Ireland will set up a government body that would for the first time undertake research and preparations for the possibility of future unity with British-run Northern Ireland, Prime Minister Micheal Martin was quoted as saying on Friday, Reuters reported from Dublin.
Source: Reuters
Martin told the Irish Times that the new body would be tasked with scoping out the models and challenges for different potential outcomes, including Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom or maintaining its devolved entity but as part of a united Ireland. He was fleshing out an idea first referenced in a speech this week, when he said a new approach was required to carefully address the need for an 'independent and dispassionate base of knowledge on which you can have a credible discussion about constitutional futures.'
Source: The Irish Times (interview, via Reuters)
'What has concerned me about this push for a border poll since Brexit is that it's partisan, it's a one-sided advocacy approach,' Martin told the Irish Times — a sign Dublin wants any future debate on unity to rest on researched evidence rather than campaigning alone.
What the Good Friday Agreement says, and what happens next
Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, which ended decades of conflict, the British government is obliged to call a referendum on Irish unity — a 'border poll' — if it appears likely that a majority of Northern Irish voters would back it. Martin's proposal does not call such a vote; it creates the research machinery that would come before any vote could be credibly discussed.
Martin's proposal, the first steps of which he said he would bring to cabinet before the end of the year, is the latest gradual move by the dominant government parties south of the border to consider what a united Ireland might look like, Reuters said. His government partner Fine Gael will publish what it has described as a blueprint for a unified island at its annual conference next week.
Irish governments have talked about unity for decades, but according to Martin's own account this body would be the first time Dublin itself formally researches and prepares for the possibility — including the option that Northern Ireland stays in the UK. That makes it a constitutional step, not just a speech.
What is solid
- Martin told the Irish Times, in an interview published Friday, that a new government body would research models and challenges for possible unity, and that he would bring first steps to cabinet before the end of the year.
- The 1998 Good Friday Agreement obliges the British government to call a border poll if a majority in Northern Ireland appears likely to back unity.
What is only claimed
- No border poll has been called or scheduled, and no date for the new body has been announced.
- How unionist parties in Northern Ireland and the British government will respond has not yet been reported.
Sources: Reuters; The Irish Times interview with Prime Minister Micheal Martin.