DUP MPs round on Leo Varadkar over united Ireland comments: 'It is worse than baloney, but that's the only repeatable word'

In fact, Jim Shannon said they were worse than “baloney”, but that was the only repeatable word he could use for them.

Meanwhile fellow DUP MP Sammy Wilson said it shows the “arrogance” of Mr Varadkar, and his willingness to “interfere in our affairs”.

They rounded upon Mr Varadkar after the erstwhile Irish premier called upon Irish parties to prioritise the goal of unification, and suggested some ways to make it happen.

Mr Varadkar served two spells as taoiseach, from 2017 to 2020, then from 2022 to April 2024. In between that, he was the tanaiste (deputy). Throughout that whole period, he was leader of his party, Fine Gael.

Speaking at an SDLP event in Londonderry on Thursday, he proposed a two-stage referendum process.

This would involve an initial vote where people on both sides of the border would decide whether they agree "in principle" with constitutional change.

This would be followed by a planning stage where the details of how the new state would look would be drawn up, then a second, "confirmatory" vote afterwards.

He also suggested the Irish parliament could sit at Stormont for parts of the year, and proposed that the unified state could have a president and vice-president, one of whom would be from the unionist/British tradition.

He further said that the next Irish government should boost funding in the state's existing Shared Island initiative, and set up its own commission to examine unification.

On top of this, Mr Varadkar said that all parties fighting the forthcoming general election in the Republic should make unification an “objective”, not just an aspiration.

Mr Shannon, who has been MP for Strangford since 2010, was unsparing in his criticism.

“My goodness me – what a lot of baloney,” he said.

"It really shows just how out-of-touch he is with the real world, and maybe that’s the reason why he won’t be in politics much longer.

"Time for him to wise up and catch up to reality. This makes quite clear where Leo is, and where we are.

"Fleur Anderson [the Labour junior Northern Ireland minister] made it very clear this week that a border poll for a united Ireland is not on their agenda, is not a priority, it’s not something they have in mind to do – maybe Leo wasn’t listening to that particular conversation.

"He’s putting forward ideas which he thinks will try to sell perhaps the possibility of this border poll, and ultimately a united Ireland, to unionists.

"He has lost it completely. The fact is unionists aren’t interested in a border poll, aren’t interested in a united Ireland, and indeed it’s fair to say there’s a large proportion of people from right across political opinion in Northern Ireland who are not convinced of his pipe dream.

"A vice-president from the unionist community?! I mean, that’s nonsense. Baloney is not the right word to sum it up, but it’s as close as I can get to something that’s suitable and repeatable.”

Mr Varadkar – who will not re-contest his seat in the upcoming Irish election – also said the economy, health service, childcare support and welfare system were all in a better state in the Republic of Ireland than in Northern Ireland.

"So I think we're in a very different place than we were 100 years ago, or 50 years ago, or even 20 years ago," he said.

"The case for unification and the arguments for unification are a lot stronger than they were then."

Mr Shannon responded: “In the Republic of Ireland you’ll be higher taxed. Your houses and mortgages will cost more.

"Why would any person want to even remotely think about a border poll or united Ireland when the fact is it’s more expensive to live in the Republic of Ireland?”

Mr Wilson, East Antrim MP since 2005, meanwhile said: “This is typical of Varadkar. He interferes in our affairs, he’s arrogant in the way he does it, he’s reckless in the approach he makes to these things, and only causes annoyance and tension within the unionist community.

"He’d be far, far better to stay down south and keep his nose out of our affairs.

"It’s for the people of NI to make a decision as to whether or not they wish to remain within the UK – and they clearly, by a huge majority, still hold that view.”