catholic community as it is among Protestants. In the 2011 census, only 25 per cent of the province’s population identified as Irish; in a 2015 opinion poll, only 27 per cent of Catholics supported a united Ireland.