Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When people voted for this in 1998, they voted on the basis of an expectation of the continuation of European Union rights. That applies from the referendum North and South. It is something we want to protect and which will be protected. I want to see in the negotiated outcome the language of the portion of the Good Friday Agreement relevant to the future opportunity that may present itself in Northern Ireland. As the visionaries of the Good Friday Agreement foresaw, there may be a time when the people vote to have a united Ireland. The language of the Good Friday Agreement that allows for that should be included as part of the negotiated outcome so in that eventuality, Northern Ireland would not then be asked to trigger Article 49 to rejoin the European Union. It would be allowed to do so in a seamless transition in the same way as East Germany was able to form the federal republic with West Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. It is important. For those who drafted the Good Friday Agreement, it was quite a visionary thing to put in because that time may come. It will be important that the negotiations include that language as the continuation of the vision and foresight of those who drafted the Good Friday Agreement in the first place.

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