Every party running in the next Dáil elections should make manifesto pledges that Irish unification is “an objective, not an aspiration” and back the establishment of a New Ireland Forum to plan for it, former taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
New ideas would have to be contemplated by everyone in favour of unification, he said, including, perhaps, having a president and a vice-president, where one of the offices would have to be held by a British citizen.
In a post-unification state, the Dáil could sit in Stormont at times, he said, while an enlarged cabinet of perhaps 20 ministers would have a guaranteed number of British passport-holders.
Today, Mr Varadkar developed his thoughts in a speech in Derry to a meeting of the SDLP’s New Ireland Commission.
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“A new Ireland is likely in the coming decades but it is by no means certain,” he said.
A united Ireland “will have almost a million people who are British,” he said. “We should accept that ... [we should] try to design a united Ireland with them, so it’s their home too.
“Everything doesn’t have to be in Dublin in a new Ireland ... there’s no reason why the Dáil and Seanad couldn’t sit for a time in Stormont.”
In a press conference afterwards, Mr Varadkar expanded on his views, saying “there should be a section on Northern Ireland making unification not just an aspiration but an objective” in the manifesto of every party running for government in the Republic.
[ Leo Varadkar interview: All parties must make Irish unity ‘an objective, not just an aspiration’ ]
Speaking ahead of the Derry event, he told The Irish Times: “For a lot of people, unification is an aspiration, it’s an idea. Whereas I think it needs to become an objective for the next government in Ireland, no matter who’s in that government.
“I’m not saying it should just be in the Fine Gael manifesto, I’m saying that it should be in the manifesto of all the parties,” he told The Irish Times in an interview conducted near the end of a visit to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
Unity is not “inevitable”, he said: “[But] I think almost all trends point towards unification in the next few decades. I can’t put a timeline, but in the next few decades. There are lots of different things in its favour.
“There are the demographics, the fact that the Republic is so much more prosperous now than the North, and then also that Brexit has changed the UK’s relationship with Europe and the rest of the world.”
His speech in the SSE Arena in Belfast in June to the pro-unity campaign group Ireland’s Future, where he called for current budget surpluses to be put aside to pay for unity, raised eyebrows in Dublin.
There some wondered whether Mr Varadkar was moving further down the line than his successor, Simon Harris, who on taking office said unity is “an aspiration, but not a priority”.
Faced with this argument, he told The Irish Times: “Look, one of the great things about stepping back from electoral politics is I don’t really have to worry about what people in politics or in the media really think about me any more.”
“It’s not something I’m overly concerned about. I say what I think is true and I do what I think is right and I don’t have to be worrying about tiptoeing around that kind of stuff any more,” he goes on.
“There are many in Fine Gael who see us as ‘the united Ireland’ party and want us to be the party that plays a role, who see the work of the party’s founding fathers like Collins and Cosgrave and others to be incomplete and would like to see it completed,” he declared.
A strong pro-unity position by the next Irish government would not damage relations with British prime minister Keir Starmer, he believed, especially since London “will want a lot of help” from Dublin in its relations with Brussels.
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However, he was doubtful about the value of a devolved Stormont continuing to exist after unification, though that is “something that has to potentially be in the mix and be part of the debate”.
Responding to Mr Varadkar’s remarks, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said on Thursday she is glad the former taoiseachhas found his “inner Shinner” in voicing his commitment to a United Ireland.
She said it was a belated conversion for Mr Varadkar and said it is only after leaving the office of taoiseach that he has found his appetite for reunification.
“This is where every political party should be. This is a big opportunity for our island to consolidate peace, to finally reach a future point of reconciliation and to benefit from the huge economic and social and political opportunity that will present to us.”
She said it needed to be more than rhetoric and involve a commitment to a referendum in the future.
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