The majority of people on both sides of the border believe that referendums on Irish unity should be held within the next decade.
The Ipsos opinion poll showed that while a majority would vote for Irish unity in the Republic, fifty percent of respondents in Northern Ireland said that they would prefer to retain the link with Britain with 27 percent favoring unity with the rest of Ireland.
The opinion poll was carried out for the Irish Times and the Arins Project and is a joint initiative of the Royal Irish Academy and the University of Notre Dame.
More than 1,000 voters North and South were interviewed in August and September of this year.
More than 76 percent of voters in the Republic are in favor of a border poll, with the majority in favor of a five year timescale. In Northern Ireland 55 percent are in favor of a border poll with a majority favoring the next ten years.
Fifty percent of northerners said they would be in favor of a united Ireland in a referendum if a united Ireland had a similar health service to that used in the UK. This was greater than the 46 percent from the North who would be more likely to vote for unity if a united Ireland would make them £3,500 better off.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was not surprised that the opinion poll showed twice as many people in Northern Ireland would vote to remain in the United Kingdom during a referendum.
“To me, since the day we signed the Good Friday Agreement, it’s been a journey of trying to build reconciliation, mutual understanding, and we have a long way to go,” he said.
