Micheál Martin downplays chance of border poll in five years
Micheál Martin said that reconciliation on the island and uniting people was more important than the mechanisms involved.
There is unlikely to be a poll on Irish reunification in the next five years, according to the Tánaiste.
Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, a border poll should be called by the incumbent Northern Ireland Secretary when he or she believes there is evidence that public opinion in the region has shifted in favour of constitutional change.
Successive UK governments have consistently declined to specify publicly what criteria will be applied when measuring public sentiment on the issue. Sinn Féin has said that the work needed to deal with a post-vote Ireland should begin now. The party held an event outlining its plans for unity in Dublin on Friday.
However, asked in Navan if he was committed to a 32-county Ireland, Micheál Martin said that reconciliation on the island and uniting people was more important than the mechanisms involved.
"The political structures will evolve in the fullness of time. But what worries me about some others who are putting forward proposals is that they're putting structures first, not the hard work of reconciliation."
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Mr Martin said that the situation in Ireland has changed since his childhood, with the physical border on the island now gone. Asked if he believed in a unified Ireland under a single government, Mr Martin said that this was not the major concern.
He said:
Sinn Féin's plan would see MPs from the North given speaking rights in the Oireachtas and the party says it will "commence planning for and actively working toward the holding, by the end of this decade, of the referendums on Irish reunification provided for in the Good Friday Agreement".
Launching their proposals on Irish unity, Ms McDonald outlined that any legal action against another government would not be the first option, but could be used after diplomatic and political processes are exhausted.
Ms McDonald said that the “most consequential” thing to move the dial on a unity referendum would be the position of the Taoiseach, who must move to pressure the British Government on the matter.
“The British system will not voluntarily offer up a referendum. The first major shift has to be the Taoiseach making clear, on behalf of the Irish people, that the readiness, that the preparation is underway and to begin the political and diplomatic pressure,” Ms McDonald said.
She added that the pressure would be around activating existing processes within the Good Friday Agreement that set out the terms for when a unity referendum must be held.
Matt Carthy took aim at Mr Martin’s comments earlier on Friday, saying that he was “disgusted” to see the Tánaiste downplay and diminish the prospects of a united Ireland.
“It is staggering to me that a Fianna Fáil leader would continuously take that approach,” Mr Carthy said.
“I think what Micheál Martin has done is a disservice to those Fianna Fáil members of whatever generation, who believed passionately that the partition of our country was a historic injustice and that Irish governments should strive to undo it.”
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that it was an “astonishing position” for a Fianna Fáil leader to take, saying that she could not understand the logic or rationale of Mr Martin.
“I actually think it’s irresponsible of any political leader to refuse to plan for the future,” she added. “Who would do that, how does that make any sense?”
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