‘Two foreign old monarchs in battle did join/ Each wanted their head on the back of a coin/ If the Irish had sense they’d drown both in the Boyne/ And Partition throw into the ocean.” If you’re old enough to remember the Ludlows’ belting version of The Sea Around Us being number one in the hit parade in 1966, then you’re old enough to also remember it ceased to be a bit of fun just two years later when the North just exploded into a sea of violence. The writer Dominic Behan, younger brother of the much-loved and dreaded Brendan, penned it and literally hundreds of other popular ballads like McAlpines’ Fusiliers, without which so many late-night sing-songs would be vastly duller. But then there’s the craic and there’s also political reality – and if only we could throw partition into the ocean.