A FORMER British government press officer who previously campaigned on behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party is to publish a book making the case for a united Ireland.
East Belfast-born Ben Collins's Irish Unity: Time To Prepare, which is due out in early October, charts the author's journey from a "unionist and pro-British background" to advocacy of a 32-county republic.
The former Tory says his conversion to the nationalist cause predates the "madness of Brexit" but that the UK's decision to leave the EU has shifted his desire for Irish unity "from being a long-term aspiration, to one which now held an urgent necessity for me".
Writing for Irishborderpoll.com, Mr Collins notes that he has "always felt Irish" and that while this was initially accompanied by a sense of Britishness, his "thinking has changed over time".
Previously, he worked for the Ulster Unionist Party in the 2001 Westminster election, though was never a party member, regarding David Trimble as a "visionary for unionism". He recalls how the "beauty" of the Good Friday Agreement enabled people to be "Irish, British, European, or all three".
"Borders were increasingly irrelevant. It allowed me to think about the aspiration of a united Ireland, in a way I couldn’t have done during the Troubles," he writes.
Mr Collins' career has seen him work for the Northern Ireland Office as a press officer and in Scotland for a public affairs company. He is also a former member of the Conservative Party but became disillusioned by the Tories increased euroscepticism and left in 2003.
While living in Scotland, he became a supporter of independence and was disappointed, though not surprised, by the outcome of the 2014 referendum.
However, 2016's vote for the UK to sever ties with Brussels, despite the opposition of people in Scotland and Northern Ireland, saw his desire for Irish unity intensify.
"I had family members and close friends who voted for Brexit but I still hated everything that it represented," he says.
"It felt like part of my identity was being stripped away. The Irish passport application which had been sitting in a drawer for years was filled in and sent off by post."
Having since returned to the north to live, Mr Collins looked to the Irish government to protect his post-Brexit rights.
"This felt so different from my time in the Northern Ireland Office, when the Irish and UK governments worked together to stabilise the peace process in Northern Ireland," he says.
He regards it as "ironic" that the protocol offers unique access to the EU and UK markets for the north region "but political unionism is opposed to this economic opportunity".
The author argues that there are "many people like" from a unionist/British background, who want to be part of the EU and "are now open to the idea of Irish unity".
"They want to know what does unity mean for the health service, pensions and the economy," he says.
"We have to provide a pathway for the Protestant unionist and loyalist community into the New Ireland - they need to be reassured that their rights will be protected."
However, Mr Collins does not advocate the continuation of the Stormont assembly in a united Ireland.
"There is no such thing as a kinder, gentler form of partition," he says.
"To ensure that all who live across the island of Ireland benefit from unity, we need to have one economy, one health service and one legal system, firmly embedded in the European Single Market, which is the largest economic bloc in the world."
With the British government refusing to grant a second independence referendum in Scotland and failing to set out the criteria for a border poll in Northern Ireland, the author notes it "does not feel like a voluntary union to me".
"It is another reason why I want to see Irish unity and I believe this is achievable within the next decade," he says.
:: Ben Collins Irish Unity: Time To Prepare is published in October by Luath Press.
