Leo Varadkar: Ireland is currently 'on the path' to unification

Taoiseach expects to see united Ireland in his lifetime

The Taoiseach said in any united Ireland, there would be a minority of about one million people who would identify as British. Picture: RollingNews.ie

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar expects to see a united Ireland in his lifetime and that the country is currently “on the path” to unification.

The Taoiseach said in any united Ireland, there would be a minority of about one million people who would identify as British.

“I believe we are on the path to unification. I believe that there will be a united Ireland in my lifetime," Mr Varadkar said.

“In that united Ireland there is going to be a minority, roughly a million people who are British and you judge the success and quality of a country by the way it treats its minorities.” 

Mr Varadkar previously made comments on a united Ireland in his lifetime at the Fine Gael ard fheis in 2021, where he faced criticism from both unionists and the British government.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Mr Varadkar made the comments after being asked if he would be buying tickets for the upcoming Wolfe Tones concert, following their recent success.

He commented on the band's performance at Electric Picnic, saying he was unable to catch it, but some people have “read too much into the politics” of the gig.

People like ballads, they like songs they can sing along to. I think some people maybe read too much into the politics of this.” 

He said while Republican ballads can be “a nice song to sing, easy words to learn for some people”, they can be “deeply offensive” to others.

Mr Varadkar compared it to people living in the southern half of the United States, where people may sing about the confederacy.

“They think its an expression of their culture and so on and that’s what they say, but that is deeply offensive to the minority, the black community in America,” Mr Varadkar said.

“If we’re going to unite this country and unite the people of this country, a bit like Patrick Kielty says, we just need to have a think about how our words and how the songs we sing might be heard by other people.”