Alex Salmond calls for a united Ireland on his Russian TV show
FORMER Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has called for a united Ireland, claiming there are few “rational reasons” left to oppose it.
Mr Salmond made the comments on his Kremlin-funded RT, formerly Russia Today, programme during a debate with ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Mr Salmond said: “There’s the question of Irish reunification. It may not be an immediate prospect but it can be argued that every rational reason for the partition of a century ago has either been eroded, or has disappeared entirely.”
The programme follows a warning from the UK parliament intelligence security committee this week, accusing Russia of using state-owned broadcasters like RT to spread disinformation.
During the debate Mr Ahern said the Taoiseach Micheal Martin was right to be cautious about demands for an immediate border poll to align Northern Ireland with EU regulations.
“The harsh reality is, even though the border has been a big issue on the island since 1921, the amount of work, preparedness and analysis on how you would eliminate it and have one island economy is very little — it wouldn’t even fill one folder,” he said.
“There is a huge amount of preparedness, legislative examination, legal examination, how you would integrate the police forces, the legal systems, all of these things would have to be worked through before you could go to the people.
“That work has never been done. We’ve been talking at each other for years. If somebody wants to rush it for political reasons, you will get a political answer and the people will reject it.”