Just curious, how would a massive minority of protestants change their society? I was under the impression that the Republic was fast becoming a secular society.
Put it this way, if 60 million people from another country who, at the very least, partially get their identity from NOT being American, suddenly landed in the USA tomorrow - do you think life would continue as normal?
The issue is not religious per se, it is a matter of suddenly having to deal with the problems posed by a large group of people incorporated against their will into your country. That is why the Republic of Ireland is not too keen on a united Ireland, in spite of their official statements. The problems would be enormous unless the majority agreed to the change, and it would all be the Republic's problem, instead of being mainly the UK's problem as it is now. It would be like giving California back to Mexico, to draw a rough analogy - how happy would most of the Californians be about it? Not very.