SDLP backs TD’S call for Republic to appoint a ‘Minister for Reunification’
THE SDLP has thrown its weight behind a call for the Irish government to appoint a ‘Minister for Reunification’.
The suggestion was made by Cork Fianna Fail TD James O’connor amid intensifying speculation about the holding of a border poll which Irish nationalists hope would see Northern Ireland vote to leave the United Kingdom.
The TD told the Irish Examiner newspaper a dedicated minister was needed to oversee “the ongoing shared dialogue between the people of this island and to prepare for a referendum on a united Ireland”.
He added: “Irish unity is a mammoth task requiring vast constitutional change and serious planning. This is why the issue needs a minister of state and perhaps in time, its own government department.”
An SDLP spokesperson told the Belfast Telegraph: “We are supportive of this idea.
“It is right that the irish government lead the preparation towards a new Ireland .”
The Cork TD’S call comes as the Orange Order ended its engagement with Taoiseach Micheal Martin’s ‘Shared Island’ unit amid increasing unionist anger over the operation of the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol.
However, the Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken said last night that it was a matter for the Dublin government to decide what ministers it wanted to appoint. He added: “It will only be the people of Northern Ireland who decide Northern Ireland’s future as set out under the principle of consent in the Belfast Agreement.
“It is in everyone’s interests to create a Northern Ireland at ease with itself rather than attempting to reduce the Belfast Agreement to one binary issue raising the old arguments of the past.
“Focusing on calls from a section of nationalism for a border poll diverts constructive political and civic energy away from making Northern Ireland work and concentrating on what most people think of as priorities such as welfare, health, employment and education.”