Labour chair: Unionists must be guaranteed Cabinet seats in united Ireland 

In May Day address, Jack O'Connor will say it is essential that quality-of-life issues are not diverted by 'competing nationalisms'

Jack O'Connor will say: 'I believe that a new constitution should specify a significant minimum requirement in terms of the number of ‘Unionist’ ministers and the proportion of cabinet seats they would occupy, so as to avoid any suggestion of tokenism." Picture: Jim Coughlan

There must be a guarantee of Cabinet seats for Northern unionists in a unified Ireland government, Labour Party chairman Jack O’Connor will say today.

In a May Day address to the party’s union membership, Mr O’Connor, a former boss of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is calling for a guarantee of a significant number of unionist ministers in all governments in a future "shared Ireland" in the event of unification.