Enda Kenny: Brexit deal must include clause allowing North to rejoin EU as part of a united Ireland

Mr Kenny says his immediate focus is making sure a future united Ireland has no difficulty with EU membership.

The Taoiseach has demanded that any Brexit deal includes an explicit clause that allows Northern Ireland to rejoin the EU as part of a united Ireland.

Enda Kenny said the status of the North, under the Good Friday agreement, cannot be overlooked and must be accommodated.

He was speaking following plans from Fianna Fáil to bring forward a white paper on a united Ireland.

Mr Kenny said his immediate focus is making sure a future united Ireland has no difficulty with EU membership.

“That would mean that if at some time in the future, the people of Northern Ireland were to say ‘we want to join with the Republic’, that it would be seamlessly allowed to join the island of Ireland by consent as is contained in the language of the Good Friday Agreement, in the same way that East Germany was able to join West Germany after the Berlin Wall fell.”