Adams calls for anti-Brexit North to be given special status in EU

NORTHERN Ireland needs special status within the EU, or the Good Friday Agreement risks being destroyed, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams told a conference on Irish unity last night.

Mr Adams – who is expected to name Tyrone MLA Michelle O’Neill as a successor to Martin McGuinness as Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland this week – claimed last night that ending partition between the Republic and the North of Ireland has taken on a new importance in the wake of last June’s Brexit referendum.

With the North voting to stay in the EU, the Northern Ireland Assembly facing an election and fears of a ‘hard border’ increasing, the status of the border is up for discussion.

‘As the dire economic implications of Brexit take shape there is an opportunity to promote a new agreed Ireland,’ said Mr Adams in his address to the United Ireland conference in Dublin.

‘The speech by Theresa May will have reinforced this,’ said Mr Adams.

Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU referendum by a majority of 56%.

‘The dangers of a hard Brexit are now more obvious than before. The North needs a special designated status within the EU,’ said Mr Adams.

He also said that taking Northern Ireland out of the EU would ‘destroy’ the Belfast Agreement peace deal.

He claimed fundamental human rights enshrined in the 1998 accord to end violence could be undermined. Stormont’s top legal adviser has said not one word in the agreement would be affected.

The Sinn Féin leader said the North should enjoy special status within the union of 27 states after Brexit and claimed that would not affect the constitutional settlement securing its status as part of the UK.

‘Taking the North out of the EU will. It will destroy the Good Friday Agreement,’ he said. ‘The British government’s intention to take the North out of the EU, despite the wish of the people there to remain, is a hostile action.

‘Not just because of the implications of a hard border on this island but also because of its negative impact on the Good Friday Agreement.

‘The British prime minister repeated her intention to bring an end to the jurisdiction of

Michelle O’Neill ‘to succeed McGuinness’

the European Court. Along with her commitment to remove Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights this stand threatens to undermine the fundamental human rights elements of the Good Friday Agreement.’

Mr Adams added: ‘The British position also fails to take account of the fact that citizens in the North, under the Agreement, have a right to Irish citizenship and therefore EU citizenship.’

Mr Adams used the occasion to urge Northern unionists to consider the once unthinkable. ‘Partition has had a hugely negative impact,’ he said. As well as creating unnecessary duplication of services, he said it had ‘sustained decades of conflict, inequality and sectarianism’.

He said he was committed to winning unionist support for unity. ‘We need to address the genuine fears and concerns of unionists in a meaningful way.

‘We need to look at what they mean by their sense of Britishness and be willing to explore and be open to new concepts.’

The Northern Ireland Assembly collapsed earlier this month, with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness resigning. Mr McGuinness resigned in relation to the ‘Cash for Ash’ controversy embroiling First Minister Arlene Foster. Diagnosed with a heart condition, Mr McGuinness will not contest the upcoming election.

‘We need to address genuine fears’