Mary Lou McDonald has predicted there will be a border poll by 2030.

The Sinn Fein President made the claim while on a visit this week to Australia.

Previously Mrs McDonald had claimed there would be a United Ireland by the same year.

Speaking to the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra, she said violence would not “throw us off our democratic course” and said a referendum on a united Ireland would take place “in this decade.”

placeholder image — Mary Lou McDonald said a referendum on a united Ireland would take place 'in this decade'

Mrs McDonald said the island was “in the end days of partition.”

She continued: “The momentum behind Irish unity is unprecedented. We are energised with the opportunity to build a new United Ireland.

“We have the generation that can - that will - redefine our nation. The Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement provides for referendums on Irish unity, and I believe that these will happen in this decade, so we must prepare. Both governments have a responsibility to prepare.

The Sinn Fein leader also appealed to the new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to lobby in favour of a united Ireland on the international stage.

“I believe European leaders, just as Australian leaders, should advocate for the final leg - the final logical leg - of the peace journey in Ireland, and that is reunification.

“Of course I wouldn’t presume to say to your new Prime Minister what he should do, or how he should articulate that, but I would hope in a bipartisan way that there would be an understanding and a tacit support for the Irish cause.”