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Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said that a border poll on a united Ireland should be held on the 30th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement.<\/p>\nFormer Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said that a border poll on a united Ireland should be held on the 30th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement.<\/p>\n
The former Fianna F\u00e1il leader said that while a referendum on a united Ireland is not \u201cfor now\u201d, the right time to have one would be in 2028.<\/p>\n
Mr Ahern said that he raised the issue when he met with former US senator George Mitchell, former British prime minister Tony Blair and former US president Bill Clinton to mark the 20th anniversary of the agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said at that stage two things have to happen,\u201d Mr Ahern told Newstalk.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is that we have to have institutions under the Good Friday Agreement that were stable for a prolonged period \u2013 we haven\u2019t had that ever since the agreement in 23 years,\u201d Mr Ahern said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like the idea of \u2018border poll\u2019, because it is an issue of sovereignty and how it will happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second point I made was the propriety work that made sense of all of this, which has really only commenced. There\u2019s the Shared Island unit, which is something I support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a whole lot of other academic work going on.<\/p>\n
Mr Ahern continued: \u201cBoth of those things have to happen and what I said at that stage, that any idea of a vote that was seen in the Good Friday Agreement, should be probably on the 30th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which is at the end of the decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see it being held in the short-term and I think those two conditions have to be fulfilled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the other side, it was an absolute understanding to bring republicans and nationalists on side, that somewhere in the future would be a poll. That was set out on the constitutional section of the Good Friday Agreement and also in the British-Irish Agreement which is the annex to the GFA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat aspiration has to be there and it has to be fulfilled. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s for now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said that a border poll on a united Ireland should be held on the 30th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement (PA)
\nMr Ahern made the comments after a poll found a majority of people in Northern Ireland would like to see a referendum on the reunification of Ireland within the next five years.<\/p>\n
The Sunday Times last week commissioned a series of surveys across the four nations of the United Kingdom to gauge attitudes towards the union.<\/p>\n
It found voters across the UK believe Scotland is likely to become independent within the next decade, but in Wales and England support for independence is low.<\/p>\n
In Northern Ireland, it found 47 per cent want to remain in the UK, with 42 per cent in favor of a united Ireland and a significant proportion \u2013 11 per cent \u2013 undecided.<\/p>\n
Asked if they support a referendum on a united Ireland within the next five years, 51 per cent said yes compared to 44 per cent who are against the idea.<\/p>\n
However, it was criticized by Northern Ireland\u2019s first minister Arlene Foster, who described a border poll on a united Ireland as \u201cabsolutely reckless\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Ahern, who is still involved with a number of groups in Northern Ireland, said that there is a \u201chuge dislike\u201d of the Northern Ireland protocol within loyalism.<\/p>\n
He said he regularly meets with groups from both sides of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand within loyalism, within loyalist groups, (there is) a huge dislike to the protocol and particularly the border down the Irish sea,\u201d Mr Ahern added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is some anxieties and we have to watch that.\u201d<\/p>\n