A REFERENDUM on Irish reunification is “closer than ever before” thanks to Brexit, Michelle O’Neill has said.
The Sinn Fein vice president told Sky News that her party has told the Irish government to prepare for a vote on uniting the two countries.
In an interview, O’Neill also accused Unionist leaders of conflating issues of identity and Brexit when the two are “distinctly different things”.
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It comes as a recent opinion poll carried out by the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool and The Irish News put Sinn Fein at 23.2% of first preference votest among decided voters - well ahead of the DUP at 19.4%.
There has been speculation that if Sinn Fein are voted the largest party in May’s Assembly elections then Unionist politicians will refuse to nominate a deputy first minister.
If Sinn Fein win the Stormont election then it would put O’Neill on course to become First Minister.
If Unionists attempt to block this by refusing to nominate a deputy, O’Neill was asked, is she would consider a voluntary coalition with smaller parties in the Assembly and allow them to nominate a deputy.
She said: “Well, I certainly think that we're closer than we ever have been previously, and I think now's the time to plan and that's why we're saying to the Irish government, now is the time for them to make the preparation.
“Let's not fall into the traps that have been fallen into in terms of Brexit, make the preparation.
“Let’s start to have a healthy conversation about the things that matter every day to people.
“What does the health service look like in a United Ireland? What does education look like in Ireland?
“So I think that this is a hopeful conversation because our society here has lived apart for far too long, because if the last couple of years of Brexit has taught us anything, is that the Tories will never prioritise the interests of people here, whether you're a Unionist, Nationalist or other.”
Speaking to Sky on Trevor Phillips on Sunday, O’Neill accused the UK Government of putting the Brexit agreement in “jeopardy”.
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She said: ““I think unfortunately for the Unionist people, for that wider civic society, the Unionist leaders have actually conflated the issue of the protocol and Brexit, a mess which they single-handedly delivered alongside their friends in the Tories.
“But they have conflated that issue of identity with the issue of trade, which comes about as a direct result of Brexit.
“There are two distinctly different things.”
O’Neill added that Brexit was “foisted” on the people of Northern Ireland and that there was never “cross-community support” for leaving the EU.
DUP first minister Paul Givan, left, was pulled out of Stormont in protest at the NI protocol
She added: “The majority of people here, the majority of political parties on a cross-community basis, voted to reject Brexit. Yet it was foisted upon us.
“This Tory government, and Boris Johnson, has shown at every turn that they do not care less for the people who live here.
“It is, in fact, the British government that negotiated the protocol.
“It is, in fact, them who signed up to an international treaty, which they have been putting in jeopardy ever since the ink was barely dry on the agreement itself.
“So, we are not in an ideal situation. However, the protocol does give us the best protection and does afford us a lot of opportunity.”
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Earlier this month, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson pulled DUP first minister Paul Givan out of the Stormont Executive in protest at the protocol – a move that removed the powersharing administration’s ability to make any significant decisions and automatically removed O’Neill as deputy.
Unionist parties have long argued that the post-Brexit deal, which has created trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, had undermined a cornerstone of powersharing in the region – governance with the consent of both Nationalists and Unionists.
O’Neill, however, has said that cross-border trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic is “flourishing” as a direct result of the protocol and that the mechanism has mitigated against the worst impacts of Brexit.
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