Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are seeing trends in the support for a referendum on the constitutional issue. In the most recent opinion poll, 51% of people in the North said that they want a referendum within five years. I would not dare to extrapolate that this would mean 51% would support it. Some will want a referendum for different reasons. Support for Irish unity has been growing, particularly among younger demographic groups. The point I am making is that the transition to a new type of Ireland is outside of the hands of politicians, including the Taoiseach or whoever holds his office or whoever is Prime Minister of Britain. We have all agreed and signed up to it being up to the people North and South in two referendums. The courts could force the Secretary of State to trigger the mechanism in the Good Friday Agreement if the courts believed the terms of it were reached. We could have a situation in four or five years where we have a series of opinion polls that show more support for Irish unity and, therefore, somebody would go to the courts and we would have a referendum. Is this possible in the Taoiseach's view?