SF: Rejoining Commonwealth may be on table
MARY Lou McDonald isn’t ruling out the possibility that Ireland could rejoin the Commonwealth if a future border poll on a united Ireland is successful.
The Sinn Féin leader believes a referendum on Irish unity is imminent – particularly in the event of a hard Brexit – and has acknowledged that any shared future will have to be welcoming to the unionist community.
When asked by the Irish Daily Mail if Sinn Féin would support rejoining the Commonwealth as a means of allowing unionists to retain a connection with the UK, Ms McDonald said she would ‘consider every proposal’.
‘I have consistently made the case for a debate and an engagement on Irish unity or a new Ireland that is inclusive. That is led not simply by Sinn Féin but that is in the possession of everybody who shares this island, including unionists,’ she said. ‘And yes, that issue that you raised of the Commonwealth may well be one of the issues that’s placed on the table. I don’t want to second-guess what anybody might bring to this debate.’
Pressed on whether she herself could support such a proposal, she said: ‘I have said we will consider every single proposal, on every single issue.’
The Commonwealth is an organisation of 53 member states which are former colonies or territories of the British empire.
Ireland automatically left the group when it became a republic in 1949, following the enactment of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948.
However, following this a number of other member states such as India were allowed to declare themselves as republics while also retaining their membership of the Commonwealth.
Ms McDonald’s comments are likely to cause concern to the more traditional republicans in her party but the Sinn Féin leader said it would be ‘ridiculous’ for her to call for an inclusive, open debate and then rule out proposals before they are discussed.
She also praised ex-DUP leader and former Northern Ireland first minister Peter Robinson for his recent comments saying unionists should begin to prepare for a united Ireland, saying: ‘I think he’s speaking common sense.’
While she expressed a desire for a border poll ‘sooner rather than later’, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday dismissed the calls as ‘premature’.
He said: ‘Now is definitely not the time for one... I think it would be very divisive and unsuccessful. I also think that in the current context – Brexit and no political institutions – it would not be very helpful to look at border polls and Northern Ireland. Now is not the time to get into all that.
‘The need is to get to powersharing and ever closer NorthSouth cooperation.’
‘Now is not the time for that’