Ireland Needs to Prepare for Unity Vote, Foreign Minister Says

(Bloomberg) — Ireland needs to be prepared for a vote on whether to reunify with the UK’s Northern Ireland region, Irish foreign minister Helen McEntee said.

“I do believe that there will be a border poll at some stage,” McEntee told reporters in Wicklow, Ireland, ahead of a European Union foreign ministers meeting Wednesday. “It is for the people of Northern Ireland to decide this and it is only where there’s a view that there may be a majority that we should move forward on this.”

Her comments came after UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said any conversation about uniting the Republic with Northern Ireland is “off the table,” comparing it to Britain’s divisive Brexit referendum. Burnham made the comments during a recent visit to Northern Ireland, signaling he would stick with the position of past premiers.

The issue of a border poll, as the vote on unification is known, is contentious in both the UK and Ireland, which act as co-guarantors of the 1990s peace accord that largely ended sectarian violence between British unionists and Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland.

A vote can only be called by the UK’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when it “appears likely” that a majority of people in the region would support reunification, as stipulated in the landmark Good Friday Agreement.

Support for Irish unification is growing in Northern Ireland, especially among younger voters, but recent polling suggests there is still no clear majority in favor. 

Irish Prime Minister, Micheal Martin, who leads McEntee’s Fine Gael’s coalition partner Fianna Fail, recently said talks of unity make him “go bananas,” claiming appetite is not strong enough yet for a poll.

“We are strong supporters of the Good Friday Agreement,” UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told reporters in Wicklow, where he is attending the meeting as a guest. He declined to comment on McEntee’s remarks.

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