The funeral occurred last week of Damien Gibney, the first Sinn Féin councillor elected to Lisburn council. Back in the mid-1980s, attendance at council meetings was dangerous, risking loyalist attack and relentless harassment from the RUC.

Lisburn’s unionist leaders fiercely opposed the building of Twinbrook and wanted no part of this new Catholic ghetto in what was an overwhelmingly unionist council, even opposing the extension of basic council services to the area.

Damien’s was a lonely job, though he was ably assisted by a fellow party councillor, Pat Rice, a figure who touched many lives through a lengthy tenure as teacher to young Simmarlans at the Glen Road school.

Last week, Sinn Féin claimed five of the six seats in the Collin area (including Twinbrook) and returned its first councillor for North Lisburn, with a second in South Lisburn well positioned for next time. The rhythm of time.

They berated and mocked the Sinn Féin leadership for attending King Charles’ coronation failed to appreciate that such a move represented precisely the generosity of spirit that many yearn to see define this society.

The party’s stunning ‘tsunami’ election result is significant for a number of reasons.

The 144 seats won by Sinn Féin represents just over 31 per cent of the total seats, by some distance the largest number of seats secured by a single party at local government level since the new councils were set up in 2014.

Crucially, the total number of councillors elected from pro-Irish unity parties (SF, SDLP & PBP) totalled 185, the same number as were elected by the DUP, UUP and TUV.

Alliance and the Greens have 72 seats between them, with the remaining 20 seats including a large bloc of independent nationalist and republican councillors from Mid Ulster, Derry and the Mournes, as well as two formerSDLP councillors, Paul McCusker and Josephine Deehan.

In other words, there are at least as many pro-Irish unity elected representatives as pro-union at council level today.

The votes for pro-Irish unity parties also outnumbered those for pro-union parties for the first time ever in a northern Irish election.

The scale of Sinn Féin’s advance even caught the party off guard, and they left two seats on the shelf after failing to run sufficient candidates to match their votes won in Limavady and Cookstown.

Half of Sinn Féin’s two-score seat gains came from the SDLP, but crucially, the remaining half were grabbed from all quarters, including nine seats won directly from unionist parties and three seats from Alliance and the Greens.

This result was vindication for a leadership strategy that was strong on aspiring to a better present and future.

The unlikely alliance of non-aligned republicans, fringe party figures and loyalists that berated and mocked the Sinn Féin leadership for attending King Charles’ coronation failed to appreciate that such a move represented precisely the generosity of spirit that many yearn to see define this society.

Middle ground-friendly voters -those most impatient for better, perhaps not overly concerned about identity issues- still have confidence and trust in the leadership of nationalism in a manner starkly contrasting with how this cohort of voters perceives the unionist political leadership.

Nationalists and republicans continue to be mobilised to vote due to an awareness and anger at the refusal of unionism to reciprocate on such matters and by the unvarnished sense of entitlement that continues to define unionism.

On that note, Danny Kennedy’s jaw-dropping comments that Sinn Féin winning seats from unionist parties was bad for community relations and inconsistent with their pledge to build a new Ireland was one of those inside-the-mind moments that captures just how far removed from reality many unionists continue to be.

Alliance’s ceiling has been revealed to be lower than many expected. Whilst they celebrated a new seat in Enniskillen, they fell back in Newry and Bannside, both seats they were fancied to win based on 2019 numbers, and their much hoped for breakthrough in Dungannon, Portadown, West Tyrone and Armadh failed to materialise.

The party’s failures to pick up second seats in Antrim and North Lisburn was a consequence of a surging Sinn Féin vote and a resilient SDLP vote, whilst it will be disappointed not to have picked up second seats in Knockagh, Coast Road and Macedon.

The loss of the party’s only two representatives on Derry and Stranbane council to Sinn Féin reveals the success of the republican party’s positive messaging over the past year.

Alliance has leaner pickings in majority nationalist communities because both Sinn Féin and the SDLP have demonstrated a desire over many years to endorse reconciliatory steps, embracing progressive politics in a manner that has stemmed the loss of votes to the perceived party of the middle ground.

The evidence from this local government election is that middle ground-friendly voters -those most impatient for better, perhaps not overly concerned about identity issues- still have confidence and trust in the leadership of nationalism in a manner starkly contrasting with how this cohort of voters perceives the unionist political leadership.

In the local government elections of 1993, the combined percentages of seats won by the SDLP and Sinn Féin was just under 31 per cent.

Also in that election, the UUP and DUP alone took almost 52 per cent of the seats.

Fast forward 30 years and, together with the TUV councillos in 2023, they secured 40 per cent of the seats.

The pace and extent of change in this society is undeniable.

There is now an overwhelming case for a border poll in the short to medium term

After a succession of elections since 2017 which have repeatedly demonstrated the strength of the pro-Irish unity constituency within Northern Ireland, it is beyond doubt that the demographic tide is decisively impacting upon the political and electoral landscape, and will continue to do so for many years to come. The trajectory is very, very clear.

There is now an overwhelming case for a border poll in the short to medium term. Denying the evidence is no longer an acceptable reaction, however daunting that may appear to be.

The imperative now must be on the Irish government to recognise the significance of what is happening and prepare the ground for what must be done.

Chris Donnelly

Chris Donnelly is a political commentator and regularly appears in the local broadcast and print media to discuss and analyse the latest developments in political matters at a local, national and international level.