BERTIE: GET READY FOR A REFERENDUM ON UNITING IRELAND
Architect of Good Friday deal says Brexit could spark border poll
BERTIE Ahern believes that a border poll on a united Ireland is now likely, thanks to Brexit.
Though previously firmly against the idea, the former taoiseach – and key player in brokering the Good Friday Agreement – has told the BBC: ‘I wouldn’t say it’s inevitable, but I do think you will see a border poll.’
As recently as last June, Mr Ahern rejected calls for such a poll, calling them ‘ridiculous’, and adding that a united Ireland ‘won’t happen in my lifetime’.
However, as Brexit looms, he now believes the question voters face will not just be about a united Ireland – but will also concern the North staying in the EU.
He said: ‘I do think if the UK – which seems almost positive now – pulls out of
the EU, the issue then will not just be about whether there should be a united Ireland, people will also be reflecting: do Northern Ireland want to be in the European Union or not?’
He added: ‘I do see that being a factor, that people who want to be in Europe will say a united Ireland is more attractive.’
His comments came after the BBC quoted three unnamed British cabinet ministers talking about the increased likelihood of a border poll if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
It was reported last month that Northern Secretary Karen Bradley warned her UK cabinet colleagues that a poll on a united Ireland would be much more likely in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Secretary is obliged to call a vote on the constitutional issue if there is evidence of a change in public opinion in the North in favour of reunification.
In June last year, Mr Ahern rejected calls for a border poll and the idea that a decision on a united Ireland would be made by a simple majority.
He told an audience, at a commemoration on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement: ‘If the British subvention to Northern Ireland was to go in the morning, we would be back in a recession worse than the one we just came out of.
‘The only way it would work is when the nationalist and republican communities and a reasonable share of the loyalist and unionist people want it – but with the unionists and loyalists totally opposed, it is ridiculous.’
Last night, DUP leader Arlene Foster dismissed the ideal of such a vote. She said: ‘The Belfast [Good Friday] Agreement sets out the criteria for a border poll and it hasn’t been satisfied and therefore will not be called.’
Ms Foster was asked about the issue after she met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Belfast.
When asked about the reports that British ministers believed that a no-deal Brexit would lead to a border poll, Ms Foster dismissed them as ‘Project Fear’ – the phrase used by Brexiteers when business leaders and economists warn of the dangers of Britain leaving the EU.
She said: ‘There are many people engaging in Project Fear at this point in time and we all have to recognise that.’ But Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill, who also met Mr Varadkar during his round of engagements with the Stormont parties, said she raised the issue of a referendum with the Taoiseach.
‘We have put the issue of a unity referendum to the Taoiseach, to the British prime minister [Theresa May] on every occasion on which we would meet them,’ she said. ‘Remember the unity referendum is built into the Good Friday Agreement; it will be for the people of this island to decide the constitutional future.
‘Clearly we want to see a deal, we do not want to see a crash-out Brexit, but if we do find ourselves in the scenario where there is a crash-out Brexit, then the tools which the British prime minister and Taoiseach must look to are actually written into the Good Friday Agreement, and that is the unity referendum.’
‘Engaging in Project Fear’