Border poll could inflame tensions: Irish minister Charlie Flanagan

Mr Flanagan was responding to repeated calls for the Irish government to back a referendum on Irish unity amid mounting concerns around the possibility of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit.

The Fine Gael minister suggested that Sinn Fein should focus on the restoration or power-sharing at Stormont.

In a Twitter message on Sunday, Mr Flanagan said: “Sinn Fein propose that inclusive talks take place on a border poll. Two years ago the electorate in Northern Ireland mandated the parties including Sinn Fein to enter into talks to form an Executive. They refuse.”

Mr Flanagan added: “Border poll now could inflame already tense political situation.”

Last week former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said calls for a border poll in the middle of the Brexit deadlock were “irresponsible”.

Addressing Westminster’s Exiting the EU select committee, Mr Ahern said he strongly believed a border poll should not happen for the “foreseeable future”.

Sinn Fein’s Niall O Donnghaile branded Mr Flanagan’s comments “ill-informed” and “devoid of reality”.

Senator O Donnghaile said a poll would be a “legitimate exercise in democratic expression” and added: “While appreciating minister Flanagan spent very little time here in his previous capacity as foreign affairs minister, it is obvious that his latest remarks are even more monumentally out of touch and ignorant of the political reality transpiring on the ground.”