IRELAND should begin preparing for “peaceful reunification” to address the long-term consequence of Brexit, an influential committee of Irish parliamentarians urged.
A “New Ireland Forum 2” to achieve a nationalist consensus on how to unite the island should be established, a report published on in Dublin yesterday said.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK sharing a land border with an EU state – the Republic of Ireland – and its status after Brexit is a key factor in talks between London and Brussels amid claims the region would be worst-affected by a hard exit.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended decades of violence, allows a referendum on reuniting Ireland where it is believed a majority in Northern Ireland favour this.
EU leaders agreed that such a vote, in the face of stiff unionist opposition, would allow Northern Ireland to rejoin the bloc automatically.
The report from public representatives in the Republic said: “The road map to achieve the constitutional aspiration of the peaceful reunification of Ireland and its peoples under the Good Friday Agreement could begin in the same way as the original New Ireland Forum.
“We recommend the establishment of A New Ireland Forum 2 which would be the mechanism whereby the status quo logjam and long-term consequence of Brexit for the people of this island could be addressed.”
The original New Ireland Forum met in the 1980s to achieve agreement amongst nationalists opposed to IRA violence on the way forward. Among those who attended were then-Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and SDLP founder John Hume.
While political leaders in Dublin, Belfast and London have endorsed calls for a frictionless frontier, its future is still to be decided.
Irish premier Leo Varadkar recently said Ireland will not design a border for Brexiteers and his intervention has met with an angry response from Prime Minister Theresa May’s DUP allies.
DUP leader Arlene Foster said the constitutional position of Northern Ireland was settled.
She said: “From an economic point of view, it is a no-brainer when you see the benefits we gain from our membership of the UK, so that is a non-runner.
“It is not a matter for reports from the Dail. It is a matter for the people of Northern Ireland.”
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