MR Proinsias De Rossa, in what was described as a "historic" occasion, told a unionist gathering that without an "Irish dimension" there can be no durable political settlement in Northern Ireland.
Despite the starkness of his message, unionists gave Mr De Rossa a cordial reception in Belfast yesterday. "A settlement that sticks must have an integral North South dimension," he told the Ulster Unionist Labour group.
In addressing about 30 people, in the Wellington Park Hotel in Belfast, Mr De Rossa became the first Dublin Government Minister and the first southern party leader to address a unionist forum, according to Mr Michael McGimpsey of the UUP Labour group. In that sense it was a "historic" event, he said.
The Democratic Left leader _ and Minister for Social Welfare said the Government was committed to the principle of consent. The North South dimension was not a ploy to inveigle unionists into a united Ireland.
"Just as Irish nationalists who continue to deny the irreducible British allegiance of Ulster unionists are denying reality, so too are Ulster unionists who refuse to accept the Irish nationalist identity of many Northern citizens," he said.
"This is not a case for joint sovereignty but it is a case for the acceptance of a real Irish dimension to any durable settlement," Mr De Rossa added.
He said that, contrary to what some people in Sinn Fein and the DUP appeared to believe, he did not accept that the "British political elite" was busily plotting extrication from Northern Ireland.
He said that in 1975, when British prime minister Harold Wilson and some of his associates were toying with the notion of withdrawal, it was made clear to Mr Wilson that the Irish Government would be "opposed to such a hare brained idea given its potential for chaos."
"Both governments recognise the principle of consent as the bedrock of any just and lasting settlement. Scaremongering should be rejected by all sensible unionists, and my Government believes that the vast majority of unionist people are both sensible and realistic," said Mr De Rossa.
He praised the Unionist labour tradition a representing the rational, progressive strand of unionist political thought. "It should seek a unionism not based on sectarian head counting, free of institutional links with any denominational institution, a unionism that is outward looking and capable of putting its case not just in all of Northern Ireland but in London, Washington and, of course, Dublin, Cork and Galway, said Mr De Rossa.
During a polite question and answer session after his speech, Mr De Rossa said he was opposed to any proposals for the Republic to rejoin the British Commonwealth.
Before his address, Mr De Rossa told reporters that realistically a referendum to remove Articles 2 and 3 could take place only after a political settlement in the North.
Mr De Rossa rejected the argument that unless the British government put pressure on unionists they would do nothing to try to reach a political settlement. "I get tired with that sort of bullshit, unionists, just as much as nationalists, want a solution," he said.
