AM I alone in finding the claim by Mr Neale Richmond TD that some pro-Brexit elements favour Irish re-unification with the UK a shade bizarre, given that the only consistent proponents of closer association with the UK in Irish politics – over many decades long before Brexit – have been fringe elements within his own Fine Gael party which in spirit are the sister party of the British Tories (Poll blows Brexiteer claims out of water, October 30)?
We must assume that polls in the public domain are completely impartial, although it is worth pointing out that the Eurobarometer polls are produced by the EU, and that Mr Richmond himself is a former advisor to the EU Parliament. That does not necessarily discredit the evidence but does perhaps point to a potential lack of objectivity overall in what the data means.
READ MORE: Neale Richmond: These polls blow Brexiteer claims out of the water
If we are to look at polls then an October 7 poll in the Irish Times gave a clearer picture of more underlying trends that Mr Richmond may find less to his taste. When party loyalty was broken down and the Independent bloc of 11% removed, 54% of people supported parties which advocated EU reform, to either a moderate or radical extent, while the only party with an uncritical view of the EU, Mr Richmond’s own party, was only on 35%.
Mr Richmond relates the finding of the Eurobarometer poll that “63% of Irish people support EU defence policy”, but I suspect that this is some kind of Halloween joke on his part, as I am certain that the poll did not inform respondents that the proposed European Defence Union would effectively end Irish neutrality, and incidentally make the task of removing Trident from the Clyde immeasurably harder, should Scotland rejoin the EU.
Cllr Andy Doig
Nominating Officer, Scotia Future
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