O’Neill urges PM to use peace deal’s 30th anniversary to announce unity poll

Michelle O’Neill has urged the UK Government to use the 30th anniversary of Northern Ireland’s historic Good Friday peace deal to announce a date for a referendum on Irish unification.

The Sinn Fein vice president, who is the first nationalist to hold the position of First Minister at Stormont, said the date in April 2028 would represent an “excellent time” to confirm a future poll.

In an interview with the PA news agency, Ms O’Neill said the calling of a referendum would mark the “fulfilment” of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday accord that largely ended the region’s 30-year conflict.

The Mid Ulster MLA said Sir Keir Starmer’s Government needed to “live up to the commitment that was set out in the Good Friday Agreement”.

“It was good enough for me to vote for a democratic pathway to unity through a border poll in 1998 (in the referendum to approve the agreement), well then when we celebrate 30 years of the Good Friday Agreement isn’t that an excellent time for the British Government to actually step up and clarify when the border poll will be called, what the parameters are, and actually allow people then to focus their minds around making a decision when they actually get the chance to vote in the referendum,” she said.

While Sinn Fein has repeatedly called for a border poll by the end of the current decade, only the UK Government has the power to decide when, or if, a referendum is held.

Under the terms of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the incumbent Northern Ireland Secretary should trigger a poll when there is evidence of a shift in public opinion in favour of changing Northern Ireland’s constitutional status. If a vote was called, a simultaneous poll would be initiated south of the border by the Irish Government.

However, successive UK governments have declined to provide details around what criteria is used to measure changing public sentiment in Northern Ireland and Prime Minister Sir Keir has insisted a referendum is not on the horizon.

While Sinn Fein points to electoral changes that have seen the end of a long-established unionist majority at Stormont as evidence of a shift in public opinion, unionist politicians stress there has been no corresponding surge in the nationalist vote in Northern Ireland – with the realignment instead down to the growth of the non-aligned centrist bloc within the devolved assembly.

Speaking to PA ahead of the return of the Stormont Assembly on Monday after the summer recess, Ms O’Neill expressed a belief that results of a series of elections across the next four years – assembly and local government elections in Northern Ireland, and UK and Irish general elections – would “send a clear message” to the UK Government that a border poll was required.

“I think there’s a cycle of elections in the middle of there (next five years) that actually can allow us to make the case even further to the British Government that they now need to live up to the commitment that was set out in the Good Friday Agreement,” she said.

Asked if the 2028 anniversary should be the marker for announcing a date, Ms O’Neill added: “Why not? Because, I mean, that’s the fulfilment of the Good Friday Agreement. The British Government doesn’t get to pick and choose. Them and the Irish Government are co-guarantors of that agreement. I want that agreement fulfilled in its totality, that includes putting that question to the people. Why not 2028, because that’s our 30th anniversary.”

Ms O’Neill said there was an “incredible conversation” taking place across the island of Ireland about unification. She said that included “many members of the unionist community”.

“Which I so much welcome because we need everybody, including those with a British identity, to be part of the conversation,” the First Minister added.

“Let’s reach for something better, because whether it be a Tory or a Labour government or, God forbid, a (Nigel) Farage-led government, Westminster does not look after our interests.

“In London, it’s about English interests. We should take control of our own destiny together. Let’s do this together. Let’s make something better together – British, Irish and other people that made this place their home, we all have a stake in this. There’s an ability here to shape a better future, and it has to be something better. That’s what I want. And I want others to join in that conversation.

“I very much welcome every single voice – people who had their voice heard before and people who just want to now get engaged with all your viewpoints. Let’s put it on the table and let’s plan it.”

The republican leader also reiterated her criticism of the Irish Government for “sticking their head in the sand” and not proactively planning for constitutional change.

“They have a constitutional imperative to plan for unity,” she said.

“They need to create the space in which we can have the conversations around planning for a new future, a better future, where every single citizen who lives here, whether you have an Irish identity or British identity, and those people that have made here their home, how can we envisage a better future for all of us living side by side with equal respect, parity of esteem.

“That’s what the Irish Government should be focused on. They need to catch up with where the people are.”

Irish premier Micheal Martin and deputy premier Simon Harris have both made clear that a border poll is not currently a priority for their Government.