Ireland will be united “within a generation” as Brexit speeds up calls for a border poll, the vice-president of Sinn Fein said today.
Michelle O’Neill claimed Brexit had become a “catalyst” in the debate over Irish unity as the British government takes the people of Northern Ireland out of the EU “against their wishes”.
In an interview with the Standard, she said: “The genie is out of the bottle on Irish unity and it’s not going to go back in. I believe we are very quickly moving, this is an irreversible trend.
Now is the chance for us all to be generous, for us all to work on the principle point that the future of a new and agreed Ireland has to be one where Irish identity and British identity live side-by-side.”
There have been increased calls for Irish unity since the 2016 Brexit referendum, when 55.8 per cent of the Northern Ireland electorate voted to remain in the EU.
Sinn Fein has said it wants a border poll within five years.
Ms O’Neill said “nothing good” comes from Brexit for people living in Ireland, but added: “Brexit has become a catalyst and people are now considering where their interests are best going to be served.”
She sought to reassure unionists by adding: “No one has anything to fear from us sitting down together to actually plan a future that’s better.”
She called on the Irish government to set up a forum to start the conversation as a “matter of urgency”.
The EU has said that Northern Ireland would automatically resume EU membership in the event of a united Ireland.
