On matters of the "Irish Question", Sheehy Skeffington cited James Connolly's analysis and suggested both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland each needed political reform first, then merged, rather than the other way around. Still citing Connolly, he also voiced the view that Irish Independence from the United Kingdom meant nothing if all it amounted to was to change the colour of the flag flying over its institutions, and instead, the change must also be a meaningful change in conditions for the people of Ireland. He also noted that at least 4 of the 6 counties which made up Northern Ireland were made up of solid majorities of Protestant Unionists whom he argued could not be coerced, by violence or otherwise, into the Irish state and that Republican needed to accept this reality and alter their tactics accordingly, with more emphasis given to social conditions.