NI farmer elected to Seanad defends '˜unionist' credentials

Former Ulster Farmers Union president Ian Marshall was nominated for a seat in the Seanad by taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

The Markethill dairy farmer, who currently works at Queen’s University Belfast as a business development manager, has been an outspoken critic of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

When Sinn Fein announced its support for Mr Marshall’s candidacy on Wednesday, party president Mary Lou McDonald said she was “impressed” by his strong anti-Brexit views.

“I believe Ian will be a strong independent voice in the Seanad; providing an anti-Brexit unionist perspective, which is a welcome addition to the political discourse surrounding the issue in the Oireachtas.”

The support of Sinn Fein, and the fact that Mr Marshall has not been actively involved in Northern Ireland politics, led to some unionist figures dismissing his claim to be a unionist voice in Dublin.

Former Ukip leader in Northern Ireland David McNarry praised Mr Marshall as “a real nice guy,” but added: “What he has got himself into, and why he’s got himself into it, only he can explain.

“This is unadulterated tokenism. Let’s get a ‘remainer,’ let’s get a farmer, tick these boxes. In my opinion, this isn’t unionism,” he told the BBC Talkback programme.

“Where we are with unionism...when somebody does that, they strike themselves off the list as being a real unionist. A real unionist wouldn’t go and sit in a foreign government senate.”

DUP MLA Christopher Stalford said: “I don’t think it’s a particularly representative voice in terms of the unionist community, but the gentleman has been elected and has opted to take his seat, so that’s entirely up to him.

“In terms of the opinions that were expressed, the taoiseach has identified someone from within the unionist community who, largely, agrees with him in terms of the whole European issue. If he [Mr Varadkar] was genuinely interested in reconciling himself to the view of the unionist community, the overwhelming majority of unionists were in favour of leaving the European Union.”

Speaking to the News Letter on Friday night, Mr Marshall said: “I would say I’m actually a stronger unionist by virtue of being here. The easy thing would be not to engage. I’m not prepared to do that. I will talk to people and I will listen to people and everyone’s perspective. I think that is a much stronger unionist position.”

Asked if he understood the concerns of some unionists around Sinn Fein’s support for his appointment to the Seanad, Mr Marshall said: “If anybody says I’m pally with Sinn Fein, that is actually misreading the situation.

“The reality is, and if you look at the press release of Mary Lou McDonald, her opening statement was that Ian Marshall is a unionist, and that she is a republican.”

Commenting on the prospect of his support for free post-Brexit trade with the Republic leading to greater restrictions on the movement of goods between Northern Ireland and GB, Mr Marshall said: “As a unionist I certainly don’t want to see a border in the Irish Sea”.

Asked if he was in favour of remaining in the EU Customs Union, he said: “This discussion is going round and round. There are so many different elements to this Brexit discussion and the Customs Union is one element of it. A free trade deal doesn’t achieve anywhere near what we need to achieve.

“This is about ideology for different people. Those people who are firmly in the Brexit camp have the ideology that it is Brexit at all costs, and there are people who are in the remain camp who want to remain at all costs.

“I don’t subscribe to either.”

Mr Marshall said both sides of the argument were given “misleading” information ahead of the 2016 referendum, leading to a “Brexit that looks completely different” from the one envisaged prior to the vote.

“We need to go back to the people. We don’t have another referendum...but we go back to the people [and ask] ‘are you happy with this deal that we leave under?’ If the people decide that we are...then let’s all pull together and make it work.”

When asked for an example of the main unionist concerns he planned to raise in the Seanad, Mr Marshall said: “I suppose the main unionist concerns are that the unionists fear their views and opinions are under-represented, and that their voice isn’t heard.

“There is a fear that the absence of good representation means they are losing ground – they are losing position.”