Actor Liam Neeson. Photo: Getty.

Northern Ireland actor Liam Neeson has said he believes a united Ireland will occur in his lifetime.

The 70-year-old Ballymena man told Sky News that he believes Northern Ireland and the Republic will reunify in the coming decades but acknowledged there are many obstacles.

“The Protestants in the North of Ireland have a strong voice.

“I hear them, I know where they’re coming from, and they have to be respected.

“If there’s going to be a united Ireland, their voice has to be heard and they have to be represented, if a united Ireland comes about,” Mr Neeson said.

The movie legend was speaking to Sky News ahead of the release of his 100th film, Marlowe.

Neeson reflected on the beginning of his acting career on stage in Ballymena during the Troubles.

“There were a couple of nights where the theatre would get a telephone call to be told there’s a bomb, and we’d have to go out onto the street with the audience, and the soldiers came in and searched, and maybe an hour [later] say, okay, you can go back in again.

“It was dangerous but I guess because of my age and because I loved what I was doing, I was just in a bubble.”

Neeson said that Bloody Sunday served as a wake-up call that “’I needed to learn something about the history of my country”.

But he said that the Good Friday Agreement heralded a new dawn where, “”There was just a feeling in the air, you know, of change – and change for good.”

Neeson called on the politicians in the north to return to work in Stormont, adding: “They’re representing the people of the North of Ireland – get back to work. You’re drawing the salary still.”