DUP: Michelle O’Neill’s demand for border poll criteria proves we were right

Foyle MLA Gary Middleton said the DUP’s warning that Sinn Fein coming out top in the Assembly election would result in endless calls for a border poll have been proven correct.

The Sinn Fein vice president said there was a need to fill in the “grey” area of the Belfast Agreement on the circumstances for holding a referendum on constitutional change.

Her comments come after Irish deputy premier Leo Varadkar also called for clarity on the mechanism for calling a poll.

Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday/Belfast agreement, a vote should be triggered if the secretary of state for Northern Ireland believes that it appears likely that a majority would back constitutional change.

Ms O’Neill was asked about Leo Varadkar’s remarks that he did not believe the criteria had been met to call a border poll in Northern Ireland.

Speaking to reporters yesterday she said: “There is a need for clarity, we should always have clarity.

“We should know what are the circumstances in which a unity referendum will be called.

“I think that would be really important for the public to understand what we’re working towards. So, I think there’s no doubt that the Good Friday Agreement is a bit grey in terms of the criteria, but yes that should be clarified.

“It says it’s for the secretary of state to call the unity referendum whenever he thinks that there will be a successful outcome to that referendum. So I just think we need clarity around that, I think that would be helpful for everybody.”

Mr Middleton said: “We warned about this before the election and our warnings were dismissed as scaremongering. Our warnings have been proven correct.”

Giving a speech at a business dinner on Tuesday evening hosted by the peace building organisation Co-Operation Ireland, Mr Varadkar said he did not believe the test for calling a referendum had been met.

While Sinn Fein emerged as the largest party in the recent Assembly election, Mr Varadkar reminded the dinner that the overall number of MLAs at Stormont who supported unification had fallen amid a surge by the unaligned Alliance Party.

In response Ms O’Neill urged the tanaiste to concentrate his efforts on establishing an all-island citizens’ assembly tasked with planning for unification.

“There’s no doubt the conversation around the unification of the country and constitutional change is under way,” she said.

“That was the case before the election, it’s the case after the election.”

Mr Middleton said while Sinn Fein had publicly played down its core demand for a border poll during the election campaign Ms O’Neill’s remarks yesterday reveal its real agenda.

“Sinn Fein’s sole focus is on creating more division with a border poll. Now on Wednesday Sinn Fein is calling for more action on a border poll even though Northern Ireland is best placed within the United Kingdom.”