The Taoiseach should tell
British prime minister Theresa May that she does not "represent anyone in the North" when Mr Kenny meets her in London today, the Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has said.
Mr Adams also said it was not inevitable that the North would leave the EU.
“The people of the North had a vote. The people of the North clearly said they wanted to remain, and that has to be taken into account.”
He again called for a debate about a Border poll. However, he misstated one of the key provisions of the Belfast Agreement governing the holding of a referendum on Irish unity in the North.
“Remember, if you lose the first referendum there would have to be another one seven years afterwards – which is probably what’s concerning some of the unionists,” Mr Adams told journalists at Leinster House.
Belfast Agreement
However, this is not the case. The text of the Belfast Agreement says if a Border poll takes place there cannot be another vote within seven years – not that there should be another poll after seven years.
Asked for a clarification, a spokesman for Mr Adams later said it was a "matter of interpretation. The important thing is that we have the debate on these matters." Mr Adams said that a united Ireland would be a changed Ireland which would not repeat the mistakes of the past.
“There’s no issue about us trying to do to unionists what was done to people like myself and others in the North since partition.” Mr Adams said the “technical arrangement” under the Belfast Agreement was that the Northern Secretary may trigger a Border poll.
Prompted, Mr Adams added that, under the agreement, this should happen when the Northern Secretary thought there was a majority view in favour of such a proposal.
“But that’s the technicalities. No secretary of state is going to trigger it.
“It’s obviously a decision that would be taken by the two governments. So, leave aside the legal technicality, let’s deal with the reality.
“If an Irish government gets itself into a space that it wants to see this, then the two governments will decide on whether it goes ahead or not.”
Apprehension
Mr Adams said that there was increasing apprehension across Northern society about the prospect of leaving the EU.
"I can tell you without fear of contradiction at all that people across the North . . . are very fearful about the negative consequence of the North being pulled out of the European Union, " the Sinn Féin leader said. "I'm not saying they're becoming united Irelanders but they are open to the notion of different relationships and that's where the focus should be."
He said there are “a number of economic studies . . . which show that Irish unity will benefit the people of the island, that it just makes sense to have one economic unit on the island.”
Asked about these studies, he cited a report by Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín.
Other studies have also suggested reunification would produce an economic boost, though they have been questioned by some economists and commentators, who point out that the Republic would be obliged to replace the enormous fiscal transfers which London currently makes to the North.
