Michelle O’Neill: Irish unity is within our grasp

Speaking on Sunday at the launch of the party’s local election campaign held in Roganstown, Co Dublin, Ms O’Neill predicted there will be referendum on Irish unity “within a short number of years”.

Claiming that Brexit had forced many people to change their views on unity, Ms O’Neill said many in the population were no longer apathetic about the prospects of a united Ireland.

“A new conversation and public discourse is under way about Ireland’s strategic interests post-Brexit and our constitutional future,” she said.

“People of all shades of opinion can see that the Good Friday Agreement provides a peaceful and democratic path to Irish Unity and with it a pathway back into the EU.

“The political landscape is changing. Change is in the air.

“Over the past two elections in the north the unionist majority has gone.

“The notion of a perpetual unionist majority - the very basis of partition - is gone.

“Brexit has now also completely transformed the context.

“People who were previously apathetic about a United Ireland are re-engaged, and people who would have been opposed to a United Ireland are now reconsidering their position.

“There is no doubt that Brexit has been a catalyst for mainstreaming the debate now underway, where people of all shades of opinion are considering the benefits of remaining within the United Kingdom against the merits of staying within the European Union through a unified Ireland.

“What Brexit means – Deal or No Deal - is that a United Ireland is no longer a long-term aim.

“A referendum on Irish unity is a very real prospect within the next short number of years.

“A United Ireland is within our grasp. We are in the most defining period since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and Ireland is changing rapidly.

“There will be a unity referendum and we need to prepare for it, and to win it we need to reach out and work with people from all identities, and ideologies, and persuade them that their interests are best served in a United Ireland.”